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Andy Stanley - The Response of a Lifetime: God of the Pit Part 1 · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: To start us off with our new series today. And
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I don't know that I explained this very well, but
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: I'll give it a shot.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: If you were if somebody ask you to tell them
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: your life story, there are several.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Lanes that you could choose by which to tell your
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: life story. You could tell your whole life story.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: In terms of family, you could tell your life story,
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: in terms of geography. You could tell your life story
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: just down the lane of opportunity, different opertunities, cottunities that
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: came along.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: But when people ask.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Us to tell our story, which they rarely do unless
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: you're in a small group, which is wonderful, but if
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: they did, if somebody asked you that, you would probably
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: start in one lane and then you would start switching lanes.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: You know, I was born here to this family, I
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: went to this school and then back to family, and
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: then I met a girl, and then we moved to
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: a different city, and you would, you know, you would
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: change lanes.
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  Speaker 1: We all do when we're when we're telling our story.
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  Speaker 2: Then you might even get to a place where you
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  Speaker 2: talk about tragedy and then back to opportunity and then
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: maybe illness, maybe divorce, another family. But the lane that
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: is virtually never travel. That would be really interesting for
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: you to choose if you were to tell your story,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: is to tell your story in terms of your responses
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: to all of the things that came your way, Responses
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: to all of those other variables, responses to your family,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: responses to opportunity, responses to illness, responses to tragedy, responses
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: to moving from city to city.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: That would be if you were to do that.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: It would be interesting and it would be honest, and
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: that would be vulnerable. But the reason that's kind of
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: fascinating to think about is this, our responses to what
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: happens around us. Our responses are pretty much the only
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: part of.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Our story that we have any control over.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: But generally we don't think in terms of responses. We
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: think in terms of decisions. Right, Well, I decided this,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I decided that. But a decision, a decision is simply
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: a response to the options you're presented with, right, And I.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Think of it this way.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: If the event of our life that we have no
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  Speaker 2: control over, if those are like the dots, our responses
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: is what connects or what connects the dots. And this
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: explains in part why two people can come from identical
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: environments or be presented with identical challenges or presented with
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: identical positive, good opportunities and end up in entirely different
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: places in life. And when I was thinking about this,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: I just thought of standardized experience as foster parents. We
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: were active foster parents for ten years, and lots of
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: kids in are out of our home and interfaced with
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: lots of different parents and all kinds of family systems,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: And it was I mean, we saw this played out
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: in real life, and some of you have two in
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: different environments, to watch people respond in completely different ways
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: to the same opportunity, the same challenges, the same dysfunction,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: the same opportunities to.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Move out of that dysfunction.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Their responses were so different, even though the challenges opportunities
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: we're virtually identical. And to see where their lives went
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: based on their responses to virtually identical opportunities that came along.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: And you've experienced this, we.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Just haven't thought of it in these terms, and you've
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: watched that play out with friends or maybe family members.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: But there's even more to this.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, Not only this is so interesting and important from
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  Speaker 2: where we're going, Not only do our responses connect the dots.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Of the things that come our way in life.
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  Speaker 2: Our responses actually influence what the next dot looks like,
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  Speaker 2: or the next opportunity looks like, or the next option
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  Speaker 2: looks like.
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  Speaker 1: So to some degree.
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  Speaker 2: And then maybe there's exceptions, and you're smart, so you
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: may be sitting here thinking of the exceptions.
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  Speaker 1: That's okay to some degree.
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  Speaker 2: I think to a large degree, we individually we're no
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  Speaker 2: better or better off than our responses. Because our responses
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  Speaker 2: direct the course of our life. Our responses are kind
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  Speaker 2: of like the steering wheel of our life. And in
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  Speaker 2: that way, our ability to respond, your ability to respond,
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  Speaker 2: my ability to respond, our what we're gonna call our
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  Speaker 2: respond ability is our superpower. And I call it a
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  Speaker 2: superpower because our respondability empowers us to choose our way forward,
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  Speaker 2: to choose our way to the options that are presented
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  Speaker 2: to us. And it allows us, or empowers us to
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  Speaker 2: choose our way forward. And this is important from where
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  Speaker 2: we're going, regardless regardless of what life brings your way,
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  Speaker 2: brings my way.
