Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10151 - Humble Submission to the Will of God - Genesis 39

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#10151 - Humble Submission to the Will of God - Genesis 39 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Take your bibles.
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Open them. Genesis chapter 39.
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Genesis chapter 39. I've entitled our Bible study
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Humble Submission to the Will of God Humble Submission to the
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Will of God Jotted down Second Corinthians chapter 4.
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In verse 7 the Bible says that we're earthen vessels.
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This is what it says. But we have this treasure in
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earthen vessels. That the excellence of the power
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may be of God and not of us. That's a great description.
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Earthen vessels. Do you ever feel fragile like an
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earthen vessel? Ever feel like man?
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I'm so weak. I'm so fragile.
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I have such a great God, but I'm such a weak woman.
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I'm such a weak man. And God has put this treasure,
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this wonderful treasure. The gospel of Jesus Christ
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transformed life from the inside out.
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In us, but we are we're just this earthen vessel, the idea
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that God, that people would look at our lives and see not us, but
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the reflection of God, the testimony of his faithfulness.
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Again in Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 8, the very
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next verse, Paul continues. He says we are hard pressed on
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every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in
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despair, persecuted but not forsaken.
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Struck down but not destroyed, always caring about in the body
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the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may
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be manifested in our body. Paul talks about his life.
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He says, hard pressed, every side, perplexed, persecuted,
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struck down, caring about in our body the dying of the Lord
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Jesus. That's his personal testimony.
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That's. His description of himself.
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Notice though, that he also uses the word in verse eight.
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We there are more than just Paul suffering.
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We learned today in our devotional time as a team, as a
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staff in the morning here, about the faithfulness of Luke,
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something I've never really noticed before, but how Luke
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attached himself to the Ministry of Paul.
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And what Paul experienced, he experienced much of it with him.
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It wasn't the calling of Luke. Paul didn't.
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God did not give the calling of Paul to Luke.
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He gave the calling of Paul to Paul, But he gave Paul to Luke
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and Luke to Paul. As you're facing these things,
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you're like, I'm an earthen vessel, but you also might be
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attached to an earthen vessel. So you're getting both.
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You're getting your own issues. You're getting your kids issues,
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You're getting your wife's issues, your husband, your mom's
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issues, your church's issues so that we might reflect the
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faithfulness of God. How do you make it through a
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day? How do you make it through?
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How do you make it through today?
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By the grace of God, you didn't turn to the bottle, you didn't
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run away, you, you didn't light up a marijuana cigarette, You
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didn't quit. And.
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Take it, stick it to the man and go like you've trusted in the
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Lord faithfully today. And the Lord's well pleased with
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you. But you know, Ed, I did do some
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of that. You know what?
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Now you know. Repent.
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You don't need that stuff. It's not for you.
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It's not going to make things better to lean on the arm of the
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flesh. Try to manipulate your way out
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of things. There are those times when we
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are hard pressed when we're struggling.
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Or we face challenges and temptations and hardships.
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It seems like sometimes they are everywhere you can't get.
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I mean, even if you chose, you're so depressed and so
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discouraged that you just put the covers over your head and
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you don't get out of bed. They're there.
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They're there. Even complicated by our bad
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decisions. Yet God lives within us, you
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earthen vessel. The treasure of his presence is
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with you everywhere as the crushing occurs.
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There's that sweetness that God brings out in our lives, and he
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uses us in dramatic ways to bless others.
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I understand you may be unconvinced, or even in a
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position today where it's so hard, these words are hard to
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believe. I'm sorry, it's a difficult
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place to be. But what we do, we turn again to
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the word of God, and we meet this man named Joseph.
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That God gave us a great insight on his life so that we might be
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encouraged. If Joseph can get through it,
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you can too. You're worshipping the same God,
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even more so in the New Covenant.
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You have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a special way
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that Joseph didn't enjoy. We look at Joseph's life.
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He's a wonderful example of the truth, how God will use
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someone's crushing to bless others as he faces trial after
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trial after trial. There's this wonderful outflow
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of God's faithfulness coming from his life to others.
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In verse 39 or excuse me, verse one of chapter 39, it says now
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Joseph had been taken down to Egypt.
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And Potifer, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard,
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an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him
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down there. God sends Joseph ahead for the
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plans and the purposes that are to come.
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Joseph has no idea what the future holds, how God will use
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him. That that's true for you too,
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isn't it? You have no idea.
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What today's troubles are going to mean to someone else 12 years
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from now, 12 minutes from now, 12 days.
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It's not the most comforting. You know, you're really
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struggling right now. You know God's going to use that
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well, you know, I'd rather have God deliver me, actually, and
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yet at the same time, you like. But I I trust God.
