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Andy Stanley - Me My Big Mouth Part 4 Right Where You Want Em · Andy Stanley Sermons

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So today we are wrapping up our series, Me and my big mouth,
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and I'd like to emphasize me and my big mouth because I'm so glad this
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series is over, because I have felt so accountable, and I'm trying to
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think of something to talk about in our next series. It's a lot easier
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for me to apply, but this is difficult for all of us. In
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fact, right out of the gate, James the Brother of Jesus, which
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is such a cool thought that we have a letter or document, first entry
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document from James the Brother of Jesus. He gives us the bottom line,
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and we've talked about this, We've repeated this, and so this is our
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last time to look at this together for a while, he said, And
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I don't know how you improve on this. I don't know how it could
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get any better. His bottom line, our bottom line for this series was
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really simple. It's we are to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
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Quick to listen, slow to speak. This is a game changer for
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relationships. This is a game changer and family. Everybody benefits when everybody does
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this. Be quick to listen, to slow to speak. So our last
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time to say this all together. So everybody in all of our churches,
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and if you're driving, if you're watching by yourself, or you're sitting at
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home with a friend, here we go all together, ready, quick to
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listen, slow to speak, a little quicker this time. Ready, quick
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to listen, slow to speak. And the other thing that James said that
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was a little bit disheartening is he said that we never get control. In
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other words, our mouths are untamable. They will always need a guard.
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They cannot be domesticated. It is never safe to ignore your mouth because we
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never know what's going to come out of them. It's always a threat to
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our relationships. It's always a threat to the things and the people that are
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most valuable to us. Then last week we look at a passage where the
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apostle Paul actually gave us a couple of word pictures. He said, you
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should let and I challenge you to memorize this little statement. He said,
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let no unwholesome word. In other words, let no distasteful word. That's
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what that means. Let no smelly, stinky words come out of your mouth.
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Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth. And so we decided
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that we were all going to try to avoid fishmouth. We were all going
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to try not to be this guy. No distasteful, dishonoring, disrespectful words,
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because if you're not even a religious person, I mean, this is
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just good advice. I mean, this is how you want people to talk
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to you, for sure. But if you're a Christian, we believe that
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everybody we have conversations with was made in the image of God, and if
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they're important to God, how dare we dismiss them with our words or use
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distasteful words to someone who is precious in the eyes or the sight of God.
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So again he kind of lifts us up and sort of raises the bar,
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but then he gives us another word picture that's really helpful. He said,
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we should approach every conversation as if it is a construction site, and
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that our words are actually building materials that as a result of talking to us,
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when we walk away from conversations, when we walk away from construction sites,
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people should be better off. They should be built up. And then
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he kind of got up in our business a little bit, and the apostle
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Paul says, hey, I need to kind of go to the root of
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what is the issue for some of you. For some of you. The
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reason you have such a hard time controlling your mouth isn't what's happening around you
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now, it's what happened to you a long time ago, that there were
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words spoken over you, there were words spoken to you, there were words
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spoken about you that have haunted you ever since. And you've become better.
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And he says you, if you're gonna get this right, you must get
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rid of all bitterness, because it's difficult to be a builder if you're bitter.
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And of course the way you get rid of bitterness is forgiveness. And
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forgiveness is deciding that someone in the past doesn't owe you. It's deciding I'm
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going to give someone in the past what they don't deserve so I can give
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the people around me now what they do deserve. That's what forgiveness is.
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I'm gonna decide you to owe me. I'm gonna give people from my past
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what they don't deserve so I can give the people around me what I do
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deserve. And if we are able to gather up our bitterness and our anger
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and take it to the street and leave it there, then we become we
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have the potential to become the heroes in our own stories. And the reason
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this is such a big deal, I mean, you know this hurt people,
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what do they do? Oftentimes they hurt people. Bullied people have a
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tendency to bully people. Neglected sons become absent fathers. Neglected sons become demanding
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husbands, Abandoned daughters become suspicious wives, and on and on and on it
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goes. There is a brand. And you know this because maybe this is
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your story or maybe the story of someone that's close to you. There is
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a brand of hurt from the past that brands us with a desire to hurt
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the people around us. And we don't know where it's coming from. But
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here's the good news. If you do the work, if I do the
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work, if we do the work of gathering up our bitterness and getting rid
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of our bitterness again, we have the opportunity to be the hero in our
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own stories. But it goes beyond simply forgiving people from the past, and
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it goes beyond simply loving people around us. We have the potential of being
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the hero in our own story because of something I want to talk about today.
