What makes a Prosperous Man?

Bro Doug Carragher addresses men on the lessons we can learn from Joseph. Lessons we can apply to our lives today.

God is a man who God never had anything bad to say about. Joseph's life had many twists and turns, with many tests. We don’t always realise how, as happened with Joseph, when God has us go through tough trials sometimes - that God means it for our good.

Joseph's father, Jacob, honoured him, by giving him a coat of many colours. His brothers resented this. Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it to his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. His dream foretold how they would recognise and honour him as somebody important.

Joseph’s brothers started conspiring against him. They said, one to another, behold the dreamer cometh. And they said, Come now …let us slay him and cast him into some pit, and we will say some evil beasts have devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams. They stripped Joseph of his coat – they took the coat of many colours. They cast him into the pit. It goes on to say how they sold him to Ishmaelites as a slave.

Joseph ended up as a slave in the house of Potiphar, the captain of the guard - a high official under Pharaoh. And the Lord was with Joseph, it says, and he was a prosperous man. What makes a prosperous man? If you want to be a prosperous man it has nothing to do with your finances. It's about character.

God sent Joseph to Egypt, and it changed the whole world. So too, God expects us to be a light in a dark place. God expects us to share the gospel where it's never been shared. God expects us to be a road map to God. People should look at us, and see Christ in our faces. People should look at us, and know we serve a great God. Joseph found Grace. He served Potiphar and he made him overseer over all that was in his house.

Being prosperous is about character. It’s about your relationship with God. It’s about doing the right thing when no one's looking. Being prospering is trusting in God.

Potiphar's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said to her, I'm not going to do it. He left his garment in her hand and fled. He got out. He was a man of honour.

If you can serve God and trust God and live the way that God has taught you, you'll be a prosperous man.

Joseph was wrongly accused, and sent to jail. But he just kept on serving God in jail, and it ends up that the jailer put him in charge of the jail.

God works through all these events of Joseph's life. Pharaoh takes him into his service. God allows Joseph's family to be reunited in the craziest of circumstances. Joseph shows grace and forgiveness to his brothers and brings about reconciliation.

What makes a prosperous man? It's about character. Determine, like Joseph, to serve God with all your might. Be a man of honour and faith. Know that God is working out His perfect will in your life.