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I trust him in the good and I'm going to trust him in the bad.
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He got me through this and he's helped me over here, and he's
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brought me thus far. He's not going to drop me now.
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God sends Joseph ahead and we're like, oh, send me ahead, Lord,
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send me ahead. Do you want to be sold by your
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siblings and thrown in a pic? Yeah, I don't think so.
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And yet that's the mechanism so far.
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And then being sold off to slaves, as a slave.
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And now he's been sent ahead. God's preparing the way for his
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deliverance. In chapter 37, back in verse 36,
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we first hear of this man named Potafar.
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It says now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potafar.
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He's an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.
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He's a high-ranking royal guard or official of Pharaoh.
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Literally. He was the captain of the
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executioners that was responsible for guarding the
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elite in Pharaoh's palace. Now, to be in a foreign land and
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sold into slavery is a very dreary prospect for a young
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teenager like Joseph. Outwardly, there is no hope.
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Outwardly, there is no prospects, no future.
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I'll bring this out over our study in the coming weeks.
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There is no indication outwardly, God doesn't tell us
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anything about Joseph being angry.
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God doesn't tell us anything about him being bitter.
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That's not to say that he didn't experience those.
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It's just God wants us to know that that wasn't his life.
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If he did experience them, that's not important to the
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story for his. Because I think God knows this.
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Most of us reading this, we put ourselves into his shoes and
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say, oh, I'd be so mad, I'd be so bitter.
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I don't know if I can handle that.
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I've right now, I don't like my sibling.
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I really don't like him anyway. Like he already knows those
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emotions exist in the room, so he wants to give us an example
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where they don't. They're not emphasized.
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Somebody was sharing with me recently.
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They had, they were heavy. It was a heavy.
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That's usually when somebody's coming to talk with me and
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they've got heavy stuff, man. It's just heavy and so boiling
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over and I'm the one that they're going to have it out.
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And as they were talking, I said just stop, don't rehearse the
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story. I don't need to hear it.
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I don't need to hear the whole story.
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And you know what? You don't need to hear the whole
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story again as you share it. Let's just get to the point.
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What are you feeling right now? Let's just let the Lord ministry
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if you keep rehearsing the story.
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Out loud or in your mind, you're just going to be more angry.
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Doesn't change anything. You're just hearing it again and
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you go, Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is really.
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Bad. I thought it was over, but now
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that I'm hearing it again, this is like, I can't believe.
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I think I'm going to like I don't need.
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And I don't know if they were happy.
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I didn't ask them if they were happy, but I just.
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I don't want to hear this. Don't just stop.
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I don't need to hear that. I don't need to hear the story.
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It's not going to help me. It's not going to help me give
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you counsel. It's not going to help me
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because the story is only one sided anyway.
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How about we just get to the word?
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Let's just see what God has to say about what you're feeling
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right now or what you're going through right now.
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Like let's just get to the point.
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And it was good. There was, I remember there was
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a relief. You could see a little bit of
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visible relief. And we got to some of the pain
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and the tears started to flow. But they weren't tears
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necessarily of anger at the story.
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They were tears of man, frustration, release, and that's
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God's will for you. Something about Joseph.
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And I think we can conclude is this.
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Somewhere along the way in his young life, Joseph decided that
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his life in God had purpose. He resolved, He resolved that
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his in his life God had purpose in all the difficulties, once
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the pain was absorbed with and the doubts overcome.
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There emerges in his life a testing through the fire.
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Peter said the same thing. He talked about our in first
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Peter chapter one. In verse six he said In this you
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greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be,
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you've been grieved by various trials that the genuineness of
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your faith, being much more precious than gold that
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perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise,
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honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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So some some challenging words because.
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There are those that value gold more than trials or more than
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the testing of your faith. I mean, if you put it out on the
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table, we had table on the foyer and it go okay you guys on your
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way out, you can choose. You can take the table of gold.
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Everybody gets a gold bar. You take what you think is more
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important. But then there's some trials.
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It's a sealed envelope. You're going to open when you
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get to the car, and then God's going to tell you what's going
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to happen and the outcome and, you know, just take what you
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want. And then we'll check the tables
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afterwards. It's like, hey, where's all the
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gold? What happened?
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Why are all the? Because you know, we we value
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things that don't matter. Gold is valueless before God.
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He paves the streets of heaven with gold, and he makes strong
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men and strong women with the value of these testings.
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That feels like you're being burned with Fireman Purified.
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Joseph humbly submitted himself to God, who had all things under
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control, even if and even when Joseph had no idea what God was
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doing in his life. It was only pain and suffering.