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Because every once in a while, every once in a while, not
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for everybody, but every once in a while and for more people. Then
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you might think, and maybe this will be part of your story, even
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though you cannot imagine this being a part of your story. When you think
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about your current story, every once in a while, what goes around comes
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around, and the power less find themselves in a position of power. The
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people who hurt you may someday need you. And how you leverage your words
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when the people who hurt you needs you, how you leverage your words in
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those moments, says more about you than anything else. And I want you
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to be ready. So today I'm going to tell you what I think might
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be the second greatest story ever told. If the greatest story ever told is
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the story of God loving this rebellious race enough to send his son to pay
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for our sins, then perhaps the second greatest story ever told is a story
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that mirrors that same idea that happened long long before Jesus came to earth.
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Now, if you started reading your Bible at the very beginning in Genesis,
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it will take you a long time to get to to Jesus. But if
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you start in Genesis, you're not there for too long before you run into
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a guy named Abraham, and that's where our story begins. God appeared to
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Abraham, or spoke rather to Abraham, and said, I'm gonna make you
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into family that becomes a nation, and through you, I'm gonna bless the
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entire world. And Abraham and Sarah had to wait awhile, but they finally
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had a son named Isaac, and then Isaac eventually had two sons, and
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one of them was named Jacob. But doesn't look like much of a nation.
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In fact, it's not even much of a family. And then suddenly
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things pick up steam because Jacob had twelve sons, and suddenly we're on the
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verge of some tribes, and suddenly we're on the verge of maybe you know,
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two or three, four generations later, you've got a small nation,
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especially by ancient standards. But the interesting thing about this story is that the
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entire enterprise, the entire promise to Abraham, God's you know, goal for
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what he wants to do with this plan of redemption for the whole world through
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the centuries, the entire plan would end up hanging by the thread at one
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person's words. In fact, the entire enterprise could have easily fallen a part
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based on a single sentence from one single person, and that one single person
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actually was one of Jacob's sons, and his name was Joseph. Now,
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Joseph was Jacob's favorite son because he was the son of Jacob's favorite wife.
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Okay, he had two wives and a couple of other ladies he had children
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from. So here's kind of a takeaway for today. Men never have a
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favorite wife, Okay, it will cause problems, And it caused so many
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problems for Jacob because he had a favorite wife named Rachel and had a son
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named Jacob, and Jacob was his favorite son. And then Rachel gave birth
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again to a boy they named Benjamin, but she died in childbirth, so
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he was constantly mourning the loss of his favorite wife, and consequently Joseph Rother
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became his favorite son. So Benjamin's too young to be a part of this
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narrative. But Joseph had these, for the most part, older brothers,
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we think, and all ten of these older brothers despised him and resented him
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because they knew their father loved him more than they loved he loved the rest
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of the boys. So as the story goes, and if you grow up
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in church, or if you're Jewish, you know this story. One day,
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Jacob says to Joseph, I want you to go check on your brothers,
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which Joseph hated to do, and the brothers hated it even more.
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And so Joseph shows up and they see him coming and they said, you
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know, we've had enough of this. This is this is ridiculous. They
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take Joseph, they strip him of his robe that his father, the special
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you know robe his father had made for him, and they throw him in
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a pit that was an empty pit. It wasn't full of water, but
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it wasn't a pleasant place to be. And they decide, you know what,
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let's kill him. But before we kill him, let's have lunch.
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So the text says they sat down, they sat down to eat their meal,
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and they looked up and they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead.