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  Speaker 1: And regardless of what life brought your way.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, your respondability, your respondability empowers you to
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  Speaker 2: choose a response rather than having a response dictated to
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  Speaker 2: you by circumstances. Your superpower empowers you to respond rather
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  Speaker 2: than merely react.
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  Speaker 1: And this is a very important differential. Okay, reacting put
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  Speaker 1: this up here.
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  Speaker 2: Reacting positions us to become a reflection. Reacting positions us
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  Speaker 2: to become a reflection. Reacting to positions us to become
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  Speaker 2: a reflection.
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  Speaker 1: Of And you've seen that a.
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  Speaker 2: Reaction is essentially holding up a mirror so that we
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  Speaker 2: see in ourselves what is happening around us, and we
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  Speaker 2: absorb it, and before long we begin to reflect the
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  Speaker 2: people we don't like.
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  Speaker 1: We begin to reflect the circumstances that came our way.
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  Speaker 1: That we would not have.
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  Speaker 2: Chosen to react is to relinquish control of our lives.
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  Speaker 2: But a measured response, a measured response is different.
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  Speaker 1: It ensures that you.
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  Speaker 2: Don't become like and this is maybe super important for
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  Speaker 2: somebody today or somebody watching. A measured response ensures that
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  Speaker 2: you don't become like someone you don't like.
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  Speaker 1: Your response ability empowers you to turn bad to good.
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  Speaker 2: Your response ability empowers you to thwart the evil intentions
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  Speaker 2: of people. A measured response sets you up to redeem
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  Speaker 2: pain in your life. It sets you up to intoxic
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  Speaker 2: generational cycles to reverse even the course of a life,
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  Speaker 2: or even the course of the life of someone you love.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, a measured.
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  Speaker 2: Response is amazing, as we're going to see, which begs
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  Speaker 2: the question, Well, Andy, if it's so great, if it's
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  Speaker 2: so powerful, then why don't we employ this superpower all
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  Speaker 2: the time? And here's why, and here's why we're talking
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  Speaker 2: about this in church. The response that has the potential
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  Speaker 2: to reverse the natural course of things isn't natural. The
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  Speaker 2: response that has the potential to reverse the natural course
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  Speaker 2: of things isn't natural. In other words, the catalytic response,
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  Speaker 2: the response that really makes the difference, the unexpected response.
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  Speaker 2: The catalytic response is not the intuitive response. But and
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  Speaker 2: here's why we're talking about this in church, that is
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  Speaker 2: the life. The catalytic response, the nontuitive response. The unexpected
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  Speaker 2: response reflects the life that Jesus has called all of
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  Speaker 2: us to live, and reflects the life that Jesus has
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  Speaker 2: called all of us to embrace. In fact, if you
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  Speaker 2: know much about what Jesus taught, it was this idea
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  Speaker 2: was behind his most outlandish Who does that commands commands
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  Speaker 2: like love your enemy?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, what kind of response is that?
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  Speaker 2: What kind of weak response is that you don't love
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  Speaker 2: an enemy when you realize you have an enemy. Your
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  Speaker 2: natural response to an enemy isn't a response, it's a reaction.
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  Speaker 2: And the normal way of things is to react in
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  Speaker 2: like kind. Right, And Jesus, is your love your enemies.
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  Speaker 2: And here's the one we all violate. Pray for those
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  Speaker 2: who mistreat you. Okay, let's just be honest. Don't raise
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  Speaker 2: your hand. Most of us don't even pray for the
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  Speaker 2: people who treat us well, much less than people.
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  Speaker 1: Who mistreat us.