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Well, notice with me in verse 2, This is the key.
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The Lord was with Joseph. Say that with me the Lord was
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with Joseph. That's what you need.
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The Lord being with you. You need to acknowledge that the
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Lord is with you right now. He's with you.
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And notice because he was with Joseph, he was a successful man.
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He was in the House of his master, the Egyptian.
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And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord
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made all he did to prosper in his hand.
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So Joseph found favor in his side and served him.
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Then he made him overseer of his house and all that he had put in
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his hand. So it was from the time that he
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had made him overseer of his house and all that he had that
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the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake.
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And the blessing of the Lord was all and all that he had in the
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house and in the field. There's so much to unpack.
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You know, this could be a Bible study in and of itself.
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The faithful employee. Even though you don't like your
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boss, you don't like your job, and you got there like man, this
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is not a job. I'm a slave man.
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This, this is, this is their. Treat me like slaves here.
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Okay. Well, then, this is the passage
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for you. You.
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God wants to bless your employer.
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So that he can bless you. Yeah.
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But God, I don't think God knows him.
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Oh yeah, yeah, he does. And just looking at with part of
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her here, he was blessing part of her's house so that part of
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her would bless Joseph. It's just so different than the
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way that we think. It was evident that God was with
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Joseph. That's what we need to remember.
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His life as a slave is just horrible.
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And his wicked of a position, that is for a person to live in.
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Joseph experienced blessings within the wickedness.
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Because of his service, he receives more and more honor and
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blessing from his master. It only increased according to
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verse 5 to the point where part of her handed everything over to
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Joseph. From all observations, Joseph
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has the right attitude. He thought, no matter where I
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am, I'm going to be the best that I can be, no matter where
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I'm at. If I'm in a pit, then I have to
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be the best in this pit. If I'm a slave, I'll be the best
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slave that I can be. He was determined to please God.
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He viewed in his own life this favor from God as a way of
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saying, you know what? My bonds are not to pot of her.
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My bonds are to the Lord. He's allowed this.
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He saw himself, as Paul often did, a bond slave of the Lord, a
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voluntary, although what he was experiencing was involuntary and
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inhumane and evil. From Joseph's perspective, this
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is where I am, and I willingly submit to it.
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I don't want it. I don't like it, I don't approve
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of it. But this is my life.
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I accept it from the Lord. Joseph set out to be the best
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man that he could be. No matter that role, good or
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bad, evil or what evil he was in.
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He was loyal and he could be trusted.
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He was good with people and expressed tremendous leadership
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capabilities. Part of her noticed this and
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richly rewarded him. And you know what part of her
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rewarded was good on his hard work?
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Faithfulness. What you signed up for when you
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got a job. The company said we'll pay you
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to do this work. And you said I'll take your
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money and do the work. That's the agreement.
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Nothing more, nothing less. But what does Jesus call us to?
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He calls us too much more. He calls us to go this extra
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mile. He calls us to love and bless
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our enemies. He calls us to submit to him.
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The Bible says in Cautions chapter 3, verse 22.
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Bond servants, obey in all things your masters according to
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the flesh. Not with I service as men
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pleasers, but in sincerity of heart fearing God.
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And whatever you do, do it heartily, as under the Lord, not
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to men, knowing that from the Lord you receive the reward of
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the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
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A lot of my later career in the business world, in the corporate
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world, was as a midlevel manager, and at one time I
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oversaw 3 or 400 people in my department.
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I ran a call center, so if I had to go out to a meeting or
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something, when I was away, everybody started playing
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solitaire on their computers, and back in the day, that's all
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they had back in the day, they'd play solitaire and then they'd
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have their magazines in the drawer.
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You guys remember what magazines are?
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You know, magazines and newspapers.
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And I'd go out in a meeting and you could hear the door creak.
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You knew somebody was coming in. It was a big, big room, probably
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as big as this. And but you know, you already
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learned the noises that if the door was a boss is coming back.
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And I'm telling you, I was, sometimes I'd open really fast
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or go through a side door and you would think, man, there was
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a magazine salesperson coming through there and they're
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opening the drawers and putting it away and they're flipping
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their computer. So I don't see it these days.
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It's very different. It's the phone I didn't serve in
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that way, but the phone. It's the texting, it's the
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Instagram, it's the it's the I service.
