"The temptation is to think that the presence of Setbacks or Obstacles is the absence of God in our lives, this is one of the greatest lies ever told to Christians..."

Allow me to bring some insight on what the COAT meant, in my small research will preparing for this sermon I came across what the word COAT used in this passage really means in Hebrew.

/the phrase “coat of many colors” is actually “Ketonet Passim.”

They note it is a “long garment, coming down to the “palms” of the hands and the feet, or the material out of which the coat was made (fine wool or silk).” They further suggest this was a type of garment worn by those in a high position or royalty.

Now that we know Joseph was clothed with a Position of Royalty, as we follow his story I kindly ask you to pay close attention to how every Setback he faced always somehow STRIPPED HIM OF HIS AUTHORITY/POSITION.

THE DREAM IS INITIATED ONCE SPOKEN

Verbalising your dream will put it in motion the fathers love and approval for your life, thus in-turn puts things into motion in order to fulfil the dream, the opposition and hate that comes against the DREAM is one way of assuring you that you are no longer part of the worldly system and that sets you apart. One advise I think is also important in the story as a side note is being able to DECERN who to share your God given dream with. In the instance of Joseph, he told his brothers and father and the outcome was his brothers ended up conspiring against him. In order to kill the Dream, you have to kill the Dreamer and that’s what his brothers tried to do.

Dream killlers are a real thing, these can come in the form of false stories created by people that don’t like the progress you are making in life or at your work. People can just decide to sabotage you and hinder your progress by throwing offence, those are dream killers.

In Joseph’s case his brothers decided to throw him in the pit to die. How many of us feel like the people we trusted and loved have thrown us in the pits and left us to die. It could be in a Marriage, business partnership or friendship, being betrayed by someone you trust is always the hardest thing to accept instead of seeing it as a set up you start questioning yourself to find out what you did wrong or why God is punishing you or forsaken you, which in most cases all this is not true.

While in the pit and helpless God was busy putting the chase pieces of Joseph’s destiny in place , this came in the form of Reuben. He suggested that killing Joseph was not profitable to them, instead he suggested selling him to slave merchants. According to the brothers this looked like an advantaged and they even made up a False Report to give to their father that a wild animal devoured Joseph. They STRIPPED HIM of his COAT. But if you look at this in the light of the sermon series From Setback to SetUp, it is clear that this Idea was the FIRST SETUP to get Joseph to Egypt. In Chapter 39 we learn while in slavery that the lord was with Joseph.

THE LORD IS WITH US

The temptation is to think that the presence of Setback or Obstacles is the absence of God in our lives, this is one of the greatest lie ever told christians. According to the story of Joseph , it's countless time that Joseph is in a bad situation and the bible says God was with Joseph.

If you could just stop and think about this situation, Slavery, corruption, destruction, evil betrayal, but still in those circumstances Joseph still received FAVOUR. He didn’t receive favour just because he was Jacobs son he received favour because of how he carried himself and who was carrying him.

God has promises to protect us from all evil and to always be with us (Psalm 23:4; 91:4).

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He will cover you with his pinions, his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. These are just a few scripture to endorse the notion that God is there with us always. Josephs master SAW him and had favour on him and promoted him over all the servants. The favour didn’t just come , it also took Joseph behaving a certain way.

ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD

Once favour located Joseph in Potiphar’s house he was made the head of all the servants. Just as things were starting to look good for him again because his master was prospering because of him. The suddenly another setback came, this time in the form of his Masters wife who wanted to lay with him. One interesting fact to this story is how all of Joshep’s set backs come from the people close to him. When approached with the offer to defile his Masters wife Joseph refused. It came to the point that His master’s wife tried to force herself on him and when Joseph saw this he said , “ How can I do such a thing and sin against my God.”

COLOSIANS 3:23

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

According to Joseph, even though he was a slave to Potiphar, his service was to Serving God under Potiphar. This mindset is what set Joseph apart, because he did everything as unto the lord. In our lives how we react and conduct ourselves in unfair situations says a lot about who we serve. It could be an unfair work situation or business deal or relationship, how we respond to that situation will either make FAVOUR locate us or we just become like the rest of the servants complaining and murmuring.

After refusing his wife Master and running away, She grabbed his garment and screamed, told her husband that Joseph tried to rape her. Again a FALSE REPORT is given off Joseph which lands him in prison. At this point Joseph would think he is cursed because every time things are going well , something happens to bring him down. He keeps being STRIPPED OF of his POSITION.

If Joseph had tried to hold one to his garment, he could have found himself falling for his Masters wife and committing sin against God and delaying his dream. But he didn’t , he chose to let go and run. Sometimes you must be willing to let go of your smaller garment in order to receive your greater garment. He had a new coat but it was not the one destined for him, so don’t cry when your half a breakthrough gets taken away ,its necessary for you to receive the full package, it might look like a setback but in actuality it’s a setup.

YOUR SERVICE WILL GET YOU REMEMBERED

In Genesis 41 Joseph is now in prison, the bible says God is with him and he gets promoted to have charge over the prisoners. His garment / position is sort of restored but he is still in prison. He also serves the people in prison with his Gift, he interprets the dreams of the butler and the baker. The baker gets executed like Joseph said and the butler goes on to get his job back serving the King like Joseph said. The sad thing is , the butler forgot about Joseph so he remained in prison. Until a certain time when the King had a dream and no-one could interpret for him , only then the butler remembered Joseph. Upon being called upon the bible records in Genesis 41:14 that Joseph had to shave and change his clothes before seeing the King. Again Joseph got his garment back/his position. When Joseph interprets Pharoh’s dream. He immediately got promoted and his dream became a reality in slept seconds, but those split seconds to a life time of Setbacks that were in actually fact Setups. He got his true garment (Coat of Honor, Power and Authority). When the famine came, like in his dream his brothers came and bowed before him. With every right and power to take revenge on them, Joseph chooses not to, but what stands out is how he understood that SETBACKS are God’s SETUP. In Gensis 50 Joseph say, “What the enemy meant for evil (SETBACK) God meant for good (SETUP), to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. Joseph dream was Gods dream to save many people, may your dream but one that does not only benefit you but many other people.

It is really important that we understand that Gods intent is to set us up, and he does this because he loves us as his children and he has given everyone of us His Dream that he wants to see come to pass in our lives if we can only trust him with our lives.

The Year of the LORD'S Favor

Isaiah 61:3,10

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;

my soul shall exult in my God,

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,

and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,

so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise

to sprout up before all the nations.

God promises a YEAR OF FAVOUR, were he clothes us and what stands out is he clothes us with a gamernt of Praise. Our ability to praise God in whatever situation proves to the situation that we know that the set back is only a set up.

Some might be feeling like what about us that have caused our own setbacks? We made wrong choices and decisions that has landed us in the lowest parts of life eating with the pigs. What does God have to say to such people? Does he also set them up even though they created their own setback? Well I have good news, because God is a good God, his arms are always open and ready to receive anyone that comes back to their senses and decides to go back home to the father. The father is watching and waiting for you and he has a garment/robe ready for you and a ring and he will kill the fatted calf for your return. You too can be clothed of whatever your wrong or bad decisions got you stripped of your Authority and position.

Luke 15:17

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants,‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

May this be an encouragement to everyone that has ever felt like the SETBACKS has been too much and you want to throw in the towel and quit. Just remember Joseph, this could just be a pothole in the road, God is busy with your SETUP. For more understanding on this topic, please visit our YouTube and watch the sermon HOW to Get Back from Setbacks. Thank you for reading.