Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10154 - Valleys Turn Into Mountain Tops - Genesis 41:25-57

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#10154 - Valleys Turn Into Mountain Tops - Genesis 41:25-57 · 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. Hey man, take your Bibles, open
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them to Genesis chapter 41, and let's finish off the chapter
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this time. Genesis chapter 41 in the Bible
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study is entitled Valleys turn into mountaintops.
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Valleys turn into mountaintops. We're following the life of
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Joseph here at the end of Genesis.
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His life is clearly in the hands of the Lord.
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Even though it's been challenging and hard and
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difficult for Joseph, we know that his life is in the hands of
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God. He paid the highest price in his
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family. Of all of his siblings, he paid
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the highest price for his dad's failures in relationship to that
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favoritism. And it started there in his
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family. The challenges that he faced, he
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goes from the pit. To prison, to being forgotten
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and now standing before Pharaoh. Along the way he's learned that
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the Lord is with him wherever he is.
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Just jot this Psalm down. You may need it this week in
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Psalm 95 and verse three it says, For the Lord is the great
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God and the great King above all gods.
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In his hands are the deep places of the earth.
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The heights of the hills are his also.
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The sea is his for he made it, and his hands form the dry land.
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Oh, come and let us worship and bow down.
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Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God, and we
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are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.
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Today you will hear His voice. Isn't that true even now?
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Today you will hear His voice. It wasn't too long ago that I
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was sitting in my office. And I may have shared this
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before, but I'm gonna do it by repeating, because I'm reading
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this verse and I think it's important that you download this
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song if you have music, whatever you use for music.
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So I'm sitting in my office, and when I'm in my office, there's
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almost always people in there. But this was just one of those
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moments where nobody was there in front of my computer doing
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whatever I was doing. The door was open.
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And if you haven't noticed, in our building we have music
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playing 24 hours, seven days a week, worship music.
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It's all piped all throughout. Anywhere we could put a speaker.
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Even we have speakers pointing to the parking lot because if
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somebody wants to rip us off, they're going to have to worship
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God while they're ripping us off outside.
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But really, it's to set the pattern in the atmosphere so
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that when you even when you get out of your car, you come onto
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the property. This property is dedicated to
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God. It is saturated with music that
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honors God. And if all the electronics work
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and all the knobs are turned, there is worship music playing
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everywhere in this building all day, all night, including in the
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offices. So my door was open, I and I'm
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there for a moment, catching my breath.
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There's really nothing in front of me.
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And the music caught my ear. And that is another reason why
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we have music pipe in through because you never know when you
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need to be encouraged or you just need a song to be played
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and and that's where the Lord's gonna use.
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And there was this song and as I'm listening to it, I'm like
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reminded. It reminds me of music that I
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grew up with as a new believer. It sounds so similar to the type
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of music that the vineyard put out so many years ago.
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And it's a genre of music that I was so appreciative and and just
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recently even brought it all back to be encouraged.
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I've got downloaded a bunch of 90s CD's really They don't do
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CD's anymore of of that music that I grew up on to remind me
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and strengthen me and encourage me.
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So I'm listening to the song in my office and I don't know what
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it is. So I pull out Shazam and I go,
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boom, I want to hear and and so I put my phone up there, let it
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play for me, and it's a song. If you want to download it, it's
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called pastures, PASTURES. And it's such a beautiful song
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that reminds me even as I'm reading this, that God, you are
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my God and we are the people of your pasture.
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We belong to him. And the song talks about not
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only God, Jesus taking care of us.
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In green pastures, but also when we come to him that we have
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found everything we've been looking for.
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He has us completely taken care of, not place of abiding.
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Pastures and I don't quite remember.
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Let me see, let me just take some moment here.
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We we don't have any service afterwards.
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So let me just see. Let me give you the artists,
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especially as this plays back on the radio at another time.
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It's house fires. That's who I thought it was.
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So if the name of the song is Pastures and the album that it
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or the group that sings it is House Fires and I just know
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it'll bless you. It's a lower key song, a slower
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song. It's one of those meditative
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songs that will encourage you and remind you that you are the
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sheep of his pasture. And even today, you know in the
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in the political climate and what's going on, you're seeing
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these phrases pop up as if it's a bad thing to be a sheep.
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I don't know if you've seen this, but you're just a sheep.
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And I know the motive of that. It's all the different things
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that are happening in the culture, in the world.
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But we don't live primarily in this cultural world.
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We live primarily in the Kingdom of God.
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And I want you to know on the authority of God, that in the
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Kingdom of God it is a good thing to be a sheep.
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You want to be a sheep. You want to trust the Lord with
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your life. You want him to take care of
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you. You want him to sustain you.
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You want him to encourage you? You want him to remind you that
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you are in his hands, that he's taking care of your life, that
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there's meaning and purpose in these times like Joseph's life,
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that he doesn't have anyone to explain this to him.
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He doesn't yet know how good it is.
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He only knows the bad. And yet, even in the bad he's
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embraced that he follows a God who's faithful.
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And you know, here we are as believers, living in the New
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Covenant in Dwelt by the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy
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Spirit, baptized with the Holy Spirit.
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We have a Bible in almost every version.
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If you have a phone, then you've got 25 versions on your phone.
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And we live with less faith than Joseph did.
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And God says no more. Walk by faith.
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Trust the Lord with your life. You're in his hands.
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You're sheep of his pasture. He's going to take good care of
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you. And in our lives we certainly
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have these experiences that are described as the valley.
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The valley You get the picture of low, dark, difficult, the
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unknown, the hills so high you can't see where you are.