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  Speaker 2: And what is your normal response to somebody who mistreats you?
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  Speaker 2: To mistreat them back, or to talk bad about them?
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  Speaker 2: And Jesus says, no, I want you to put them
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  Speaker 2: on your prayer request list. And I don't want you
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  Speaker 2: to pray at them. I want you to pray for them.
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  Speaker 2: I want you to pray for their best interest. No,
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  Speaker 2: but who does that.
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  Speaker 1: That's not a reaction.
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  Speaker 2: That is a measured, unusual response.
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  Speaker 1: Forgive regardless.
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  Speaker 2: Wait, wait, wait, somebody hurts me, somebody hurts somebody I love.
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  Speaker 2: The natural reaction is not to forgive, is to retaliate.
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  Speaker 2: And Jesus says, that's why I want you to choose
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  Speaker 2: the way of the measured response, because the way of
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  Speaker 2: the measured response changes things, reverses things, and stops things.
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  Speaker 2: And this is what we've been called to. You know,
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  Speaker 2: you've heard it said, you know, turn the other cheek.
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  Speaker 2: You may not even know that Jesus is the one
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  Speaker 2: that said that, turn the other cheek and turn the
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  Speaker 2: other cheek. Wasn't he says, if somebody hit you on
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  Speaker 2: the left cheek, you know, turn the right cheek.
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  Speaker 1: The idea it wasn't.
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  Speaker 2: If somebody punches you don't punch them back.
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  Speaker 1: This was an idiom.
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  Speaker 2: This was a first century idiom that meant if somebody
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  Speaker 2: insults you, you don't return to favor, you don't insult
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  Speaker 2: them back to which it's like, but that's so unnatural,
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  Speaker 2: that's so not intuitive, that's so difficult.
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  Speaker 1: And Jesus says, that is my way.
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  Speaker 2: And this is the way that changes families and changes
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  Speaker 2: communities and changes schools and changes nations. And once upon
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  Speaker 2: a time this was the way, the way of Jesus
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  Speaker 2: changed the world. It's the upside down way of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: It's the way.
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  Speaker 2: It's the way that turns bad to good, It turns
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  Speaker 2: the tide, it breaks change. It's not intuitive, and we
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  Speaker 2: miss it. But let me tell you what what you've
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  Speaker 2: experienced when you see this, when you see someone do this,
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  Speaker 2: when you see someone forgive regardless, when you see someone
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  Speaker 2: not retaliate, when you see someone not return repay evil
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  Speaker 2: with evil, you don't consider them weak. You consider that
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  Speaker 2: amazing because it is the way of Jesus. And you
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  Speaker 2: were made and I was made in the image of God.
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  Speaker 2: And when we see that, it is a reflection of
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  Speaker 2: the image of God. Because God so loved this broken,
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  Speaker 2: sinful world, he didn't retaliate. He sent his son to
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  Speaker 2: pay the price for our sin. This is the way
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  Speaker 2: of Jesus. It is not weak, it is powerful. It
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  Speaker 2: is catalytic. It's what changes things and reverses the course
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  Speaker 2: of a life, the course of a family, the course
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  Speaker 2: of a city, the course of a group of people,
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  Speaker 2: the course of nations. And I don't want you to
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  Speaker 2: miss it, and I don't want us to miss it.
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  Speaker 2: So we're going to talk about it for three weeks
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  Speaker 2: starting today.
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  Speaker 1: And here's how we're gonna talk about it. It's gonna be fun.
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  Speaker 2: We're gonna we're gonna explore this, this way of thinking,
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  Speaker 2: this catalytic response, idea by doing a deep dive into
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  Speaker 2: the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 1: Story of the life of Joseph.
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  Speaker 2: Now, if you're new to Bible study, there are a
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  Speaker 2: lot of Joseph's in the Bible. Two famous ones Joseph
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  Speaker 2: the father of Jesus and Joseph the son of Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: So we're gonna call him Joseph.
