Reformed Sermons and Sunday Schools at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Petaluma, CA Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Sermon preached on Genesis 39 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/21/2024 in Petaluma, CA.















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We return to Genesis’ account of Joseph after last week’s brief aside to tell us about God’s redeeming work in the life of Judah in the midst of his sin. We pick back up with Joseph having been taken out of the pit and sold off to slavery in Egypt, and now becoming a servant in the house of Potiphar the captain of the Egyptian guard. In today’s passage, we will see how the LORD was with Joseph through these times.







Let us begin in our first point to consider verses 1-6. There, we see Joseph in Potiphar’s house. Verse 1 summarizes his situation that he found himself in after being sold into slavery. We might appreciate that this was a decent assignment, to be in a household of one that had some prominence in Egyptian society. But then we come to verse 2 and it is so thematic for our sermon today. That the LORD was with Joseph. It mentions this specifically for Joseph as he was in this house of Potiphar, his Egyptian master. Even though Joseph was no longer with his family, which was the chosen people, and even though he was no longer in Canaan, which was God’s chosen land for this people, yet here God was with him. He may have felt all alone, but he was not. By the way, notice how it here repeatedly describes this as the LORD being with Joseph, the personal name for the God of Israel, not just the generic word for “God”. That way there is no confusion to think this was an Egyptian god being with Joseph now that he was in Egypt. No, the God of his fathers, the LORD, continues to be with him even though he is now in Egypt.







Let us then observe all the fruit that came from the Lord being with him. Verse 2 says he was successful. In other words, even as a servant, God was blessing and prospering his work, so that he was successful in his labors. So then, in verse 3, we see that it this so obvious that even his master Potiphar noticed it. Verse 3, “His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.” This would have been a great testimony of the Lord and his might for someone like Potiphar to take notice of how specifically the LORD so prospered Joseph. So, the LORD being with Joseph meant he succeeded in all he did.







This then resulted in Joseph being promoted. Verse 4 describes that Joseph thus found favor in Potiphar’s sight. He ends up setting Joseph in charge of everything in his household. Potiphar had a large house with plenty of people working for him and various things happening. Potiphar sets Joseph over everything. So while Joseph had been humbled to become a slave, he is now exalted to be the chief servant in a relative position of authority. As verse 9 will describe, no one was higher in the house than him, that there was a sense that Joseph could basically command anyone to anything in that house. So, the LORD being with Joseph meant he was exalted to a high position.







Verse 5 then tells us how much this blessed Potiphar’s house. Everything Joseph had been overseeing prospered. So, when Potiphar set Joseph in charge of everything in his house, then everything in his house prospered. That’s what verse 5 tells us, explaining it was the LORD’s blessings. Notice the specific wording there in verse 5. For Joseph’s sake, Potiphar’s house is blessed. So, the LORD being with Joseph meant that his master got to benefit from it. On a related note of application, we are reminded here that it is the duty of servants to look to bless their master’s estate as they serve their master. It would be an unrighteous servant who wouldn’t work hard because he knew it would only benefit his master. Rather,

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/21/2024 in Petaluma, CA. This week we discussed common questions for apologetics.

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/14/2024 in Petaluma, CA. This week we discussed common questions for apologetics.

Sermon preached on Genesis 37 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/07/2024 in Petaluma, CA.















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Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.