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The psalmist. David he uses that phrase
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remember and Psalm 23. He do uses the valley and he
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talks about the Good Shepherd. Taking care of him as a sheep.
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And what does he say? Yeah, though I walked through
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the valley of the shadow of death, of fear.
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No evil. The valleys can be scary and
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hard and almost seemingly endless.
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But you know, he's the God of the valley.
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That was a setup for Amen. So let me say it again.
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Do you know he's the God of the valley?
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And you need to know that. And there are other times where
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we have this glorious mountaintop experience where
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things couldn't be better, where victory comes, prodigals come
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home, the lights go back on. It's wonderful.
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We're not in the valley anymore. And you know what?
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He's the God of the mountaintop. That was another setup.
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Church. Stay with me.
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I don't want to hear people on the radio louder than you.
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He is the God of the mountaintop, so it doesn't
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really matter where you are. God is there with you.
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He's faithful in victory and in defeat.
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In the Highs and the Lows, God rules and reigns in our lives.
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His timing is always perfect. He allows and uses the trials
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and suffering to strengthen us. At times, He uses the trials in
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our lives to Chasen us, to draw us back to himself, to teach us,
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to discipline us, to disciple us.
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Why? Because God is preparing us for
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the place He has prepared for us.
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God is always doing a work, and many times we lose that
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consciousness of him in the valley.
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We forget this as we're going through times of suffering.
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We sort of lose the consciousness of who God is, but
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he's still God of the valley as well as the God of the hills.
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He is with you and you're not alone.
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Joseph's life is a great example of this.
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We pick up again where we left off.
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We'll kind of overlap a little bit.
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Pick up in verse 17 of Genesis 41.
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Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Behold, in my dream I stood on
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the Bank of the river, and these 7 cows came up out of the river,
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fine looking and fat, and they fed in the Meadow.
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And behold, 7 other cows came up, poor and very ugly and
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gaunt, such ugliness that I've never seen in all the land of
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Egypt. And the gaunt and the ugly cows
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ate up the first seven and the fat cows, and they ate them up.
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No one would have even known that they eaten them.
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Or they were just as ugly as at the beginning.
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And I awoke and I saw in a dream, and suddenly 7 heads came
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up on one stock, full and good. And behold, verse 23, seven
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heads withered thin, blighted by the east wind sprang up after
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them, and the thin heads devoured the seven good heads.
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And so I told this to the magicians, and there was no one
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could do it that could explain it to me.
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And then Joseph said to Pharaoh. The dreams of Pharaoh are one.
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God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.
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So positive for a second. And let's be reminded just how
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fast God gives the answer. Joseph gets brought in, he's
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remembered. In prison, He gets brought into
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the the known of the leader of the known world.
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He hears these wild dreams and instantly a quick answer from
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the Lord. Just as the last breath is
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leaving Pharaoh's lips, just as the last word is finished the
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last syllable. God already has an answer and
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Joseph already has it, because God can move that fast.
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Pharaoh here represents to us the world in which we live, what
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they're experiencing, what they're going through.
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I mean, it stumbles you in time at times.
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How do you think the world feels?
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There's no purpose and no no direction, and everything's
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going to be lost. But we know there's a better day
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coming, and not all is lost. And people in our world are,
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like Farrell today, mixed up and confused.
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They don't understand why there's so much evil in the
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world. They don't understand why kids
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are hooked on drugs. They can't figure out what's
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going on in Israel, in the Middle East.
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They don't know if there's life after death.
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They they are approached to Jesus.
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He's mythological and he doesn't exist.
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And God he couldn't have created.
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And there are fanciful theories to replace God.
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But you're like Joseph, and Joseph here becomes a type of
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you, and you have answers that come from God.
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You answer with the wisdom of God.
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You answer with the word of God. To give meaning and purpose that
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the spirit of God will take the wisdom and word and bring it
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home to their hearts. Because I know how it feels.
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People ask you hard questions and you only say what you know
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and you're like, I don't even feel like it's all sufficient.
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I don't even know if that was the right answer.
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But you know, you give your best and the Lord will take the rest.
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You let him take his word and use it.
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You just give it. I know you feel ill equipped
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that you don't know much about the Bible.
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But there's no qualification to know much about the Bible, to
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give an answer or to talk about your testimony or what God has
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done or is doing in your life. For some of you, it's just, hey,
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man, I don't know. God loves me.
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I'm reading the Bible right now. It's kind of hard to understand,
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but it I check it out, it's kind of cool.
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I'm reading in Genesis right now.
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But I do know this. I was blind, but now I see.
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And you know, especially if they knew you before you got saved,
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you're like, you remember who I was.
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I remember well. I'm not that person anymore.
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Well, how is that possible? Well, let me introduce you to a
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man. His name is Jesus, and I'll just
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once you come to church with me, that's how that amend Just come
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to church with me or no, I don't ever set foot in church.
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Well, that's fine. We'll bring the church to you.
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There's a radio station, You can listen all on your own.
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You can just tune it in. And there's so many tools for us
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that you you, you have to ask yourself with all of the reasons
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why you're not stepping into lives, are those reasons?
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Listen, church, hear me out. Are those reasons just really
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excuses? For not living the light that
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God has given to you and just stepping into people's life.
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You don't need to know the Bible.
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You don't need to know it front and back in order to love
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someone. And you know over time you're
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going to learn. Over time, you're going to gain
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some things. Over time you're going to grass
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some of the difficulties. Over time you're going to be
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able. Maybe the answer is yeah, and
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evil in this world. It hurts my heart too.
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And you share one of the difficult stories in your life.
