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Can't Catch A Break | Yap Ken-ji · Generations Church

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  Hey, this is NDEO the Past of Genes Church, and this is a
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  podcast. Thanks for tuning in. I hope that this message encourages and inspires
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  you in your work with God and your journey of faith. Enjoy the message.
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  God bless so for all of you guys who don't know. I always
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  think that my life is the toughest. Yep, I have the toughest life
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  compat to everybody else. When I see everybody else's life, I go like,
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  hey, your life is very good. My true story. I look
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  at Justine Way, I go like, I think your life is pretty cool.
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  Like look at Condish, I'm like, I think your life is pretty
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  cool, better than my life. So I go like, his life is
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  definitely better than mine. You know, I look like other people. I
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  go like, your life is so much better than mine. Then, so
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  when my friend asked me, how are you, and I go like,
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  well, let me tell you how tough my life is. Let me tell
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  you how tough because we're trying to connect, right, So in my head,
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  I go like, let me tell you how tough my life is.
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  And then and then you go and then I go like, all right,
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  are you ready? Let me tell you so I started my sister of cancer,
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  and then he stopped me, saying, bro, my sisters can your
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  sister cancer. My mom and my brother actually went at the hospital because they
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  are skidsophrenic and also they are My brother is so so my brother's secrets of
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  friendiche. My sister is no. My mom is psychosist. So they both
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  ended up in the hospital last week. I'm like, serious, amen,
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  sorry to hear that man. Then as a convenation, go along that shad.
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  Amen. My dad's a strong patient, so I have to take care
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  of him. He's not mobile, he's not himself anymore. Then my friend
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  that he shed, Oh, my dad has left me a long time ago
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  and then recently and then recently I reconnected with him. He didn't care about
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  me. I'm like, oh, okay, another thing that way. I
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  saying, oh, you know all this while all the money that I've earned
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  I cannot use for myself. I have to use for my family. So
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  that's pretty sad. Then he's like, oh, yeah, me as well,
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  me as well. So I've like my sister who came and dropped two
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  children with me about ten years ago and disappeared for ten years. So I've
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  been raising this two children for all the previous ten years of my life.
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  I look at him, like, are you in La? You're in LA?
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  Your life is tough for them mine, You're in You're in and home.
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  I told my wife this story. Then my wife go like, you
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  know, Kenji, You're not the only one that goes through a tough life
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  here, you know. And I go like, you are right, you
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  are right. And I start to realize that although everybody here is all smiling
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  and whatnot, everybody has their stuff. Everybody has their tough life. Everybody
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  goes through some things. Although here you might be happy, but maybe at
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  home, I don't know. Maybe you never tell anybody any of these things.
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  But God knows a man, and I believe that today God wants to
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  minister to that your tough life, your tough stuff, and I believe I
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  believe that everybody will you know, be minister too in this sense. So
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  I title this message today can't catch a break. Yeah. I feel like
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  I can't catch a break. I think that in our life sometimes a lot
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  of things happen over and over again. Especially for myself, I experienced it
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  over and over again, and you just can't really catch a break. It's
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  like good things happen. Finally you can brief and go like, oh,
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  everything is fine now, and then the next minute something happens and go like
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  oh, man, for example, yeah today it's a good day. I
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  can to church. Oh okay. So this is a great example after all
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  these things that actually happened. I actually went to travel last year, and
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  then we were sledding. So I was sledding somewhere and then then I got
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  a phone call from my mom saying my sister went to the hospital because she
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  has walked in her lungs. So I couldn't even get one month worth of
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  just chill. And then something happens again, and then I come back,
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  and then you find out that she has cancer, and then did so and
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  so on forth, and for those who have known me for many years,
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  things just keep happening in my family. This is an exact quote from someone
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  within the congregation who, as she said, hey, can she I feel
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  that you just can't catch your break. Man, just thinks she's happening to
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  you. And yes, so I feel you as well. I understand how
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  you guys are going through. So what brings what minister to me in this
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  season? This year? That I've learned is from the Book of Genesis,
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  and we're going to study a bit about the story of Joseph Genesis chapter thirty
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  seven. We're going to read a little bit about the story of Joseph,
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  and let's learn about his life a little bit, all right, Yeah,
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  before that, so before we're going to read this scripture, I'm not going
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  to share the whole thing, because if I, you know, read the
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  whole Passions of Titus, I think you guys probably go home ready by then.