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You just serve when you're being watched, but otherwise you do
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your own thing. That's what I service is, and if
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the boss is coming, I'll put it away and make it look like
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you're working. And that is the way the world
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operates. The exact opposite of what God
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commands us. He doesn't want believers to be
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serving with I service. I don't know if you noticed if
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you've seen this recently. I don't know what all the news I
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saw it on my Twitter feed, but I don't know where it was in the
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news cycle itself. But there was the article where
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they busted that judge at overseeing a real horrific crime
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on her phone the whole time. There's testimony and weeping of
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a mom here in a situation here. And they put a new camera.
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I don't know if the judge, like the judge, didn't see it, but
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the camera was right behind her watching everything.
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She's scrolling while this testimony is going.
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Anybody see that? Am I the only one that saw?
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Yes. There's a scrolling through,
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scrolling through, scrolling through.
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It's like a life and death issue of people's life.
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And we are so insensate now that we would rather see our
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Instagram then pay attention to a case that's in a court of law.
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And we go, how are you? Bad person, bad person, bad
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person. You have to say that looking in
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the mirror, don't you? Because you, you, you, you may
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not be. I may not be as bad as that
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judge. I agree.
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But that's not the measure, is it?
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We have a higher calling. We have a much higher calling
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than comparing ourselves to some judge.
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We've been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ to walk in a
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world. Like Joseph, that we not only
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was God with him, but part of her saw it, part of her saw it.
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He found favor because of the faithfulness in his life when he
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served him, he was given more responsibility and more trust.
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It says in verse three his master saw that the Lord was
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with him. And his master saw that the Lord
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made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
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That's the testimony of the Saints not to be caught on some
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Twitter article. There he is scrolling his phone,
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scrolling her phone, instead of doing what the Lord has called
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him to do. I think today that's the world
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is They may not be able to communicate it.
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They may not be able to say it that those in positions of
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authority are truly looking for loyal, faithful, hardworking
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employees. I would say this way because I
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met this, I was also hiring manager for many years.
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And you know, I think if you put it simply, they're hiring
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managers and folks are looking for people that are exactly what
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they put on their resume. Not like some you know, how you
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get resumes and you're like, dude, you should be the
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President of the United States, man.
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You're not even old enough to do all that stuff.
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You didn't do the math. Like, seriously, you did more in
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four years than like, man. And then they show up and
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they're not. They're not that at all.
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They that, like, God would have you to.
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And what's your resume but your testimony in Jesus Christ?
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That's the point. You have a testimony.
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You nickname the name of Jesus. You got the bumper stickers.
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You put the license plate frame it on.
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You give the books away. Your yeah, that's your resume.
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So now let your your life match your resume.
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Let it be a testimony. Let people see the faithfulness.
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That's where Joseph is. He and Joseph has no motive.
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He's not getting out of this. So it's not like a selfish
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motive. So if I'm really good, I'll get
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promoted. I'm really good.
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He'll set me free. He's just faithful, an attribute
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of God in his life. If if the story ended here, then
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we would like, wow, we'd tie a bow on it.
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And Joseph lives happily ever after.
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Look at what a blessing it is in Potterfer's house.
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The story doesn't. This isn't a fairy tale.
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It's real life. There's so many trials and
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troubles ahead for him, so many temptations and accusations and
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assumptions. You see, God had a plan for
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Joseph. God had a plan for Joseph.
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But it spans a lifetime. God has a plan for you.
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It spans a lifetime. The urgent, the the difficulty
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of the urgency of the day has us caught up.
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But God's plan for you spans a lifetime.
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However many years he has for you.
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He's working out his plan over your lifetime, not just a few
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isolated moments. That's one of the issues when we
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deal with our past is we get stuck on some isolation,
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isolated moments, and the Lord's trying to take us above that,
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some bigger than those ice failures, bigger than those
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difficulties, bigger than that trauma.
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I have more plans for you. God would use him with his
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brothers, He would use him with his dad.
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He would use him within Potifer's house.
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Later on, he'll use him in prison to get him to Pharaoh's
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palace. He'll develop in him integrity
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and honesty and faith, teaching Joseph through these trials how
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to do what's right, how to do what's good and how to be, how
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to live a just life because God's hand was upon him.
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If the story ended here, it would be so positive.
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But it doesn't because we've learned this lesson with great
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progress. There is great opposition.
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We've learned this. We're learning it in the book of
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Acts. We learned it in our studies
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over the last few weeks here on spiritual warfare.
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What we learned that with great progress.
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The Bible puts it this way. First Corinthians, chapter 16,
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verse nine. A great and effective door has
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opened to me. But there are many adversaries,
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much resistance. The devil just couldn't leave a
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man like Joseph alone. Like the same could be said for
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you. You just aren't going to be left
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alone. There's no peace treaty with the
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devil. There's no peace.