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Or God has been comforting you where you have some things
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unresolved where? Someone in your neighborhood or
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someone at work actually begins to see a real believer in their
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lives. Not one that has all the cliches
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and all the bumper stickers and all that.
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Not not one that just speaks in in things not experienced, but
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rather a real believers living life on a different plane at a
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different level, but experiencing the same things.
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Let me show you a scripture. Turn over to John 14 for those
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of you that feel ill equipped today.
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For those of you that just like are still yet unconvinced, let's
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listen to what Jesus had to say. He says it much better than I
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have. Go to John, chapter 14.
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Pick up with me in verse 25, John 14, verse 25, he says.
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He says these things I've spoken to you while being present with
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you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit,
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whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all
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things and listen, bring to your remembrance the things that I
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said to you. There's the work of remembrance.
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In the Gospel of Luke, and I believe as a chapter 12, Jesus
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instructs the disciples. He says when you're brought
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before magistrates, you're brought before these like
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someone like Pharaoh is just overwhelming.
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You don't know what to say. He's he basically says don't
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worry about what you're going to say because the Holy Spirit will
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give you the words that are needed in that moment.
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You don't need to worry about it.
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Don't worry yourself out of faithfulness, just trust the
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Lord along the way. I believe Joseph was here before
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Pharaoh, prayed up and prepared, and now he stands with
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confidence to speak forth the word of God.
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Joseph said to Pharaoh verse 25. The dreams of Pharaoh are one.
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God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.
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The seven Good Cows verse 26 are seven years and the seven Good
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Heads are seven years. The dreams are one.
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The seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are
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seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east, one
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or seven years of famine. This is the thing which I've
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spoken to. Pharaoh.
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God has shown Pharaoh what he's about to do.
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Indeed, seven years of great plenty will come through all the
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land of Egypt, but after them seven years of famine will rise,
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and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt,
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and the famine will deplete the land.
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The dream covers 14 years. Pharaoh in just a quick amount
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of time. God gave him the insight in his
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dream that, I mean, you know, check this out.
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God doesn't have to do this, but he speaks to an unbeliever in
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dreams, which is a big testimony right now in the Middle East,
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among the Muslims in the Islamic world, that God is breaking
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through all the barriers that are up against the gospel and
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against missionaries in the Bible and in Arabic.
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And it's he's break, God is breaking.
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None of that stops the work of God.
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He's speaking to the guys and gals with dreams right to them.
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Like Pharaoh here. Oh, I don't.
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You're reading the some of these stories and you might be real
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skeptical. I don't believe this.
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I don't believe it. But this is not new stuff,
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folks. God is able to break through
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even beyond what you're able to do, like he's doing with
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Pharaoh, and he gave him insight of the next 14 years and then
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gave him someone to interpret it for him.
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And that may be one of the prayers that you have for your
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loved ones. Like Lord, send somebody that
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can interpret the life situations into their lives
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because they're just not listening to me.
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Send someone with a voice. And so there's a warning about
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Egypt of famine and drought and destruction.
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And it was really good news for Pharaoh to know ahead of time so
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that he could prepare. And already Pharaoh's thinking
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about how he's going to handle it.
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Notice in verse 31. It says so the plenty will not
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be known in the land because of the famine following.
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It'll be very severe, and the dream was repeated to Pharaoh
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twice because The thing is established by God, and God will
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shortly bring it to pass. Now therefore, let Pharaoh
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select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land
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of Egypt. So don't miss what what Joseph
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is doing here. He's making sure Pharaoh
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understands. This is God, this is God, this
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is God, this is God. It's not your magician's, it's
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not me. God is giving you insight.
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Not only is God showing you, but God will also bring it to pass.
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Notice back in verse 28, it says this is the thing which I have
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spoken to Pharaoh. It's my voice.
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But God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do, what he is
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about to do. Listen, it's important to
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remember that man can't save himself.
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It's the work of God. Man can't save himself.
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You can't redeem yourself. You you're unable to forgive
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your own sins. You remember John when he was in
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Revelation, as he have that that word that was given to us, He
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was so overcome. He he was at that place where
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who's going to open the scrolls? We're done.
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There's nobody here that can open the scrolls in Revelation
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5, verse 4. So I wept much, John says,
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because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or
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to look at it. But one of the elders said to
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me, do not weep. Behold the lion of the tribe of
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Judah. The root of David has prevailed
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to open the scroll and to lucid 7 Seals behold Joseph.
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There's a greater than Joseph as we read of his life.
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Jesus Christ, He is able. He is able when we are unable
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and unable when it's impossible. With man.
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It is possible with God. God is going to do it, Pharaoh.
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God's going to take care. It's not you, not me.
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These years of plenty and years of famine, they're going to be
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sent by God. It was all part of his
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providential plan. Why?
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Well, we can look back now and we know they don't know this
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yet, but we can look back and they know this.
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First of all, this dream and all of this happening in Egypt, What
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things that were happening in the physical realm.
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Famine, painful difficulty. First of all would get Jacob and
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his sons out of Canaan. Now, how would you know that?
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I wouldn't know that. We wouldn't know until it
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happens. But I'll tell you just as sure
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as I'm speaking to you. Now you can read the rest of
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Genesis. You will see that this event
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will get Jacob and his sons out of Canaan.
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Remember back in chapter 38 when we were studying then with Judah
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and Tamar we saw just how wicked and corrupt they were becoming
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in Canaan. They needed to be taken out of
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the land. Secondly, this famine would get
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the the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons into Goshen.
