Genesis 37:4-8 KJV
And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. [5] And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. [6] And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: [7] For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. [8] And his brethren said to him,

Lets define what hatred is. According to the Websters 1828 dictionary hate is defined as " To dislike greatly; to have a great aversion to. It expresses less than abhor, detest, and abominate, unless pronounced with a peculiar emphasis."

When you study the life of Joseph you find great hatred towards him from his brethren.

One thing I would like to bring to the table this morning is that Jacob was played the favorite by his mother and now he plays favorites with Joseph, and his brethren does not like it.

I've stated it before, never play favorites with your children. Some may need more attention than others but that doesn't give you the right to play favorites.

Joseph's brothers hated him for different reasons. Let's look at those today and draw some applications for today.

1. They hated Joseph because of the favoritism he received (verse 4)

One thing I can truly say about the Lord is there is no favoritisms with him. He treats everyone the same. Now that does not mean that we deal with different things but ultimately his love, mercy and grace are all the same to everyone.

Jacob did not give the same treatment to all his sons that is why they hated Joseph.

Friend, if you are not careful you can cause hatred to rise in someone else's life if you treat someone better than someone else.

I've seen people in church develop hatred toward the pastor or the staff of the church because their children or they themselves have been pushed to the back corner while others have been placed on a pedestal. God help us.

I wonder today have you, as a Sunday school teacher, treated someone better than the rest of your class? Do not get upset when hatred comes towards you or others.

It seems today there is much hatred in the service of the Lord that shouldn't be. Someone else was picked because they had a college education or they went to a certain college so they were accepted on staff because of that.

Ive often heard people say, they only use that person to preach more because that is their son or he is on staff because daddy sure does love him.

Regardless what the preacher does, he is going to have to give account for what he does, we must keep ourselves from having hatred in our hearts.

People have left churches with hatred because their child was not the spotlight of the youth choir or they did not see their son get an opportunity to preach because pastor used everyone else. We need to realize that God has a purpose for us and we must live up to his purpose.

You would not have hatred in your heart if you were content with what God gave you.

If you were content preaching at the homeless shelters knowing that God would give you more opportunity because you were faithful in the least things. (Matt. 25) you would be grateful for the things you do have.

2. They hated him for his dreams verse 5, 8)

Some people just hate it when you dream big. Now we understand his dream was a prophecy about him going into Egypt and his father, mother, and brethren bowing down before him, but at the time they did not have the full revelation of God as we have today.

His dream was a big one and they hated him for that.

Some people will hate you for what has been placed in your heart to carry out.

Often times the hatred has been placed there because the other person is not doing anything productive themselves.

You do not find Joseph's brothers saying, let me tell you what God has laid on my heart to do or yall pray for me God has placed a burden on my heart to fulfill. No! Instead they hated the one who had a dream that would come true by God's grace.

3. They hated him for his words. Verse 8

Some people are not going to like your words because of the truth found in them.

Words are a powerful thing that can help or can hurt but often times our tongue is a sword and it devours people and divides people from others.

They hated Joseph for his words.

I wonder today are you disliked because you speak the truth?

Sadly, there are many in our circles who are disliked because they do not speak truth!

Our words will either hurt or help us. It will divide those to either stand with us or against us.

Joseph spoke the truth and his brothers hated him for his words.

I would rather be hated because I spoke the truth than to be hated because I wouldn't tell the truth.

One thing I have learned is you are not going to please everybody so do what is right and let God handle the rest.

Later we will see their hatred turned into humbleness when they met the one that they rejected before.

Application: there should be no hatred in our hearts for someone who is doing right. The only hatred we should have is towards sin and evil.

Do not show hatred to someone because of their deeds or words but rather against sin and evil.

Thank you for reading today's fire-starter devotional. Please share this with someone. Also please send your prayer request to prayer@rtfministries.net by tomorrow evening and subscribe to my youtube channel @rekindlingthefire