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There's no clarity. The devil tries to use the
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schemes of evil men. His brothers didn't work.
24:35
Joseph faith only grew stronger and he got promoted out of the
24:38
pit. But now he changes tactics in
24:41
verse 7 now came to pass after these things that his master's
24:47
wife cast longing eyes on Joseph And she said lie with me, but he
24:54
refused and said to his master's wife, look, my master doesn't
24:57
know what is with me in the house, and he's committed all
25:00
that he has to my hand. There's no one greater in this
25:03
house than I, nor is he kept back anything for me but you
25:07
because you're his wife. How then can I do this great
25:11
wickedness and sin against God? So it was as she spoke to Joseph
25:16
day by day that he did not heed to her or lie with her or be
25:22
with her. Joseph is the head of the home
25:26
right now. Pottifer's busy with work.
25:29
He's away Outside of the home, Joseph's busy with work.
25:33
Inside of the home, Pottifer is busy with work trying to seduce
25:38
Joseph for her own desires. And I'm sure Joseph could have
25:43
saw this coming. It was not like it.
25:45
It just sprang on him. She started staring at him in
25:50
interesting ways. She seemed to always be around
25:53
him, hanging around, probably would try to make conversation
25:56
with him, luring with charm or outward appearances.
26:00
The temptation wasn't new, but neither were the tactics.
26:04
And this, by the way, is we're focusing on Joseph is a real man
26:07
being tempted by a real woman. However, let us not forget that
26:12
real women can also be pursued and tempted by real men.
26:17
So this is not just you know, men are so innocent and women
26:20
are you know, this is a human condition, and it happens both
26:24
ways. It's not merely A flirtatious
26:28
from a woman to a man, it can also be flirtatious from a man
26:31
to a woman. So you get the picture of how
26:34
this is all set up. Joseph's the strong young man.
26:37
All the normal passions and desires of a man his age, his
26:41
friendliness, his faithfulness. He has no family, no friends.
26:45
He's a stranger in a foreign land.
26:47
And here's this attractive, persistent woman throwing
26:51
herself on him while her husband was never around.
26:54
And you can just hear the whisper of Satan, can't you?
26:57
No one will ever know. Joseph.
26:58
What do you need to worry about? Nobody cares about you.
27:01
Nobody knows. Go for it.
27:04
Do it. Who's going to find out?
27:07
This is the way of the Egyptians and we don't know how long it
27:11
built up. We do know day by day.
27:13
So there's some pressure there. But one day she caught him and
27:18
what a temptation. One day she caught him.
27:23
It happened about this time. It says in verse 11 when Joseph
27:27
went into the house to do his work, none of the men of the
27:30
house was inside that she caught him by the garment saying lie
27:35
with me. But he left his garment in her
27:37
hand and fled and ran outside. There was a catching from Potter
27:46
for his wife to him and he runs away, puts himself, he he throw,
27:54
he he. What we would say today.
27:55
He just gave everything up and all this job, his career, all
27:58
his money, all his promotion, all his future for his
28:02
integrity, that's what he got in return, his integrity.
28:07
His character was intact. And you can see because as you
28:10
were reading the life of Joseph, you're listening to some things
28:13
about his character and about his faithfulness and his faith.
28:15
You go, Ed, where are you getting all this?
28:17
But you can see it right here. He's when he's talking to her,
28:19
he says, look, I can not going to sin against God.
28:22
God is on his mind here. Yeah, throwing in the pit.
28:26
God is on his mind. Yeah.
28:28
Being sold as a state. God is on his mind.
28:30
Yeah. Coming in and being a slave to
28:32
Potter. For God is on his mind.
28:34
He says it right here. It's what's on his mind.
28:36
So the Bible says, out of the abundance of your heart, your
28:38
mouth speaks. And God lived deep inside of him
28:42
and with such great pressure and temptation.
28:45
He's like, no way, man. I'm not going to send.
28:47
Look at what your husband has done.
28:49
Look. Look at.
28:50
Look at what? He's entrusted me.
28:51
No way. I'm not going to send against
28:52
your husband. But who?
28:54
You. Even if your husband wasn't
28:55
involved, I'm not sending against God.
28:58
I I just have to tell you, Church, if you don't already
29:01
know this, or you need to be reminded of this, reasoning with
29:05
sin, reasoning with the devil, trying to compromise, you know,
29:09
try. Even on the good side, trying to
29:11
meet the devil in the middle or whatever, it doesn't work.
29:15
You will be destroyed. There is a weakness in all of us
29:18
that finds it so easy to justify even the worst of our sins.