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That's where God wanted them, where they would grow and
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multiply into a large nation. So the work that God's doing
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through the global or the regional, I would say with
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Egypt, it's more of a regional thing.
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The thing that God's doing regionally in Egypt is for the
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sake of movement, he's going to deliver a family, a small group
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of people, and then he's going to place them where they belong.
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It isn't that true in your life. Through trials and difficulties,
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it moves us from one place to another.
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And if we follow the leading of the Lord, He's going to place us
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in the new position where He wants us to be.
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You see, it's good to be reminded in whether it's said
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out loud or not in Bible study. One thing we remember in every
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Bible study is that the story of your life is not about you.
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It's God using you and me and the circumstances in our life to
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arrange eternal history. That's hard, because sometimes
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to arrange eternal history, He has you in a valley.
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And nobody likes the valleys. The valleys that represent
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difficulty and challenge and darkness and sorrow and sadness
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and fear. Death.
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Nobody likes that death is an enemy.
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But if he wants to get you out of Canaan, he may bring famine
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in your life. If he wants to get you to
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Goshen, he might bring famine in your life.
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It'll help you explain some of the world events today.
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You don't need to know all the answers.
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You don't need to have it all put together.
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You don't need to piece together and all this.
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And what about this? And what about that?
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Certainly it's prophetically fulfilling what the Bible has
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already said. But I do know this, even though
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I don't have the answer for everything.
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And what's this? And who's the Antichrist and
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what's going on? And what about artificial
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intelligence and all the things that can waste your life trying
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to figure out? I do know this.
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God uses famine to move his people into the right place.
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And if you're willing, got to move you to the right place.
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For what? For?
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For the sake of displaying Messiah.
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That's what this is all about. The whole Bible with points to
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Jesus. That's the whole Bible Jesus
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said in the volume of the book. It is written of me and you step
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back and you're like man, Lord, I don't like this.
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I don't want this, but I embrace it.
23:35
If it breaks me to the place or Messiah, Jesus was revealed in
23:41
my life. This is God used famine.
23:46
That's real hunger. It's real challenges.
23:51
It's real darkness for the sake of bringing about plenty to move
23:58
a small group of people in the right place.
24:00
And sometimes you think your life is so insignificant.
24:02
What does it mean? And 8 billion people, I think is
24:05
the latest #8.1 billion people on the planet right now.
24:08
What is my life? Well, your life matters a lot.
24:11
And God will use famine and difficulty in economic collapse
24:15
and and socioeconomical issues and political uprisings.
24:19
And he will use the last days and which we live to move you
24:25
and to place you. And who knows, some of you might
24:29
be standing before Pharaoh, somebody that has great sway and
24:37
importance. And you might have good advice
24:40
for him like Joseph does. I mean, think about these words
24:42
coming out of Joseph's mouth where he is sharing with him and
24:47
he gets to the place and he says, you know, you you're going
24:50
to have to choose someone in verse 33, Pharaoh.
24:54
Here's what Here's what God's telling you right now.
24:56
You ready, Pharaoh? You ready?
24:58
Prisoner just got cleaned up for you.
25:00
But I've spent the last few years in prison.
25:02
I just want you to know, you got to know something, Pharaoh.
25:05
You got to select a discerning and wise man and you got to put
25:09
him in charge. Do you think he has any idea
25:15
that? That's a different way of saying
25:18
I think I'm the guy God sent me to you.
25:23
I think I can help. God has more wisdom.
25:27
He's going to give it to me. But this is humility here.
25:32
This is humility. It's amazing because most of the
25:34
time there's people pushing for position and wanting something.
25:37
And look at me, I mean, again, this is the way the world works.
25:41
So I understand some of it. But on your resume, when you're
25:43
looking for a job, you know, it's not a resume of failures.
25:46
Well, I got fired here and I got fired there.
25:49
I was lazy there and and I want a chance to get fired here too.
25:52
You know, it's like nobody ever puts that you you read your
25:55
resume and you're like, you are the best possible person that
25:58
you can think of. I mean, if you.
26:01
I went to the water cooler and got a cup of water.
26:03
You were the manager of Water Works.
26:06
You know, it's like, here's what I've done.
26:08
I am in charge of water. Dude, you went to the water
26:10
fountain. Come on now.
26:12
But that's the way the world works.
26:14
But the way of humility. Jesus says when you go, don't
26:17
take the front seat, Don't play God.
26:20
I will take care of your life. Yeah.
26:22
But. But if you do it, Lord, I'm
26:23
going to go to pit. I'm going to be thrown in a pit.
26:26
Yeah. Because there's something for
26:28
you to learn in the pit. Well, if I get in the pit, then,
26:31
then I'm going to be falsely accused.
26:32
Yeah. You know, false accusations make
26:35
a man and a woman really check their hearts, man.
26:38
Because you start hearing that kind of stuff and you're like,
26:40
man, is it even true? Lord, you get, you get it
26:43
enough. You're like man.
26:44
Lord, maybe it's true. And the God says no.
26:46
I just wanted to draw you to myself, like you know it's not
26:49
true. I know it's not true.
26:50
So I'm glad you're here, son, because you haven't been here in
26:52
a while. I love those little posts over
26:55
there, and I love that over there.
26:56
I love the famine. You know that.
26:58
I love that. So you could come to me because
27:00
I want to move you and I want to place you.
27:02
Don't forget. Write those words down.
27:04
God is moving me and God is placing me.
27:06
Why? Because He's always preparing me
27:08
for the place He has prepared for me.
27:11
And it's actually not even on this earth.
27:13
You know the place that he has prepared for you is heaven.