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  But we're going to take out a little bit different parts of it by
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  encourage everybody to go back to you just reach the whole story, and I
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  will draw certain parts of the scripture for us to learn about it. So
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  in summary, for those of you who haven't heard the story of Joseph before,
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  Joseph was part of this is actually this person in the Bible. He
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  was part of a big family. He had a lot of siblings, He
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  has a lot of brothers and sisters. And what he was his dad's favorite,
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  and then his brother didn't like him. What happened after that was that
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  he was sold into slavery by his brothers. And then he thought everything was
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  I thought that was like the worst part for him. And what happened after
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  that was that he got thrown into prison because he was accused of rape,
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  and then he was there for like a long time. So all these things
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  happened in his life, and then eventually he got sort of like give him
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  a opportunity. He saved the whole Egypt, and then so on so off,
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  and then he got to renite in his family and everything. So all
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  this whole process took the teen years he was in jail from slavery to jail
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  for him to become prime minister. So let's see what we can observe from
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  this scripture, Okay. So Genesis, chapter thirty seven, verse six to
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  seven. He says he said to them, listen to this dream I had.
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  Verse seven. We were binding sheafs of grain out of out in the
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  field, when suddenly my chief rose and stood up right while your chief gathered
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  around mind and bowed down to it. This is when Joseph was really young.
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  He shed this story, he shed this vision he had to his brothers.
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  So what I caught from this is that we actually have an ideal life.
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  But he actually didn't turn out that way, right. I mean,
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  when we were younger. So at a very young age, Joseph has his
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  vision, you know, like from God, who everybody's gonna bow down to
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  you. That's great. So I'm sure he's gonna imagine, right that has
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  he gone with life. Everything's gonna be spine like. For example, he's
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  gonna think he's gonna go university. He's gonna have this great job. He's
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  gonna slowly climb the ranks and they become this like the prime minister of the
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  land, and then everybody's gonna bow down to him. He has this great
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  idea in his head. That's why he shares it like so confidently. When
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  my family was going through tough time when I was young, this is what
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  I believe that time. We have no money, right, so we live
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  with out electricity, you know, we don't have enough food, all that
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  sad stuff. I used to believe that one day I'll become very rich,
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  very rich. Let me tell you why. It's because of the story of
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  Joseph. I believe that the tough for your life is like yourself, you
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  went to gym and everything the richer you're becoming the future. Because anyway,
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  Joseph grow up, you go very rich, right, So I used to
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  believe that. I'm like, oh man, thank you Jesus for this tough
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  life. Eventually, when I grew up, I'm gonna be the richest man
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  in Malaysia. I'm gonna like pay for others that I'm gonna pay for everybody.
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  And then eventually I'm gonna buy ten houses and gonna stay in every one
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  of them every day. That's what I'm gonna do. That was when I
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  was younger. I grow a little bit older, reality hit me and I'm
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  like, maybe I won't be the richest man in Malaysia, Okay, but
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  maybe when everybody grows older, older, when they're working, we'll be fine
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  because everybody gets to take care of themselves. And then when I was at
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  their age, when I'm the youngest in the family and I started working,
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  oh man, it's still the same. Until today, it's still the same.