29:24
There's never a good reason for someone else, but there's always
29:27
a good reason for us. You just don't understand,
29:31
Pastor. Da da da da da pastor.
29:34
If you just live my life, you would da da da da da pastor if
29:37
you just knew. You know you're just there
29:38
living your your ivory tower, working at church all day.
29:41
If you worked in the world like me, you'd understand.
29:43
Da da da da da. And you forget.
29:49
You don't need to convince me of anything.
29:52
You forget that God is with you. It's right here.
29:55
How can I sin against God? He lived with the consciousness
29:58
of God, and it kept him in a place of purity.
30:04
Joseph's response to this amazing, powerful temptation was
30:13
to run away. You have permission to run away
30:17
from sin. Amen.
30:18
We talk a lot about don't run away, don't run away.
30:21
When sin comes knocking at the door, run away, resist the devil
30:25
and flee. But if somebody grabs you and
30:27
tries to throw you in bed, run away.
30:29
Got it. Advice.
30:31
Good advice for a good life. You don't mess around with it.
30:36
Run away. Somebody's starting to flirt
30:38
with you at work. Run away, get another job.
30:41
But that's what you need to do. But don't be messing around.
30:47
Don't let it get to oh, you know.
30:48
And because it's just the right time, you may have an argument
30:50
with your spouse at home. You show up at work.
30:53
Oh do do do do do. Oh yeah.
30:55
Somebody cares about, like, stop it.
30:58
You made a covenant and a commitment to your spouse.
31:01
You made a covenant, a single person.
31:03
As to the Lord, you run away. It's worth it.
31:07
Run away to keep your integrity. Run away to keep your character
31:12
run away. Even leave your garment and run.
31:15
You know, whether he was completely nude or with his
31:18
undergarments, it he was willing to be in a place of humiliation
31:25
personally in order to experience the exaltation
31:29
spiritually of the Lord. That's a pretty powerful, mature
31:35
place to be. And you know, here we are, we're
31:39
studying the Bible arena about Joseph.
31:41
But we don't know until we're tempted.
31:47
Because I will say we'll do it. Yes, Spencer, let's run
31:49
together. Run.
31:51
Yay. Until you're tested.
31:55
That's the key. So you just pray for the
31:58
strength of the Lord and pray that you're never tested that
32:01
way. You know I'm not inviting it.
32:03
I don't want it. But pray you're not tested that
32:05
way. But be careful.
32:08
If they take key, don't be deceived.
32:10
Take key. That pride doesn't overcome you.
32:12
To think, Why do that? I would.
32:15
I I I've learned to say in the Bible, I want to do that.
32:19
That's my desire. I want to have integrity.
32:24
I believe I have integrity. Today, as a man, I can face the
32:27
Lord with integrity. But you know, I also want
32:30
integrity. If a big test comes, I want to
32:33
keep it and I want to grow it. I don't want to lose it for some
32:37
dumb sin. Someone that doesn't care about
32:39
God, doesn't care about me, doesn't care about you that
32:44
would want to do some harm for their own selfish desires.
32:47
Because that's what she is. She's a selfish woman at this
32:49
point, that's all it is. Wants to take advantage of the
32:53
next young boy. That kind of seems to imply that
32:56
this she's done it before. And the part of her new we've
33:03
talked a lot about in our Bible studies, you know, not running
33:05
from our problems and not running from our past and such.
33:08
But here's an example of a great time to run away.
33:12
It's like in Timothy, chapter 22, Excuse me, chapter 2, verse
33:15
22, says this flea, youthful lust.
33:18
This is what Joseph's doing. He's running away from a lustful
33:24
situation, If not his lust, her lust.
33:30
Certainly the temptation was there.
33:33
But instead, he says, pursue righteousness, faith, love, and
33:36
peace with those who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.
33:41
1st 13 Now notice it says. And so it was when she saw that
33:46
he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside that she
33:50
called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, See,
33:52
he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us.
33:57
He came to lie with me. He came to into me to lie with
34:01
me, and I cried out with a loud voice.
34:03
Oh, poor innocent missus Pottifer, liar and notice it
34:10
says it happened. When he heard that I lifted my
34:13
voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and
34:16
fled and went outside. So she kept his garment with her
34:21
until his master came home. She spoke to him with the words
34:24
like these, saying the Hebrew servant whom you brought to us
34:26
came in to me to mock me. So it happened as I lifted my
34:30
voice and cried out that he left his garment with me and fled
34:34
outside. She calls the men in, falsely
34:36
accuses her, blames her husband, first of all, blames her husband
34:40
for bringing him into the house. Then she tells the same thing to
34:42
her husband and has the robe. Now, as false evidence wasn't
34:48
real evidence, it was twisted and turned around.