27:18
That's our final destination. That's the end.
27:23
To be forever with the Lord. So he's sharing this is like,
27:26
yeah, but you're going to have to choose this wise man notice.
27:29
So let Pharaoh verse 34 do this. Let him appoint officers over
27:33
the land. Collect 1/5 of the produce of
27:36
the land of Egypt in seven plentiful years.
27:38
Let them gather all the food, those good years that are
27:41
coming, and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh.
27:44
And let him keep the food in the cities.
27:46
That the food shall be a reserve for the land for seven years of
27:50
famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may
27:53
not perish during the famine. Joseph doesn't have any idea
28:00
what God is doing, but he's faithful to the Word and Church.
28:03
You don't really know anything that God is doing right now.
28:05
So be faithful to the Word. You don't know and I don't know,
28:11
and this is important to know when you want to quit.
28:14
This is important to know when you think there's no way out.
28:17
This is important to know when you are ready to throw in the
28:20
towel or you're so exhausted, or you're tired of the warfare or
28:24
the temptations are heavy, you don't know what God is doing.
28:27
So be faithful to the word. Be faithful to what you know and
28:32
that the wisdom is. I mean, this is, this is the
28:34
wisdom that God gave him so that he would be the wise man he's
28:37
chosen. But I wonder if Joseph even knew
28:39
what he was saying. He's standing there in humility,
28:42
just like boom boom. And he's like times like you've
28:45
had before. He's like, where did that come
28:46
from? I can't believe what I just
28:48
said. It's like, Lord, you're so
28:51
faithful because I deposited your word into me and now it's
28:55
coming out of me. Verse 37 So the advice was good
28:59
in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all the servants.
29:02
And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find such a one
29:05
as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?
29:09
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, In as much as God has shown you all
29:11
this, there's no one as discerning and as wise as you.
29:15
You, verse 40, shall be over my house, and all my people shall
29:20
be ruled according to your word only In regard to the throne.
29:23
I'll be greater than you. Talk about a promotion from
29:27
prison to 2nd in charge. He's in the palace.
29:31
I'm reminded that God can blow my mind, that he can do
29:35
exceedingly abundantly above all that I can think or ask.
29:41
And you're like I remember I was sharing this story recently with
29:45
the group of pastors is a new believer.
29:47
In the first few years of my walk with the Lord, I had one
29:52
big ambition. And God had to root it out
29:54
because it wasn't all pure, exactly pure.
29:56
So don't misunderstand me like it wasn't the most purest
29:59
ambition, but it was my ambition.
30:01
And quite frankly, it wasn't to seek first the Kingdom of God.
30:05
Although I was in there somewhere.
30:06
I had one ambition couple years into walking with the Lord, and
30:10
that was to be an assistant pastor at the church I was at.
30:14
That's it. I just wanted an office with all
30:17
the other guys and that would have been in my life and I've.
30:20
I think if I were to have ever received that, which I never
30:23
did, I would have been happy with it.
30:25
I think I would have enjoyed it. I think I would have been able
30:28
to do for a living what I've always wanted to do.
30:33
And that's just minister to people and talk to them and pray
30:35
with them and teach the Bible and everything.
30:38
And you know that one big desire had to be rooted out.
30:40
So I never got it. Because along the way I've had
30:44
other desires and other desires, and in the place that God
30:47
prepared for me to have the privilege of serving you and to
30:50
be entrusted with quite a bit of authority and quite a bit of
30:53
responsibility. Along the way, God had to root
30:57
out my flesh and prepare me. And the pathway of preparation
31:02
is brokenness and disappointment and revelation.
31:08
Where I'm sure Joseph at different times in his life,
31:12
he's in the pit. What's his ambition?
31:14
Get Me Out of the pit. God had more than that.
31:18
He was in the pot of hers. House and he's overseeing
31:21
everything, he says. I just want to see my family.
31:23
God had more than that. He gets into prison.
31:27
Well, we know what his desire was.
31:29
It all came down to just one thing.
31:31
We know his desire. You remember his desire in
31:33
prison? Remember Me?
31:36
That's all he had. Just Remember Me.
31:39
That's all. He just don't forget me.
31:41
And what? What happened?
31:43
Well, God had more than that, and here he is being faithful to
31:47
Pharaoh. We don't quite know.
31:50
God doesn't tell us what his desire is here.
31:53
He's just being faithful to the Word.
31:54
He doesn't know the future. He's being faithful to the Word,
31:58
and exceedingly abundantly than anything Joseph has thought
32:00
Along the way, God has placed him in second in command.
32:05
The only thing he can't touch is the throne.
32:08
This is God's doing. This is what I've learned over
32:11
the years. I've learned it in my own life.
32:13
I speak from experience, but I've also seen it in the church.
32:17
Everybody wants the palace, but they don't want to take the way
32:20
of the pit. They want the palace right out
32:23
of the gate. It just doesn't work that way.
32:27
You got to be prepared for it. Well, I'm ready.
32:29
You take me to school. What class can I take?
32:31
Broken this 101 along with pain 1010.
32:38
It hurt. Maybe you can do 201 on that one
32:43
disappointment. Oh, how about this?
32:45
Take the class of being offended.
32:48
You know, learn how to be offended.
32:51
How about this one? And how about the class of I'm
32:54
always overlooked. You know, you're overlooked by
32:58
some, but not by God. You got to learn that you can
33:01
listen to these Bible studies and they're good.
33:03
Got so many seeds into your heart.