We begin the final section of Genesis, starting here with the words of, “These are the generations of Jacob.” Here, we will learn more about the lives of Jacob’s twelve sons, with a big focus on Joseph. Indeed, this section of Genesis arguably has the most vivid and gripping narrative of the whole book. We’ve been watching the family of Abraham growing. We’ve seen God starting to fulfill the covenant promises that he gave to Abraham. But in this final section of Genesis, the very existence of this family of God’s people will become threatened. Yet, we will witness God’s saving work through this section to preserve God’s people. Let us remember why this is significant. At this time, this family represents the visible church on earth. And it would be through this family that God’s saving work through Jesus would come about. So, the hope of the world literally relies on this family’s survival. But God would preserve them. This final section will show us how God does it. Today’s chapter is just the beginning of the setup, however, as we see the sibling rivalry between the sons of Jacob, specifically the animosity that develops between Joseph and his brothers.Let’s begin in our first point for today to consider the brothers’ growing hatred of Joseph. There were several factors that built upon each other that resulted in how greatly they hated Joseph. We see the first reason for their hatred in verse 2. Joseph was out pasturing the flock with some of his brothers and he came out and gave a bad report of them to their father. Now, presumably the report he brought back was accurate. There is nothing here to suggest that it was a false report of them. But the language here to describe Josephs report is one of whispering, similar to how gossip might also be described. So, the text subtly casts his report in a negative light. Basically, Joseph here becomes a tattle-teller. And so this is the first reason our passage gives us of why the brothers would have hated Joseph – no one likes a tattle-teller. In a section of Scripture that paints Joseph fairly commendably, it is important to see right off the bat that he is not perfect.Next, we see that their father Jacob AKA Israel favored Joseph over all of them. Verse 3 says that Jacob literally loved Joseph more than all his other sons. The reason given is that he was the son of his old age, but we can also remember that he was the firstborn son of Rachel, the clear favorite wife of Jacob. What makes matters worse for Joseph in terms of his relationship with his brothers is that his father publicly displays his favoritism through this coat. Jacob makes this coat of many colors for Jacob, clearly distinguishing him from the rest of the sons. At this, verse 4 clearly notes that this caused his brothers to hate him, when they saw how their father favored him. Already by this point they had so much hatred for him that they couldn’t even speak peacefully to him. They envied Joseph for how much their father loved him, so they hated him for it. This would be an example of what’s forbidden by the tenth commandment of “You shall not covet.”Their hatred is further escalated by these two dreams that Joseph has. Maybe if Joseph had enough sense to not tell the dreams to his family, things might have been different. But, verses 5-8 records his first dream of sheaves and how he shared it with his brothers. The interpretation the brothers conclude is that it foretold the brothers would one day bow down before Joseph. This part about the dream starts and finishes by noting how it caused the brothers to hate him all the more. Then the second dream is there in verses 9-13,

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/07/2024 in Petaluma, CA. This week we discussed apologetics in personal evangelism.

Sermon preached on Matthew 28:1-10 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 03/31/2024 in Petaluma, CA.















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Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.







Each year at the anniversary of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead we take a break from our normal sermon series to rejoice in this fact of history. Jesus Christ is risen indeed! The reason Jesus died on the cross was to save God’s people from their sins. All sin deserves God’s judgment, but Jesus went to the cross as an offering to God in our place. He bore God’s wrath as he died there on the cross. For all who have put their faith in him, he paid for all of your sins there at Calvary. But if he remained dead, it would imply that he had not been able to pay the debt in full. It would imply that the God’s wrath yet remained on him. But he rose from the dead on the third day, and it showed that he had overcome. Jesus paid it all. For we who have turned to Jesus in faith, the resurrection tells us that we are victorious in Christ. When God comes to judge the living and the dead, we will not need to fear, because we have found a mighty refuge in Jesus. This is what we will consider again this year as we think about the resurrection of Jesus.







But I wanted to particularly consider the resurrection in reference to the what we find in verse 2. There, it speaks of a great earthquake that was connected with the resurrection account of Jesus. Earthquakes are scary. If you’ve ever been through a big one, you know what I am talking about. Today’s message will help us to think about earthquakes, both in general, and as it relates to the resurrection.







Let us begin in our first point to think of earthquakes in the past. What I have in mind, is what do we learn about earthquakes from the Old Testament? In short, what we find is that often earthquakes recorded in the Bible are an expression of God’s judgment, and related to that, an expression of his presence coming to earth. To clarify, this does not mean that all earthquakes are a specific judgment of God upon some specific people for some specific sin. That would be presumptuous to claim that, unless God’s Word specifically told us that. Yes, earthquakes are here in general, because we live in a world cursed by God because of mankind’s sinful rebellion. In that sense, every destructive earthquake is a general judgment of God. But there have been some earthquakes in history that the Bible has identified as specific judgments of God and specific expressions of his presence on earth.







Let me give you just a few examples where the Bible connects certain earthquakes with his judgment and presence. For example, the prophet Isaiah foretold a coming judgment in Isaiah 29:6 saying, “You will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.” Ezekiel too in Ezekiel 38:19 prophesied of God saying, “For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, on that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.” Amos speaks of God’s judgment as the roaring of the LORD, making an earthquake analogy (1:1-2). Jeremiah 10:10 speaks of how at God’s wrath the earth quakes. Nahum 1:6 speaks of God’s wrath that breaks rocks into pieces when it comes, alluding to earthquakes. Or you see this poetically in the Psalter too, such as Psalm 99:1. There it says, “The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!” And, of course, you have Mt. Sinai trembling greatly when God descended upon it in the day of Moses (Exodus 19:18). These are just some of several biblical references.







This should not surprise us that the Bible would make a connect...