God. And if you turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 37, we're going to talk about a man that mainly is someone you remember as being a brother in a family of 12. Genesis 37. But I want to speak today about preaching and preachers. Genesis 37 and verse 5, Joseph dreamed a dream and told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. And he said of them, Here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed. For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words." Our Father, help us, help us to be clear, to be heard, and to be understood. Lord, I can only speak to ears. You can speak to hearts. And Lord, I pray You would today many Christians here, Lord, that they might understand the importance of preaching. They might pray for the pastor. They might take responsibility of their own matters of preaching also the Word. They might understand what it is, what it costs us, the importance of it. Help us, we pray. in Jesus' name, Amen. Now many would not think of Joseph as being a preacher, and you know probably the story of Joseph. He became the Prime Minister, we might call him today, of Egypt later in his life. At this time, in this passage of Scripture, he's 17 years of age. But here in the Bible, in the first part of the Bible, we find a man receiving a message from God. It's in a dream. The Bible is not written yet. Moses has not written the Scripture. It's going to be several hundred years before he's even around. And God gives Joseph a message. What is Joseph to do with it? He is to proclaim it. We could also say he is to preach it. He is to speak to others concerning what God has spoke to him about. When the persecution arose in the book of Acts, that very zealous man, Saul, determining to stamp out Christianity. We find that the Christians there in Jerusalem, the hotbed of evangelism, in their persecution, they fled, many of them, from Jerusalem and went everywhere, the Bible says, preaching the Word of God. I've been in a country the last two weeks that until recently there was very little preaching of the Word of God. But everywhere that you go where there's Christianity, there has been preaching of God's Word. And it is this foolishness of preaching, at least foolishness in the eyes of man, that God uses to spread the gospel and to bring people to Christ. Preaching is not popular. Have you heard the phrase, don't preach to me? Preaching is offensive many times. And therefore, many churches put in the place of preaching drama, entertainment, and celebrity endorsements and other things, trying to bring people to church and so on. But God's method is by proclaiming the Word of God. Now the reason that preaching is unpopular is not because there are some bad preachers, although I think there are some bad preachers. But the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 2 and 14, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for there are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The natural man does not want to hear the preaching of God's Word. And again in Romans 8 and verse 8 it says, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can indeed Neither indeed can be. The natural man, his carnal mind, is at opposition to God. However, in the book of 1 Corinthians 1, chapter 1, verse 21, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Now most of us in this room would not call ourselves preachers. I didn't want to be a preacher. But every Christian in this room really is responsible to proclaim, and we could put it that way, is responsible to preach the Word of God. You may not stand in the pulpit and do that, but nonetheless, if you know Christ as your Savior, you have a message to proclaim. You have a responsibility to evangelize, to tell others of what Christ has done for you. You have a responsibility to take scriptures. We heard this morning, very good Sunday school class, that we need to memorize scripture, put it in our heart. And in doing that, not only will it affect us and change our heart, but then it'll be up on our lips to be able to proclaim it. And that is what God uses. to spread the gospel and for people to come to know Him. Preaching is not just the imparting of knowledge of God and of the Bible. It is not just intellectual or emotional appeals, but it is spiritual activity at its very core. I tell you, every preacher of the gospel knows that when he's in the pulpit preaching, That is the very core of spiritual warfare. And you that have talked to people on the job or in your family, trying to help them to know Christ as your Savior, you know the spiritual warfare you've gone through. The purpose of preaching is to lead men and women to Christ and away from sin. If preaching is the leading of others out of sin and back to God through the proclamation of God's Word reinforced by holy living and loving motives, then Joseph was a preacher of the first class. Now listen, he had a text from God and he proclaimed it. He also lived by that text. He lived by faith. His message was heard and seen and life was given to those that received it. Here are some that have been called to a task in this room to preach the gospel. Some of you young men may be called by God to preach the gospel in a primary way, and let me just say it this way, the pulpit is very important. It sets the tone. It moves not only those that are lost to come to Christ, but it also moves the saved to go to the lost. It is the prime part of our warfare. And I would say to us just for a