33:05
But the best thing to do with the Bible study is to live it so
33:09
that the Holy Spirit can develop you into the man and the woman
33:12
he desires you to be. That even what your ambitions
33:15
are today is godly and as good as they might be, God has
33:18
exceedingly abundantly above all that you can think her ass right
33:22
now. You're in the preparation mode
33:24
and you know if you want to be popular, got to give you
33:27
popularity, and then you'll find out it's nothing.
33:30
You want to be a big dog and a big shot in the church world,
33:33
well, God will let you do that too.
33:34
And then you'll find out there's only one big dog in the Kingdom,
33:37
and you're not it. You know, you want all the
33:41
followers on Instagram. You know, you'll find out it's
33:43
not a big deal. You can buy them and you can
33:46
fake it. It's not that big a deal.
33:49
You can have the applause of whoever and whatever until God
33:54
finally brings you to the place. OK.
33:56
Is it me and you yet? Oh, no.
33:59
I got one more ambition. All right, let me give it to
34:02
you. And then you find out.
34:04
Ah, man, God comes, brings you back, he says.
34:06
Is it you and me yet? Yeah.
34:12
No, I don't think so. I think you still have another
34:14
desire, Okay. I do.
34:15
I have another desire, Okay. Let me get it to you.
34:19
And many times we'll call that, you know, the backside of the
34:22
desert, desert experience. You think of Moses, remember his
34:27
life in the Bible. It separates into thirds very
34:31
easily because he lived for 120 years and in the 1st 40 years of
34:35
his life, you know, as he's living, he's wanting to aspire
34:39
to be someone, He wants to be someone.
34:45
Then he has that great failure and sends them to the desert.
34:48
God does sends them to the desert as a consequence.
34:51
So he can learn that he's really no one, just a shepherd on the
34:57
backside of the desert all by himself, no prominence and
35:02
nobody knows. He meets his wife, has a family.
35:06
What happens in the desert, You know, it's not like nothing
35:08
happens in the desert. Lot happens in the desert.
35:11
For what those first 80 years of his life was to prepare him.
35:14
So he understood that he was no one apart from God.
35:18
That God is everyone. He is the one.
35:21
And I, we don't have all the insights of Joseph.
35:24
I wish there was a chapter on. OK, let me explain to you
35:26
exactly everything Joseph thought.
35:28
But we don't have that. But what we do have is our own
35:31
thoughts. What we do have is our own
35:33
experience. What we do have is our own pit.
35:36
What we do have is our own prison.
35:38
What we do have is our own thoughts over the years and our
35:41
own ambitions till finally the Lord says, is this what you
35:44
really want? And you say, no, Lord, I don't
35:47
want anything. I just want you.
35:50
And then God says now you're going to get it all because
35:54
you're ready. That's where Joseph is.
36:00
He's ready. You are that man, Joseph.
36:04
You're the man. And everywhere Joseph went, he
36:07
just everything he touched was blessed by God.
36:10
God was with him. He was always promoted in the
36:13
positions of responsibility and he was faithful with them
36:16
because that's the reward. Faithfulness is always rewarded
36:19
with more. That's the reward for
36:21
faithfulness. He's now he's placed in second
36:24
in command. This is a serious thing because
36:28
according to one commentary, the Egyptians regarded Pharaoh as a
36:31
divine manifestation in human form.
36:34
By accepting Joseph's interpretation of his dreams,
36:38
Pharaoh chose to humble himself under Joseph's God.
36:42
God rewarded this humility by preserving the land of Egypt in
36:45
the coming famine. And that Pharaoh believed
36:49
Joseph's interpretation and then chose to rank, raise a young
36:53
foreign prisoner to such an elevated position in his
36:56
government is truly a miraculous work of God.
37:01
End Quote. We're watching God move in
37:04
miraculous ways. And I want you to think before
37:09
we head out today. Well, I got more pages, but no
37:12
time. Wait a minute.
37:14
One more thing before we leave. Actually, there's going to be a
37:16
few more things, but I have it in my notes.
37:18
One more thing. I want you to think of a time
37:21
that you were at your worst and you thought it was it, and
37:24
you're done and it's over and you can't go on anymore.
37:28
But overnight or over the course of a week or even now, you can
37:32
see how God has worked, because God doesn't forget us.
37:36
He pulls us out and he pulls us through so that our life becomes
37:41
Psalm 40, verse one. I waited patiently for the Lord,
37:45
and he inclined to me, and he heard my cry.
37:47
He bought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the myery
37:50
clay, and he set my feet upon a rock and established my steps.
37:55
And he's put a new song in my mouth.
37:57
Praise to our God. Many will see it in fear and
38:00
will trust in the Lord. But Pharaoh's not done yet.
38:04
Neither is God. Notice verse 41.
38:07
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I've sent you over all the land
38:11
of Egypt. Farrell took his signet ring
38:13
off, put it on Joseph Sand clothed them in garments.
38:16
A fine linen put a gold chain around his neck.
38:19
He had him ride in the second chariot.
38:21
He gets a chariot on top of this, a four horse, Dr. Chariot.
38:27
And he cried out before him bow the knee, and he set him over
38:30
all the land of Egypt. Verse 44 Farrell also said, I am
38:35
Pharaoh and without your consent no man will lift his hand or
38:38
foot in all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh called Joseph's name
38:42
Zafna Paane, which literally means speaker of secret things.
38:47
He gave him as a wife. Asana, the daughter of Potai
38:50
Pharaoh, priest of on Joseph went over all the land of Egypt.
38:54
He was 30 years old. Don't let anyone.
38:58
What does the Bible say? Don't you young people
39:00
especially don't let anyone despise your youth in the Lord.
