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Genesis 37:23-27
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
 
The Opportunity of Rejection 
 
Identity 
 
You are not defined by the moments of rejection.
You are defined by the message of redemption.
 
Integrity 
 
You don’t fully know what you’re made of until you face rejection.
 
Preparation 
 
God can use the rejection of one season to get you ready for the next.
 
Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
 
Purpose 
 
Rejected does not mean that you are ejected from God’s plan.

 
Rejected does not mean that you have to live dejected.  



Rejoice in the face of rejection.  

2 Timothy 1:7-9
7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.
9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

2 Timothy 1:3-6
I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 
4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 
5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
 
How to see God move from generation to generation:
Serve God.
Suffer well.
Sincerely practice faith.
Steward the gift of God in you.

 
 

Matthew 23:27 - 28
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
 
Luke 6:43 - 45
“A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”

Only the good God can make you a good tree.
 
Only the good God can produce good fruit out of your life. 
 
John 15:8
“When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
 
Galatians 5:22 - 23
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
 
The good God has provided good things for you to store in a good heart.
 
How do I become confident in my identity?
Stop managing your image. Trust God with your identity. Let God transform you from the inside out.

John 1:1 - 23
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
 
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
 
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
 
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
 
(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
 
Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 
 
It is just as important to know who you are NOT as it is to know who you are.  
 
He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

 
I am not God.  
 
I am not the savior of the world. 
 
They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”  He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”  He answered, “No.”
 
I am not that other awesome person.  
 
Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
 
I am created by God in the image of God.  (John 1:3, Genesis 1:26)
 
I am a child of God.  (John 1:13)
 
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
 
I am a unique voice in a unique place for a unique time.  
 
John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
 
John 1:35
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

Exodus 3:4 - 14
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
 
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
 
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
 
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
 
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
 
It depends on who you ask.
Ask God 
 
And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
 
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
 
God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
 
I am the bread of life.
John 6:35
 
I am the light of the world.
John 8:12
 
I am the gate.
John 10:9
 
I am the good shepherd.
John 10:11
 
I am the resurrection and the life.
John 11:25
 
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
John 14:6
 
I am the vine.  
John 15:5
 
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬
“This, then, is how you should pray:  ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.’”