34:53
This is unfortunate for Joseph because you remember earlier his
34:58
coat of many cover colors that was covered in blood was also
35:02
used as false evidence against him.
35:06
And it just really hurts, doesn't it?
35:08
It just man. It just goes to the core when
35:10
you're falsely accused. That's why the devil loves to do
35:13
it, because he's the accuser of the brethren and just it hurts
35:17
when people lie about you and the devil, man, he plays dirty.
35:21
He goes after the thing that you value the most.
35:24
So today, if you value, you know, I'm a really honest
35:27
person, all of a sudden people will rise up and call you a liar
35:30
because it gets to you. I mean, they they could call you
35:33
a thief. And you're like, I'm not a
35:35
thief, but I'm really not a lie. No, you're a lie.
35:37
Like, they could call you a thief.
35:38
You know, it's nobody. I know I'm not a thief.
35:40
And they they could call you, you know, all kinds of names.
35:44
But when they get to the thing that you value the most, then
35:48
they get you off and go, you know, you're you're alive.
35:50
What? I'm not.
35:51
I'm an honest person. And then you're off your game
35:53
and the enemy gets you. The devil's just like this.
35:56
He's just some place so dirty trying to get us to a place
36:01
where we're in the flesh. Because when we're in the flesh,
36:03
we lost. When you're in the flesh, only
36:07
thing that comes next is more. Say with me, church.
36:10
If you're in the flesh, the only thing that comes next is more
36:13
flesh. Flesh begets flesh.
36:17
You have an argument with your spouse recently?
36:19
How'd it go in the flesh? Not so good.
36:23
You have an argument with your parents?
36:25
How'd it go in the flesh? Not so good.
36:29
It requires somebody to die. Not literally, but spiritually.
36:32
You got to die to your own self. You got to die to your own
36:35
position. You got to die to your flesh so
36:37
that you become a place of spiritual strength.
36:41
Get that situation and conversation back on track.
36:48
The reward of Joseph faithfulness.
36:51
Notice in verse 19 it was that when his master heard the words
36:54
which his wife spoke to him, saying, your servant did to me
36:58
after this manner and this, and his anger was aroused, Joseph's
37:01
master took him and put him in prison, a place where the King's
37:05
prisoners were confined, and he was there in the prison.
37:09
On the surface it believes, you know, it appears that he
37:12
believes his wife. Yet I think he knew his wife and
37:16
thought it was easier to throw Joseph in prison than to prolong
37:20
this and make it worse. Safe face for everyone that's
37:23
involved. After all, he is a high officer
37:26
in Pharaoh's palace and doesn't need all this drama and
37:29
difficulty with a Hebrew slave after all.
37:32
And although Joseph was being elevated and promoted, he was
37:36
still a slave and still at the beck and, you know, still at the
37:40
beck and call of partifer and partifer's wife.
37:45
It is hard at times, isn't it, to have other people determine
37:48
the destiny of your life in the world.
37:50
It's hard, especially if they're not faithful, especially if
37:53
they're liars. Especially if they have
37:55
authority over you. Joseph's living that pay
37:59
attention to Joseph's life. Verse 21.
38:02
All of this is happening but the Lord was with Joseph.
38:05
Never left him. Mark that I haven't marked in my
38:07
Bible. I love that this is all bad bad
38:10
bad bad bad bad bad bad bad. But the Lord was with Joseph and
38:17
showed him mercy and gave him favor in the side of the keeper
38:21
of the prison. This is, this is unbelievable
38:25
because you know what this is saying in plain English, As bad
38:28
as it was for Joseph, it could have been a lot worse if it
38:31
wasn't for the mercy of God. We don't look at things like
38:37
that. We just don't see it from God's
38:40
perspective. I can't believe the injustice.
38:44
This is wrong. And then you hear the Lord.
38:47
Yeah, but God shows mercy on you.
38:50
You think it's wrong right now. You have no idea how bad it
38:53
could have been. And then he began to work on his
38:56
behalf, giving him favor once again in the side of the keeper
39:00
of the prison. And the keeper of the prison
39:02
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the
39:04
prison, and whatever they did there, it was his doing.
39:08
And the keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was
39:10
under Joseph's hand, because the Lord was with him.
39:13
And whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.
39:17
Joseph's about 20 years old now, and he would be in prison for
39:21
about 10 years or so. And no matter what Joseph was
39:25
doing, where is it? God was with him, just like he's
39:28
with us. It's glorious to know that the
39:32
Lord is with me through the difficulties in life.