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  Speaker 2: Jacob's son because he's the son of Jacob. You didn't
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  Speaker 2: think that was funny anyway, Okay, so you you you
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  Speaker 2: probably know this story, or you know most of the story,
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  Speaker 2: but we're gonna tell it anyway. I'm gonna try to
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  Speaker 2: keep it interesting. And Joseph's story, this is Joseph's story.
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  Speaker 2: This is why we're unpacking the story.
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  Speaker 1: This is not an exaggeration.
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  Speaker 2: Joseph's story is a testament literally to the sanity preserving,
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  Speaker 2: course reversing power of a measured response or a series
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: of measured responses. As we're going to see, and if
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  Speaker 2: you know the story, his consistency is remarkable, and his
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  Speaker 2: consistency is fueled, as we're going to discover, by his
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  Speaker 2: confidence that God was with him.
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  Speaker 1: And as we're going to.
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  Speaker 2: See, he had virtually nothing to base his faith that
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  Speaker 2: God was with him on versus us, who have so
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  Speaker 2: much evidence that God is with us. And he responded
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  Speaker 2: to all of these circumstances as if God was with him.
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  Speaker 1: He responded as if God was.
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  Speaker 2: With him when he was abandoned, when he was alone,
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  Speaker 2: when he was powerless, when he was forgotten, And he
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  Speaker 2: responded as if God was with him when his fortunes reversed,
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  Speaker 2: and he wielded the power of life and death over
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  Speaker 2: his enemies. You've probably again heard the story. Here's the context.
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  Speaker 2: About two thousand BC, God waded into the mess of
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  Speaker 2: this sinful world, and he chose or spoke to a
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: man named Abraham, and he told Abraham, this is remarkable.
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  Speaker 2: He said, Abraham, you're going to become a nation of people.
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  Speaker 2: And Abraham had no children at the time. You're going
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: to become a nation of people, and that nation is.
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  Speaker 1: Going to bless the world.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hands,
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  Speaker 2: because it's rhetorical and ridiculous.
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  Speaker 1: But if I were to ask you.
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  Speaker 2: To raise your hand, how many of you have heard
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  Speaker 2: of Jesus of Nazareth, you would all raise your hand,
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  Speaker 2: whether you're a religious person or not, whether you're from
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: a different faith, tradition or not. The existence and the
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  Speaker 2: reputation and the enduring effect of Jesus of Nazareth is
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  Speaker 2: a direct reflection of God's promise to Abraham two thousand
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  Speaker 2: years ago. I'm going to make from a man, I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to create a nation.
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  Speaker 1: For that nation is going to become someone.
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  Speaker 2: Who blesses the world Jesus of Nazareth. So you can
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: put a check in that box.
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  Speaker 1: Anyway.
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  Speaker 2: So Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a
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  Speaker 2: son named Jacob, and Jacob had twelve sons.
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  Speaker 1: This is fascinating.
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  Speaker 2: He had thirteen children to tell, sons, one daughter. All
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  Speaker 2: thirteen children came from two different wives and two maids
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  Speaker 2: of his two different wives, because things were different back
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  Speaker 2: then now unfortunately or fortunately, and this is what creates
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: the tension in the story. Jacob had a favorite son
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  Speaker 2: because he was the son of his favorite wife. The
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: son of his favorite wife that was his favorite son
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  Speaker 2: was Joseph. And then there's a lesson to be learned
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  Speaker 2: here as well. Don't have a favorite wife. Okay, every
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: time somebody had a favorite wife and the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 2: it created all kinds of chaos. So if nothing else
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  Speaker 2: guys don't.
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  Speaker 1: Have a favorite wife. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: Anyway, moving on, So, because this was the favorite son
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  Speaker 2: of the favorite wife, Jacob showed favoritism to Joseph and
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: gave him his more attention and gave him more wealth.