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  What I have in my mind really didn't turn out that way. I
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  don't know how many you guys relate to this. When you were younger,
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  you dream about something and today it's just something entirely different, and some of
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  it might frustrate you, because I know you should frustrate me that time maybe
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  for some of you, I mean for the youth as well. When you
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  were younger, you kind of dream that you want to go to disney Land
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  together, I know I did with your parents. You want to go to
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  Disneyland. But then you go back home minute you realize your parents are fighting
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  every day, and then you and there's some of you who are working,
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  you kind of dream about that income like, yeah, you know, I'm
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  going to be promoted and everything. But in reality is that for some reason
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  everybody else is getting promoted but not you. Maybe you just go into a
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  relationship not long ago you have this dream about, you know, you and
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  your girlfriend having this great thing going on, like yeah, you and your
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  boyfriend and girlfriend having this great thing going on. But it didn't turn out
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  that way. So we all have our own ideals, but it didn't turn
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  out that. That's why you're feeling this way. So the second thing I'm
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  going to draw out from the story of Joseph is that these things actually were
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  out of his control. Genesis, chapter thirty nine. It says that so
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  in this story, he was working in the house as a slave, and
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  then his master's wife came on to him, tried to sleep with him,
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  but then he actually said no, and then something's happened. So Genesis thirty
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  nine, verse ten to eleven, it says, and though she spoke to
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  Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bit with her and or
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  even be with her. Verse eleven. One day he went to the house
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  to attend to his duties, so he was just minding his own business.
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  He didn't go looking for trouble, right, and none of the household servant
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  was inside. She caught him by the cloak and said, come to bit
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  with me, And he left his cloak in the hands and ran off his
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  house. Then we move on to verse nineteen. When his master heard the
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  story, his wife told him, say, this is how your slave treated
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  me. He burned with anger. Verse twenty. Joseph's master took him and
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  put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. He
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  was trainin into prison, not because he did something bad, not because of
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  anything. It was just out of his control. People accused him and he
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  and he couldn't do anything about it. So he started with his brothers,
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  you know, who sold him into slavery. He had no control over that,
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  And then he was caught and then he was sold into this household no
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  control again, he didn't have his own rights, and then he were trying
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  to jail no control again. For me personally, I don't know how many
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  of your feel this, but when I read this, it kind of heats
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  it different for me because I've always believed that I lived the consequences of other
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  people's choices growing up. Maybe for you is your parent, maybe for you
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  is your siblings and stuff. But for me, I didn't ask for any
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  of this up. I didn't really ask for this hot life. I just
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  wanted a very normal life. I wanted to go to school. I wanted
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  to have a normal paying job. It's because of all these things that happened
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  to me that, like, oh, you know that that changed me.
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  I always believe I didn't ask for any of this. But my father at
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  the time, he made a bad business decision. So we were actually pretty
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  okay when I was young, like a baby or something. And then he
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  made a bad business decision and then he lost the house, he lost everything.
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  We were chased by loan sharks. We were, you know, constantly
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  running from gangsters. I had to pick up phone calls and and tell and
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  tell them my family's not at home. I have gangsters coming to my house.
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  My family's pictures were all around town. And then because of that decision,
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  I have to go through all that. Even after today my mom doesn't
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  have a house to live in and I have to provide for that, and
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  it's really heavy. I never asked for any of this, and I think
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  even got heavier. So like Joseph, he was just in a house,
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  the clean stuff, right, and then go to prison and I go like,
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  oh man, I feel Joseph as well, because what happened was that
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  at first it was just money. At first, it was just money.
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  I'm like, okay, you know what, even though I have to eat
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  bread every day, I'm okay, I'll just I'll just pay for what I
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  can. At first, in my family, it was just money. But
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  then my dad had a stroke. When he had a stroke, he fell
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  and he's not himself anymore. And then suddenly I'm like, okay, now
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  I have to take out of him. But never mind, it's okay.