39:06
And like I tell the young men and the young women that serve
39:08
alongside of me, and I'll tell you now, there's two parts to
39:11
this. Number one, don't let anyone
39:14
despise your youth. And #2, don't give them a reason
39:17
to. Don't give them a reason to.
39:21
Don't fall prey to the temptations to be in places you
39:25
don't belong. You just don't belong there.
39:27
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
39:32
That's true for adults, older us, older adults, and also for
39:35
your young people. What do you think?
39:37
You so to the flesh? You're not going to reap
39:38
corruption. What do you think?
39:40
You hanging out there, taking, doing that stuff, being so close
39:43
to sin that you think it's not going to tempt you?
39:45
Of course it will. You don't give them a reason to
39:48
despise you. Rise to the calling.
39:50
You're not the future of the Church.
39:51
You are the Church, so start living it out.
39:55
Be the woman. Be the man that God has called
39:58
you to be. And don't give men or don't give
40:01
us these, those of us that are much older than you, Some reason
40:04
to despise you, but rather rise to the call and live in the
40:07
spirit of God. He's ready to empower you.
40:10
Here Joseph, 30 years old, 30 years old.
40:14
He stands before Pharaoh. And Joseph went out from the
40:18
presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.
40:20
Verse 47. In the seven plentiful years the
40:23
ground brought forth abundantly he gathered up all the food for
40:27
the seven years in the land of Egypt, laid the food in the
40:29
cities, laid it up in every city the food for the fields that
40:32
surrounded them. He gathered much grain as the
40:35
sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was out
40:39
without number. God is abundantly blessing His
40:42
word, and using these dreams. Verse 50 Joseph were born two
40:48
sons before the years of the famine came.
40:51
Who? Asanoth the daughter of Potter
40:54
Farai, priest of On board him Joseph called the name of the
40:58
first born Manassa. For God has made me forget all
41:02
my toil in my father's house. And the second the name of the
41:05
second he called Ephraim. For God has caused me to be
41:08
fruitful in the land of my affliction.
41:10
Some of you might need to circle that in your Bible there is
41:13
fruit in the land of affliction. If you would have told me that
41:18
10 years ago, I would not have believed you.
41:20
I I would believe it because it's the word of God.
41:23
But by the time it got from my ears to my head to my heart, I
41:27
don't see affliction bearing much fruit.
41:31
But I've got a little distance from one of the many trials I've
41:34
experienced. I got a few years distance and I
41:37
can see the fruit, I can see it, I can testify, and I can watch
41:45
God use the affliction. I can see an E Firm in my life.
41:50
I can see God working through. I can see his supernatural
41:54
string. I can see the depression
41:56
lifting. I I can see even the
41:58
discouragement. Now it's episodes of
42:00
discouragement. It's not every day and every
42:03
night. And now it's comes in seasons.
42:06
And so I'd rather instead of Four Seasons, I'd rather just
42:08
have one season, a good season forever and ever.
42:12
But then God would be prepared. What?
42:14
What do I have ahead? He's got to prepare me for it.
42:17
And so I need to learn to take my cares to the Lord, just like
42:20
you do. I need to cast my cares upon the
42:23
Lord. Why?
42:23
Because he cares for me. There's fruit in the land of
42:26
affliction. Church, there's fruit.
42:30
He's caused me to be fruitful. Verse 53.
42:33
Then seven years of plenty which were in the land ended and the
42:36
seven years of famine began to come.
42:38
And Joseph said just like Joseph said.
42:40
And the famine was in all the lands.
42:42
But in the land of Egypt there was bread.
42:44
Do you want to know why there was bread in Egypt?
42:47
Because God did it, and he started with a dream that
42:53
troubled the ruler of the world. You know, in the Proverbs talks
42:59
about God, the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and
43:03
he can move it like the rivers of water.
43:07
Sometimes the church sounds like they have such a weak God, just
43:12
so weak. Sometimes the churches are
43:15
crying out, they're not crying out to the Lord, they're crying
43:19
out to man. And you have to ask yourself,
43:23
how's that working out for you? There's no hope in man.
43:30
Some men they trust in Chariots, other trust in horses.
43:37
Some men trust in politicians, systems bosses.
43:46
But the Bible says I'm going to trust in the name of the Lord my
43:49
God. He's my help and he's my string.
43:53
Joseph is, is here. He is.
43:56
God has made me forget God has brought fruit and affliction.
44:03
There's bread and silver's 55. When all the land of Egypt was
44:07
famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread.
44:09
And Pharaoh said to the Egyptians, go to Joseph, who's
44:13
got the bread. This kid from prison, you go,
44:20
he's 37 years old and he's feeding the whole country.
44:25
Unbelievable. Really 44 years old.
44:27
I wish I should say two sets of sevens.
44:31
Notice all the land of Egypt was famished.
44:35
Verse 55 Go to Joseph, do what he says.
44:37
Verse 56 The famine was over all the face of the earth, and
44:42
Joseph opened up the store houses and sold to the
44:44
Egyptians, and the family became more severe in the land of
44:48
Egypt. So all the countries came to
44:50
Joseph in Egypt to buy grain. Because the famine was severe.
44:55
So it wasn't merely a regional famine, but it also affected the
44:59
world. But God used the region to
45:02
accomplish his purposes and to show himself strong.
45:08
Joseph opens up the storehouses and he helped the world.
45:12
And it's amazing the work that God accomplishes through this
45:14
man. Such a wonderful change from it
45:17
seems almost too good to be true.
45:20
It seems almost too good to be true, but it's not.