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  Speaker 2: And as you may know the story, he had this
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  Speaker 2: extraordinarily expensive multicolored coat that he gave his son. That
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  Speaker 2: was evidence of the fact that he was the favorite.
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  Speaker 2: So here's what happened that fan the flames of jealous
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  Speaker 2: among the other ten brothers.
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  Speaker 1: The youngest brother wasn't a part of that. And when
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  Speaker 1: Joseph was seventeen.
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  Speaker 2: The text gives us so much detail, and by seventeen,
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  Speaker 2: you were a grown man at seventeen. In ancient times,
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  Speaker 2: when he was seventeen years old, his father sent him
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: to check on his brothers. They were far away in
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  Speaker 2: a pastor taking care of sheep.
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  Speaker 1: He sends Joseph.
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  Speaker 2: The brothers are like always, come in to spy on
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  Speaker 2: us again and give.
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  Speaker 1: A bad report back to Dad.
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  Speaker 2: They hate Joseph and they decide, let's put an end
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  Speaker 2: to this, let's kill him. So they take Joseph, strip
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  Speaker 2: him of his beautiful coat. They put blood on it
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  Speaker 2: of an animal. Later on, they take Joseph. They stripped
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  Speaker 2: him of all his clothes, and they put him in
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  Speaker 2: a well or a sister in a big open pit
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  Speaker 2: that didn't have any water.
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  Speaker 1: And their attention was to kill him. But they couldn't
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: figure out how should we kill our brother? And we're
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: going to pick up the story right there.
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  Speaker 2: Genesis chapter thirty seven says this, as they sat down
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  Speaker 2: to eat.
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  Speaker 1: This is the ten brothers.
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  Speaker 2: As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked
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  Speaker 2: up and they saw a caravan of ishmael lites coming
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  Speaker 2: from Gilead. These were urchants on their way from Gilead
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  Speaker 2: to Egypt to sell their goods. And Judah, who is
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  Speaker 2: the fourth oldest brother, said to his brother's Judas said
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  Speaker 2: to his brothers, what will we gain if we kill
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  Speaker 2: our brother and cover up his blood? In other words,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: if we kill our brother, we're gonna have to lie
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  Speaker 2: about it.
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  Speaker 1: Then he said this, I have an idea. Come. He says,
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  Speaker 1: let's sell.
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  Speaker 2: Him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him.
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  Speaker 2: After all, he is our brother. They're like, this is
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  Speaker 2: so merciful. I think this is the right thing to do.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's good. Judah, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll just
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: sell him, because after all, he is a brother.
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  Speaker 1: So they sell Joseph.
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  Speaker 2: They take his beautiful coat, put animal blood on it,
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  Speaker 2: take it to their father Jacob, and say, we found
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  Speaker 2: Joseph's coat. It looks like a wild animal killed him.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: And they lie and they break their father's heart and
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: at and that moment, this is so important, that moment,
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  Speaker 2: these boys, these young men, become.
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  Speaker 1: Liars for life. Now look up here.
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  Speaker 2: Don't ever do anything that has the potential to make
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: you a liar for life. In other words, if you
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: are tempted to do something and you know you will
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: be ashamed to talk about it later, and you will
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: be tempted to lie about it later, you are on
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: the verge of becoming a liar for life. And that
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  Speaker 2: lie will follow you throughout your life. It'll follow you
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  Speaker 2: to your grave, or it will follow you to a
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: point of great embarrassment later in life when you have
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: to acknowledge what you did. Just don't do anything that
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: makes you a liar for life. Okay, devotional thought over
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Back to the story.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: So the Ishmaelies now have Joseph. He's terrified.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: He can't understand their language, but he knows they're taking
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: him somewhere as a slave.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: To be sold, to be sold for what he could
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: only imagine.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Now, Joseph, the text tells us, had been taken down
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: to Egypt and Potipher the text tells us pot for
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials. The captain
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: of the guard bought him from the Ishmaelites.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Who had taken him there.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Pause, and nobody is looking for Joseph. And Joseph knows
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: nobody is looking for him, and no one is looking
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: out for him.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Or so it appeared.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: And then this, the very next verse says this, the
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Lord was with.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Joseph.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: And this is a problem. This is a problem for
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: some versions of faith. This is a problem for some
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: versions of Christianity, maybe the version of Christianity you were
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: raised on. In fact, perhaps this is why you left
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Christianity because of the injustice in the world.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Where is God? Where is the good? God of God
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: is good?