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  The family's going to go around it. And then the next second, my
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  brother had to go to do missions in Japan. Not his fault. God
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  has called him great. And then suddenly my sister has rheumatat after this,
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  so she cannot live my dad anymore, So how can Jilaw. So what
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  Kenji does is that he has to work for money at the same time,
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  he has to be there physically to carry his dad, to wash his pope,
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  to show him and everything as well. I never asked for any of
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  this, but all I know is that I feel Joseph, and he says
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  that when the Bible kind of shows that he was out of his control.
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  So for you guys, our things in your life out of control as well,
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  You guys feel what I'm talking about, like you know, your parents
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  fighting every day, your friends betraying you, your boss, favoring other people.
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  For Joseph especially, these things was really out of his control. And
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  here the next observation that I have, this one was the one that I
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  go like, man, for Joseph, it happened over and over again.
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  Really just can't catch a break, right. Oh, it's a really long
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  one. So all the way till all the way till even after he even
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  after he saw redeem Egypt, I mean safe Egypt, you know, bring
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  everybody in, he still have to go to stuff at That's what's the next
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  scripture phone there. Yes, so this is after. This is after he
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  settled everything. He thought his life haester than peace. And then that's where
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  his brothers came to visit him. His brother came to Egypt not to visit
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  him, but to buy grain. And then he met his brothers after so
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  many years, so Verst ninety says, then he remembers his dream about them
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  and say to them, you are spies. You have come to see where
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  all is, where our land is unprotected. He had to deal with that
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  kind of emotional trauma. He had to deal with that kind of emotions.
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  He have to like, oh man, after all these years, I thought
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  I was okay, and then he came back again again and again. So
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  for me, I remember that one day I came home. I was working
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  at the time. I was working public bank, really boring job. But
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  you know he'll take home bound. So what happened? What happens I came
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  home I realized. I remember, I said to myself. When I saw
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  my family eating dinner, I go like, finally, finally, I think
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  we're okay. Because my dad, my mom, my sister, and my
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  brother who were sitting out there eating dinner. Everybody had their own thing going
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  on, and I go like, I think we're okay. And two weeks
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  after that that's where my dad fell and everything changed. These things of this
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  world will not sustain us, It wouldn't give us peace. But as we
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  set our eyes on Jesus, he brings us through all the storms in life,
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  any hardships that we have to face. We just need to look to
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  God to encourage us, to strengthen us and so that we can carry on.
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  This understanding helps me to get up every morning and continue on with life.
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  And honestly, it also helped me to actually have faith to actually marry
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  my wife because I told her that time, I said, I don't know
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  you sure you want to marry into this situation that she's like yeah, I'm
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  like I don't think you're sure. And if I she said yes, I'm
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  like, okay, cool. Thank God she said yes, you should ran
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  away, everybody said, Because for me, this is why I learn with
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  life in Christ, there's so much for to live. There's so much to
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  live for today, Rather than to dream about a break through that we don't
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  know when it's going to happen, Amen for real sure? For so,
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  I just want to end with this scripture, so I thought it's pretty cool.
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  So in Habakuk chapter the Tree, verse seventeen to nineteen, so I'm
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  going to read it. I says, though the cherry trees don't blossom,
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  and the strawberries don't ripen, Though the apples are worm eaten, and the
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  wheat feels stunted, though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty,
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  I am singing joyful praise to God. I am turning cart wheels of
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  joy to my God, my savior God, counting on God's rule to prevail.
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  I take heart and gain strength. I run like a deer. I
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  feel like I'm king of the mountain. Tell your neighbor, I feel like
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  I'm king of the mountain. He Praise God. We trusting God's sovereignty,
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  true all our hardships enough to do the next best thing. And while we
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  constantly set our eyes on Jesus, who will never fail forsake us. We
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  just want to thank God that God is always near and always there for us,
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  because He really loves us. Amen. Thanks for listening to this message.
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  We hope you've been touched and inspired by the word of God. If
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  you have been blessed by what you've experienced. Please subscribe and share with your
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