39:35
Hey, they'll never leave me or forsake me that I can make it
39:39
through the day or through the week or through the month or
39:43
whatever God has in store. We we come to this place again
39:47
and Joseph's life, you're going to ask this question over and
39:49
over again. He's like, well, wait a minute,
39:51
Pastor, Wait, wait just a second here.
39:53
Are you saying that it was God's will, that Joseph is in prison?
40:01
Yes, That's exactly what I'm saying.
40:04
Because that's what the Bible says.
40:07
You're right here with me. Read it in your own Bible.
40:13
Not only that. But was God's will to show him
40:16
mercy in that prison? Oh, not only that it was God's
40:21
will for him to find favor with the prisoner, but the prison guy
40:24
that is in charge of it all. Oh, and not only that, he was
40:28
going to have access and freedom to oversee all the prisoners.
40:32
Oh, and not only that. Read chapter 40.
40:36
Not now, because we're almost done.
40:37
But tonight. Maybe tomorrow I would even say
40:44
this challenge your thinking, challenge my own thinking.
40:47
I still process this with some things that are in my life, so I
40:52
don't say it like I. Got it all perfectly.
40:53
I I don't. But I do want to believe God's
40:56
word. So you can go back to the
40:58
questions that the will of God that Joseph is in prison.
41:00
Yes, I suggest this. It's almost essential that he be
41:08
there. And we'll see that as we move
41:14
along one day at the entirety of your life, because we have
41:19
Joseph's life. So you can read ahead and you
41:21
go, oh, I can't get it. I get it.
41:22
Oh, I get it. Yeah.
41:23
Just go to Chapter 50. You could see.
41:26
Don't you wish you could do that in your life?
41:27
Just. Go to Chapter 50.
41:28
You'll be fine. You can skip all the difficult
41:32
chapters, get to 50. That's when it gets good.
41:35
We don't get that privilege, but we do with Joseph.
41:38
So that means we can work. We can take it and work
41:41
backwards. You know, what do they do when
41:44
they they find something and they re unprogram it?
41:47
Like they they try to figure out the code on it.
41:50
There's a word for that. The it's not deconstruct because
41:53
that's like the spiritual word, but like when you take
41:56
something, you just dissect it so you can learn what the code
41:58
is. Do you guys know what that word
41:59
is? It's unfortunately when I ask a
42:03
question like that, I can't hear anybody speaking at the same
42:05
time. So someone over here was what?
42:09
Reverse engineer? That's it.
42:10
Reverse engineer. Thank you.
42:11
Did anyone else say reverse engineer over here?
42:13
Thank you. Thank you very much.
42:14
So it's almost like as you take Joseph's life from the end, you
42:17
can reverse engineering and go, Oh, and it's true for you too.
42:25
You just don't have Chapter 50 or 49 or 48 or 47 or you don't
42:30
have them yet. But what you have is even
42:34
greater. And that's how you have the same
42:37
God with greater promises. Because we're not.
42:42
Our faith is not in Joseph, but a greater than Joseph.
42:47
Jesus Christ. Who too?
42:50
He too, as you watched his life ago.
42:52
No tragedy. No.
42:53
That's wrong. No, that's unfair.
42:55
No, I can't believe it. No.
42:58
But three days later, he rises from the dead, and he's alive.
43:04
Now we have a greater than Joseph.
43:07
And so while Joseph helps us, we've got to get our eyes on
43:10
Jesus because he strengthens us. Joseph helps us, Jesus
43:16
strengthens us, and he enables us to face anything.
43:22
So, Father, I thank you for the privilege of studying Joseph's
43:25
life. When I need it.
43:26
We need it. I pray for more men and women in
43:30
our church to be here to get this.
43:34
They need this. But.
43:35
But you know, it's hard. The kids have to go to sleep and
43:37
work and everything. But no.
43:39
Why do we do that? Like we we Why do we do that?
43:43
Lord, we'd rather take the easy route and have a harder life.
43:50
We need to remind it of Joseph. But we also need to be reminded
43:53
of the greater than Joseph. We don't like the prison.
43:59
We don't like the place. We don't like the employment, we
44:03
don't like the unemployment, we don't like the homelessness, we
44:05
don't like it's. You're refining us in the fire,
44:16
adding to our lives, character and depth that we would get no
44:20
other way. God, I pray for your church
44:24
tonight. I pray that you would establish
44:27
and strengthen them in Jesus name.
44:30
Amen. We pray that you've been
44:33
encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
44:35
sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer.
44:38
Call us at 87730 Grace. That's 877-304-7223.
44:47
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44:50
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44:56
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44:59
Be blessed as you Worship Jesus this week.