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Why does so many bad things happen to children? Why
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: does so many bad things happen? And as the people
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: and you lost your faith in God, because come on,
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: let's face it, if the Lord was with Joseph, then
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: none of this would have ever happened in the first place, right,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: and that how it works. When God is with you, things.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Work out for you. Isn't that how it works?
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Right with compere Christians do not believe in that God,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: and neither did Joseph. In fact, Christians, I've said this
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: over and over and will continue to Christians believe in
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: a God who allowed the worst possible thing to happen
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: to the best possible person, and he was still large
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: and in charge. And it was through what happened to
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: that best possible person that the redemption and the salvation
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: of the world came.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: This is the way of our God.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: And somehow, some way, Joseph, somehow understood that and decided
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: that he would respond to these circumstances as if God
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: was with him. So Joseph employed his superpower, his respond ability.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: He responded as if God was with him. The text
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: goes on.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: And says this with Joseph so that he prospered as
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: much as a slave could prosper He did not consider
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: himself prosperous.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: He was not prosperous.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: He was the son of a very wealthy man who
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: is now a slave. He was a son and a
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: man who had his own slaves.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: So he's not prospering.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: But the text tells us he prospered as much as
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: the slave could prosper. And then the author gives us
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: some detail. The Lord is with Joseph, so that he prospered,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master,
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: so he got to live indoors.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: That's a big step, right, but he was still a slave. Now.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: The other thing about this story, I want you to
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: understand it, and you do because you read novels and
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: you watch movies and even you know twenty five season
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Netflix series.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Eventually they come.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: To an end, right, So everything comes to an end,
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: and in those series, all the stories always compressed, right,
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: You don't experience time with the.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: People in the stories.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: So this story, like any story, is compressed because stories
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: are always compressed. So it sounds a little bit like,
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: you know, he showed up on Monday, he got bought
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: on Tuesday. By the next Tuesday, he was inside working
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: for the Egyptian and then two weeks from that. These
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: are years, and this is why the author of the
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: story gives us so many pieces of so much data
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: in terms of how old Joseph was he shows up
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: as a seventeen year old, but he was still a slave.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: When his master saw that the Lord was with him,
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: even though Potiphar didn't understand what was going on, that
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: there's just something about this guy, and that the Lord
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: gave him success and everything he did. And the reason
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: the Lord gave Joseph success and everything he did was.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Because he did everything he could.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: And he refused, as we're gonna see, he refused to
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: accept that he was a victim of circumstances. Somehow he
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: was able to gain and keep the confidence that in
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: spite of what has happened to me, God is with me.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: He continued to respond as if God was with him
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: over the course of years, so when his master saw
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: gave him success and everything he did, Joseph found favor
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: in Potiphar's eyes, and he became Potiphar's personal attendant, and
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Potiphar eventually put eventually over the course of years.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, of course, there's no weekends, there's no days off.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Every day is the same.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: But over the course of years, he eventually put Joseph
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: in charge of his entire household. In fact, the text
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: tells us that he entrusted into Joseph's care everything he owned.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: And the Lord blessed.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: And I think there's there's some irony in this statement
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: that we might miss. The Lord blessed the household of
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: the Egyptian, but the Lord didn't bless Joseph in terms of.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: What you could see and what he experienced.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: The Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: But Joseph continued to do the unexpected. He responded as
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: if God was with him when it appeared that God