moment, you need to look and see those that are preaching in the primary role and realize they need your encouragement, they need your help. They need your amens. Amen is the way to do it, not to clap your hands. Clapping your hands may say, oh, there's a great man. But amen confirms what's being said to others around you. and how the preacher needs that. You that are new Christians, you want others to come to know Christ. I know you do, and you need encouragement in it, and the pulpit will encourage you. If you pray for your pastor, and if he is preaching the word of God, and I believe so much he is, and I've heard him preach many times, it will help you to also be bold, encourage you to be faithful, And many times God will speak to your heart in church services like this that will inspire you then to tell others what God has spoken to you. All Christians have the responsibility to preach and also to uphold their preacher through prayer and encouragement, through agreement with and promotion of preaching. We are not to discourage the courageous, bold preacher. Amen. When you have a pastor that is willing to put his own life out there, and believe me, he is when he's preaching, you need to be with him. I know what it is to fear hurting people's feelings, of having angry reactions and losing popularity. These are all battles that a pastor and a preacher faces. But you do not want your preacher to lose his boldness and his fearlessness for God's Joseph is an example for us. I thought this morning, this is a thought that came to me, and I didn't have time to research it, but this may be the first message in the Bible that is then proclaimed by somebody like this. You see what I'm saying? We have Abel getting saved. We have Abraham getting saved. But in Joseph we have God giving him a message and then him proclaiming that message and you know what the reaction is? People are angry. Isn't that amazing? Now let me give you some thoughts. Some preachers are like Elijah's. They're bombastic. They come on the scene suddenly and they proclaim the message of God. Other preachers are men that are with tender hearts, weeping as Jeremiah would, the weeping prophet. And others are Isaiahs with great intellectual sermons. And God bless them from deep studied thought. But all those are true preachers. and they preach by and through the Holy Spirit of God. Their sermons are empowered not by intellect or human emotion or by forceful personality, but by the Almighty. That's what preaching is. Now Joseph's life and his words and the way he lived illustrate the preaching of a man. of God, and it has God-intended effects. So let's look at it. Number one. You know, I'm going to preach a long time if that's just my introduction. All right. I'll not be long. Number one, Joseph had a message, and he publicly proclaimed it. When he had the dream, he could have kept it to himself. The dream was, and let me share this with you, the dream was that there would be in a field sheaves. Some of us aren't farmers, but as they would take the wheat and they'd gather it together, that would be before they picked it up, there would be in the field. And Joseph's sheave was stood up, this is the dream, and his brother's sheaves bowed down before him. And he had a second dream similar to that. The brothers were angry because they understood what the dream meant, that they would come and bow down to Joseph. Now Joseph didn't make up that dream. God gave it to him. And Joseph was concerned. He had a message and he spoke what God gave him to speak. He proclaimed it in spite of what it might cause in others. The anger, the jealousy of others might have hurt him, and it did hurt him, yet he was faithful to give it. And he did so because he had a personal desire and hunger for righteousness. Joseph was not a tattletale, and we're not looking to that just immediately, but Joseph was a man that had a desire for his brother's good. He loved his brothers. And I tell you, when you come to know Christ as your Savior, you love your neighbor. You love the person that is in your family that's not yet saved. You want them to find what you have. You want them to know that Christ is the Savior, can forgive their sins, pay for their sins, bring them out of death into life because of what God has already done in your life, and you want that for them. Joseph already at 17 is a servant of God, he's already a saved man, and he has a message now to proclaim to his brothers because he has a personal desire and he hungers for righteousness. Not only for his own righteousness, but that others might also be right. Although Joseph had, I'm sure, very little understanding of what was coming, Yet Joseph was to tell and be glad to tell as much as he already knew. One day he would be the leader of this family, not for his own sake, but for theirs. And there was a desire in him that they might know the message. Joseph then was not only empowered by this, I'm sorry, not only would he hunger for righteousness, but he was empowered and sustained by God in this. You know, most preachers are tested. Most preachers have battles that seem to be insurmountable. Samuel Rye saved in a nation that had very little Christianity. Trying to find somebody to teach him was a hard thing. Then to go. leave his country that he might understand the Scriptures better, and then to come back and speak for five years without anyone saved. He had to be empowered and sustained by God. Let me make sure you understand something. Preaching is