45:24
God calls this grace, receiving what you don't deserve.
45:28
Even Joseph going through all that pain didn't deserve the
45:30
favor of God anymore than you do or I do.
45:35
And even if God told Joseph in the pit what he was going to do,
45:38
I was reminded that scripture in Habakkuk when God tells a back
45:41
Ich for all work or work in your days, which you would not
45:44
believe even if I told you, that's one reason why God
45:48
doesn't tell you things ahead of time.
45:50
Even if he did, you wouldn't believe it.
45:52
You just got to live it. He wants to live by faith.
45:55
God is at work. It it is something that he has
45:59
not forgotten us. We learned there are things the
46:02
Lord is doing that even if he told us he he would, we
46:05
wouldn't. We couldn't believe it because
46:06
it's a life of faith. It's a life of dependence.
46:10
And here's Joseph living in the tremendous favor of God.
46:13
Listen, Church, God has a purpose in your life and all the
46:16
things you're currently going through.
46:18
He will bring it to pass. And if you tenatially hold on to
46:22
him, that purpose will revealed and you go.
46:24
But God, I don't see it. I don't understand it.
46:26
I feel trapped. I feel like I'm in prison and
46:28
it's in that prison. You have to ask yourself, can
46:30
you rejoice and praise God even in the prison?
46:34
Or do you want to skip to the palace?
46:37
Do you want to skip to the palace?
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Do you think that life's going to be any much easier in the
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palace and the challenges that God will have for you?
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On a personal level, we learn it.
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It's not just merely the circumstances of our life, but
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it's life apart from Christ and the failure to believe His
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purposes will make you frustrated and bitter.
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And there are many today, even now listening to me, that are
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angry with God because God didn't follow their agenda.
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Come across a lot of people like that.
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But God can grab a hold of you as you can grab a hold of him
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and just lay your agendas aside and follow him because he can do
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exceedingly abundantly above all that you can think or ass.
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So God, we pray for our valleys to be in turned into
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mountaintops. We pray for forgiveness where
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we're not praising you in the prison.
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You wait for us. You're patient with us.
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You, you draw us with your cores of love, but you also use these
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circumstances to dramatically turn our life around.
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And then you feed the world around us through us.
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It's unbelievable. And maybe you're here today and
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you're frustrated and you just don't know what God is doing.
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You don't know why these things are happening.
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But now God has your attention, and I just want to speak to some
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of you. God has your attention because
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he wants you to repent of your sins and receive him as your
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savior. Is there anyone here today would
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say, Ed, I need to follow Jesus Christ?
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That's the answer. You don't.
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You don't even have all the language.
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But I can give it to you because I know where it's at in the
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Bible. What you're feeling right now
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and sensing is that you need to be born again.
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You need new life. It's outside of you.
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It's not changing your behavior, and it's not a new place to
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live. And it's not a new job, and it's
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not. You need Jesus.
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He's the answer. And he's been using these things
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to draw you and draw you and draw you till you finally just
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give up and you trust God with your life.
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And so today, if that's you, would you just stand to your
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feet? I want to pray with you and help
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you follow Jesus. I want to help you get on the
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right track of life. You can almost hear Jesus say
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come and follow me And that's the answer.
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Like, that's it. This is where you belong.
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God bless you appear in the front.
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Who else would say that's me? This is it.
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God brought you together with him.
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You're not joining a church or following me.
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This is the work of the Lord in your life.
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This is God alive. You guys online.
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God sees you there too. And listening on the radio right
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now. Isn't it amazing how much God
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loves you that he reached you through the technology that's so
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old? Anyway, everybody's on the
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Internet, but you're on the radio because God loves you
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because God's not done today on the earth, drawing people to
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himself. God bless you in the back.
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Now you guys that responded, there's going to be people
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coming up with you. Up to you, because we want you
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to know the pastors are here to serve you and pray with you.
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So don't be uncomfortable if someone comes up to you.
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This is a family here. You're part of the family.
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God bless you. Here on the side.
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Anyone else? This is special to me always on
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Wednesdays. I got saved on a Wednesday just
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like this, just sitting in a church thinking of I'm beyond,
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I'm beyond this stuff, I'm beyond church.
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The God he was showing me You're not beyond me.
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And here I am, 30 something years later, following Jesus.
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Anyone else this sense there's some battling going on.
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I just want to encourage you. Don't worry.
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It's a friendly place. God is here.
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You're greatly loved. He cares for you and he loves
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you. He's for you and not against
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you. Jesus actually says he did not
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come to condemn but to save. And so the Bible says that if
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you confess with your mouth to Lord Jesus and you believe in
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your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved
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so near or far you can talk to God.
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We call that prayer. That's why we have a prayer to
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help you talk to God, confessing with your mouth what you believe
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in your heart, saying it out loud.
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I believe you died for me, so you can just say God.
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I believe you died for me, that Jesus came to save my soul.
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And I'm asking you to forgive me of all my sin because I want to
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follow you all the days of my life.
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And I believe Jesus rose again from the dead, and he's alive
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right now. And I need you, Jesus, to help
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me, to save me and to keep me God.
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I pray for those that would turn to you tonight, that it would be
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real and genuine. Not just emotional, because
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sometimes pain brings all these emotions, but but really, for
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the sake of the work of your Spirit, that it's real, genuine,
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powerful, near and far. Pour out your spirit in
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abundance or give your spiritual gifts.
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Empower with the baptism of your spirit.
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Today we pray these things in Jesus name.
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Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
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Call us at 87730 Grace. That's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary, Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app, Be Blessed as You
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Worship Jesus this week.