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: had abandoned him, and.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: You and you and you and me.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: He did not know the end of his story, and
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: there was little evidence to go on.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: This is where I want to kind of dig in
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: a little bit. There's no Bible, there are.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: No miracles, there's no Egyptians in the Red Sea and
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: the miracles and Pharaoh. That's all later all he has.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: All he has, there's no literature, there's nothing documented.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Yet.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: All he has are the stories his father Jacob told
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: him about his grandfather Isaac, who told his son stories
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: about his father Abraham.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: That's it. And somehow, with.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: Very little to go on, Joseph decides to trust the
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: invisible God who has done nothing for him lately. It
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: is pure faith with very little evidence. And here's the
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: thing for you, okay, and the thing for me. If
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: you're not a Christianity from a different faith tradition, just
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: with you know, for a second, just listen to this,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: because I want to say something to all the Christians.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: We have so much to go on.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: We have the entire faithfulness of God through the Old Testament,
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: the arrival of Jesus, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the evidence
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: of the resurrection, and the evidence of what happened after that.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Two thousand years later, we gather with people from all
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: over the world to worship Jesus, the fulfillment of a
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: promise made to Abraham in two thousand BC. We have
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: zero reason not to trust God.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: We have zero reason not to believe that God is.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: With us, because Jesus showed up and said, through the
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: authors of the New Testament, I will never leave you,
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: and I will never forsake you. And we don't have
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: to just go almost blind faith. We have every reason
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: to believe. You have every reason to believe, regardless of
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: your circumstances, that your heavenly.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Father is with you.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: But to experience that and to invite him into the promise,
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: and to invite him into the circumstances of your life
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: and into my life. We must respond to the dots
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: and connect the.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Dots as if God is with us.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: And that requires not a reaction, but a measured response,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: not a reaction that causes us to become a reflection
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: of something we don't like, but a response that says,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: in spite of what's happening, I'm not a victim because
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: my heavenly.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Father is with me.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Which leads me to ask this question that we're going
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: to ask throughout the series. How would someone in your
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: circumstances respond.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: If they were confident God was with them?
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: And this is going to be the homework as we
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: end in a few minutes, But here's what I would
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: like for you to try to do, especially if things
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: are going not well, and maybe even more especially if
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: things are going very well, as we're going to see,
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: to sort of pull out and to look at you
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: as if you weren't you, but to look at your
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: life as if you were on the outside looking at
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: someone who is you, who has what you have, doesn't
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: have what you don't have. It is experiencing what you're experiencing.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Who was born where you were born, in the family
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: that you came from, who stood back and looked at
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: you and asked the question, how would someone like that
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: respond right now to what's going on? If that person
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: who's you was confident the God.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Was with them.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: What would someone who as you do if they were
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: confident that God is up to something, that God is
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: not finished, that God is part of your story, that
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: there's more to your story than meets the eye.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: And here's why this is an important question.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Your answer to that question, And let me say this,
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: I'm not suggest you do anything. I'm just suggesting you
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: think it through and come up with the answer. Your
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: response to this question is an invitation to exercise your superpower,
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: your respondability, to respond rather then react, to do the
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: unusual thing, To respond in the way that no one
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: else would normally respond. To respond in such a way
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: that people notice, not to give you credit, but to
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: wonder what is up and what is different about you?