not a profession. Pastoring is a calling. It is not a profession just to be chosen because you want some position in life or respect of men. Real preachers are called and oftentimes are the ones, first of all, beginning wise are reluctant, but they then are empowered and sustained by God. Look at what Joseph goes through. His brothers hate him. My father was a pastor. And I have seen many, many hard things that happened as a result of his preaching, hard things on him personally. And yet he also was empowered and sustained by God. How important. Joseph, because of his message. If he had kept quiet, if he had not offended his brothers, if he had not proclaimed the message God gave him, he would have probably gotten along well with his brothers. But because the message, they determined that they were going to kill him. And then after they were going to kill him, they decided instead that they would sell him and make money from him, and it would do two things at the same time. That is, it would get rid of Joseph. and then they would also gain some money from it. I can show you pastor and preacher in the Bible one after another that were sustained by God in the face of great persecution. It's not any different today. Many people in churches will not throw their preacher in jail, but oh, they will try to hurt him. And I'm not talking to you. But there's not a preacher that hasn't had great opposition. But he is sustained and empowered by God, sold as a slave, become a slave and then lied, the master that owned him, his wife, lies about him and he's thrown in prison. And after several years, He finally is released from prison and sets about the course that God had given him a message about. He is sustained in all of that because God is with him. Because the message that he's received he trusts, he believes in, he proclaims it, he cannot help but do what God says in this matter. and then forth, Joseph, he has to wait. That's one of the hardest things to do as a pastor. Sometimes people leave the church when a preacher preaches the Word of God. Sometimes it's long before people respond to Christ and fruit is received. Joseph waited for God And sure enough, one day his brothers stand before him, not knowing that he is Joseph. And they come before him dependent upon him. And this is so important. The preacher really is bringing people to Christ, not to be dependent upon the preacher, but to be dependent upon Christ is his goal. Joseph is the man there in charge in Egypt under Pharaoh. But it's really God that's in charge of all of this. And it is his brothers that finally see that God has done this, that God has sustained him and kept Joseph going, that Joseph's message was true, and that they need to trust God. And to do that, they have to come to repent. They have to see their sins. That's what preaching is about. There's preaching about sin. You meant it, Joseph later says to them. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. You resisted the message, but God meant the message good for you. Your reaction against God, you did not want Him. But as you went on your own way, you found that your own way was destruction and ruin. And you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. We may not like the dentist that drills our teeth, but he means it for good. We may not like the diagnosis of the doctor, what he says to us, but the truth is for our good. And much deeper is this matter in the spiritual realm. The Word of God needs to be heard and understood and known, and the preacher has the responsibility to say it. And your reaction may, and I would say many of you in this room today that know the Lord as your Savior, you would say, my first and second, maybe third and fourth and fifth reaction was I don't like that. that God kept working in your heart through the preaching of his word until you came to say, God means this for my good. Hallelujah. Now, don't let your preacher carry all the load. Say, what can I do to support him? Come and hear him. Come and fellowship with him. Love each other. I'm a parent. When my kids love each other, I am thrilled. Maybe they listen and learn something. Be faithful. Respond to the Lord. Love the Lord and you will love Him. Love the Lord and you'll love each other. I know what it is, the four boys in the home in my growing up days. I cannot imagine what it is, 12 boys. But I'd rather think that after this experience, I'd rather think they all got along with each other real well. And guess what? The world heard the message. These are Joseph's brothers. The world saw the love between each other, the change of heart, the newness of life in all of them. And most of all their attitude and spirit toward God was all changed. And it came. How did it start? God gave a man a message. That man proclaimed that message and got in trouble. But the message came and affected them down the road and to the point that they all came unto God in a repentant spirit. But that's not all the story. It was that family where Christ was born into that family. All of this had to take place. God working it all out that Christ would come and become the Savior of the world. Hallelujah. I pray, I pray that this church will be a preaching place and that hundreds and hundreds of people will come to know Christ. Not only that, but that they'll come out of this church preachers, that'll be the pastors in coming generations. And not only that, but you preaching the Word of God to those you know, and they'll be free. Heavenly Father,