Key #1: Spend Less than you Make (Proverbs 21:20)
Remember the money bucket. You have money coming in the top (income) and money leaking out the bottom (expenses). Financial freedom comes as over time the level of money is staying constant or rising. Financial trouble comes when the level drops and continues to drop.
Lessons from the Life of Joseph (Gen 37-45)
Looking at life is like looking at a single puzzle piece of a 5,000 piece puzzle. It often makes no sense and you have no clue as to what the big picture is.
When a person feels like they are going through the sewer of life, it is easy to ask the following:
God, what are you doing?
God, are you punishing me?
God, I am serving you. Why is this happening to me? I thought I was doing what is right!
Joseph’s life illustrates keys truths to coping with and living above difficult times. Joseph spent 13 years in slavery and prison. He basically had no clue why God had him there. The final chapter of the story in Genesis 45 reveals that God wanted Joseph in Egypt to accomplish Gis purposes.
What were some of God’s Purposes?
1.Christ would come and die for the sins of the world.
2.Christ would come through the line of Israel
3.Israel would be in captivity for four hundred years and then delivered and Egypt Judged (Gen 15:13-16).
4.Israel would inherit the promised land and the the occupants would be judged for their wickedness (Gen 15:13-16).
Bottom Line: God used Joseph to accomplish his purpose of getting the Israelites to Egypt and Preserving the Ancestry of Christ (Gen 45).
This is why everything happened to Joseph.
Key Point #1: God has plans and purposes and orchestrates everything to accomplish them (Is 46:8-10; Eph 1:11; Romans 8:28)
 What are some of God’s plans and purposes?
1.Many are unknown
2.Spiritual Growth and Maturity (Rom 8:28-29; James 1:1-6)
3.Making his Name Known / People Coming to Christ (1 Tim 2:4)
4.Preparing us for His work
Key Point #2: Our choices matter and we must remember God and be faithful to Him (Rom 14:10-12; Gal 6:9).
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Joseph was faithful in the furnace of life and so must we.
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 Observation: God is bigger than our mistakes and bad choices and continues his plans and purposes (Esther 4:13-14; Moses’ life, Joseph’s life).
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