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: To allow confidence in God, compure, to allow confidence in
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: God rather than life, circumstance or fear, to be your master.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: This is why, this is why Jesus invitation is so powerful,
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: he says, I don't want you to react to your circumstances.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: I want you to follow me, and I want you
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: to follow me, and I want you to watch how
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: I respond to persecution.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: I want you to watch to see how I respond
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: to suffering.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: I want you to watch to see how I respond
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: to when it looks like God has abandoned me. I
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: want you to watch and look how I respond to
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: people in need, how I respond to people who think
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: they have all the answers. I want you to follow me,
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: And if you follow me, you will live the life
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: of the measured response that makes all the difference in
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: your world and in the world.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: And here's the thing.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Joseph was a slave, but Joseph was free. And Joseph
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: was free in the sense that he refused to accept
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: that his brothers, the Egyptians or the Ishmaelites determined his destiny.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: He lived as if God determined his destiny in spite.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Of those people.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Never underestimate the power of a measured response, because I know,
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: I tell you this all the time. You have no
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: idea and I have no idea. What hangs in the balance.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: You have no idea and I have no idea who
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: hangs in the balance of your decision to respond rather
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: than react.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Now, if you know the story, you remember what happens next.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Right, the brothers, you know, they've told their dad, you know,
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Joseph was killed.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: And then one day they're.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Out of the pasture and they're talking around the campfire.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: You know, they set up a campfire one night and
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: they're chatting, and.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: You know, Jesus like, guys, oh, my conscience just been
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: bothering me.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: And they're like, yeah, mine too, and they're like, you know,
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: we need to do.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: We need to go to Egypt. We need to find
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: our brother, We need to buy him.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Back, we need to take him back, and fall down
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: in front of our dad and say good news, bad news,
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: good news.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Your son is alive. Joseph is alive.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: We lied to you, We send against you, and we
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: send against God. Remember that, no somebody read it.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: It got worse.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: What happens next is a response to his response.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: What happens next is a response to his faithfulness.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: This is why the story eventually intersects with all of
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: us in some way.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Now, Joseph was well built.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: And handsome, which made him standing naked on an auction
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: block being viewed and purchased terrifying. Now, Joseph's well built
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: and handsome, and after a while his master's wife, Potipher's wife,
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: took notice that Joseph and said, come to bed with me.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: This is not a request, this is an order. She
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: belongs to him, he's property. Nobody says no. This is
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: now a no win situation. All this responding well, all
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: this faith in God, all this you know, respondibility, and
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: all the nonsense the preacher said, suddenly this is that
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: is a complete waste of time.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: It's not working. Why care? Why try?
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: There's no now, there's no potential for a happy ending.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: There's no way there's going to be a bow on
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: any of this. He's a dead man either way. If
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: he betrays his master and the master finds out he's dead,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: She's probably done this a dozen other times.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: And where are those other men? Where are those other slaves?
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: If I say no, I'm dead, If I say yes,
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: I'm dead, And once again Joseph deploys his superpower a
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: measured response. Now, Joseph was well built and handsome, and
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: after a while his master's wife took notice of him
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: and said, come.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: To bed with me.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: But he refused, And we're going to pick this story
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: up right there next time and part two of the
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: Response of a Lifetime. But in the meantime, here's what
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: I want you to think about. With the things are
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: going great for you, terrible for you, or you're kind
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: of right in the middle. How would someone in your circumstances,
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: at school, at work, at home, in your family, with
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: your husband who won't come to church with you, with
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: your wife who won't come to church with you, with
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: your parents who they you feel like your parents are
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: losing their minds, but you're.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Living there and watching this.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: How would someone in your circumstances respond. You don't have
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: to commit to it, just how would someone in your
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: circumstances respond if they were confident God was with them?
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Look a here, I'm done.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: Your circumstances will whisper to you that you have no
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: choice but to react, but to react, just reflect?
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: What would it look like?
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: What would it look like to reject what your circumstances
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: dictate to you and respond as if God is with you?
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: What would it look like for you to leverage your superpower?
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: You'll respond ability.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: If you choose that option, you open the door for
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: God to do the unusual, the unexpected, and there may
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: never be a bow, or there may never be a
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: bow in your lifetime, but He will redeem your pain
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: for his glory.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: And someone somewhere, at some point will remember, and they
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: will remember.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: You because of your catalytic response instead of your normal.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Everybody does that reaction.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: That's why I say this question is an invitation to
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: me every single day. It's an invitation to you to
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: employ to leverage your superpower, your respondability, and faith that
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: God is with you