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Meanwhile, you know, Joseph's like, hey, guys, okay,
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guys, you know we don't You know, Joseph, he's got to be
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scared to death. He's just this is terrorizing to him because you know,
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he knows how much they resent him. But they see this, this caravan
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coming in The text says Judas said to his brothers when they saw this caravan
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going by, what will we gain? I mean, what good is it
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to us if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? And they're
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like, yeah, good point. Come, he said, let's sell him
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to the ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him. And then this flood
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of compassion, after all, he is our brother, and all ten went
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m he is our brother. And then the compassion left, and he's our
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own flesh and blood. So they pull him out of the pit. Of
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course, you know, he's terrified, just just terrified. It doesn't know
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what's gonna happen. And then he sees these strangers and they're speaking foreign language
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is plural, and they tie him by his hands and they sell him.
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They sell their own brother to these slave traders. And again, if we
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pause long enough, we had time to create this sense of terror that had
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to be going through his mind. Now. Joseph at this point is seventeen
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years old. He's a teenager, and he is being sold to slavers.
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He doesn't know who he will end up with, and he doesn't know what
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he will be purchased for. And they wave goodbye. And off goes Joseph.
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They know they will never see him again, and he assumes he will
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never see home again. The text continues. Now Joseph had been taken down
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to Egypt, and Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials,
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the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him
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there. And then perhaps the strangest part of the story. In fact,
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this is repeated throughout. It's the theme of the story. And in the
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midst of all of this chaos, the author tells us and the Lord was
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with Joseph so that he prospered. And we think, no, if the
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Lord was with Joseph, Joseph would be home with Jacob, and it would
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be the ten brothers that would be sold into slavery. Right because Joseph hasn't
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done anything wrong. The wicked brothers are getting by with something horrible. I
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mean, if God is with someone, doesn't don't good things happen? And
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throughout this story this is the theme, over and over and over. But
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the more amazing thing to me, and perhaps the message for you and the
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takeaway from me, is that not only was God in some mysterious way with
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Joseph. Through this entire ordeal, Joseph chose to live as a man that
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God was with that Joseph decided to live his life as if God was with
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him, rather than God having abandoned him. Well. Eventually Potiphar notices Joseph
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is a very talented person, and years go by. Okay, the problem
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with the story, it's all compressed in a few chapters. But this is
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over the course of many years, So some years go by. Eventually,
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I guess he learned the language. I don't know if he could even speak
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the language of the people he was serving. Eventually learns the language. He's
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very skilled. Potiphar notices him, and he gives him more and more responsibility,
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and before long, after a few years, Joseph is managing Potiphar's household.
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And Potiphar wasn't the only person that noticed Joseph. Potiphar's wife noticed Joseph,
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and Potiphar's wife comes to him and says to him, and she the
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text doesn't give us this language, but she could have used this language.
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She said to him, slave, because he's a slave. Slave, I
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require your presence, I require you to sleep with me. This isn't an
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I'm commanding you. I own you and slave. I want you, man,
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young man, to sleep with me. And for the first time,
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perhaps in her whole life, she got a no for an answer. Okay.
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Traditionally, in ancient cultures where there are slaves, slaves don't say no,
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slaves don't say anything. Slaves just obey. And this slave, this
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Hebrew slave, has the audacity to say to his master's wife, no,
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I'm not going to do what you require me to do. And the reason
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he gave is amazing. The first reason was, look, your husband has
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put everything he owns in my charge under my authority except for you, So
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how can I do this? But then this next statement is amazing? He
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says how Then he says to her Topotiphar's wife, how then could I do
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such a wicked thing and sin against God, which we think God? You
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mean, the God who has done nothing for you lately, The God who
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watched as you were sold by your brothers to who knows why, for who
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knows what? For? You mean, the God who stood by and did
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not intercede, who did not come to your rescue. This is the God,
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Joseph, that you continue to be faithful to Well, this had to
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have been so offensive to Potiphar's wife because basically he accused her of trying to
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sin, and who knows if she even knew what he was talking about.
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Well, this goes on day after day after day, and he's like,
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no, no, no, no, I'm not going to do it.
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And finally she's had enough, and finally she's tired of the guilt. Finally
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she's tired of this rebellious slave, and she accuses Joseph of trying to rape
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her. When Potterphar finds out he has no options, he takes Joseph and
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he puts him, and the text calls it a dungeon. The text says
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Joseph's master, Potiphar put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners
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were confined. And then again the author brings us back to this theme.
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But but but while Joseph was in the prison, the Lord was with him,
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to which we say, no, See, if the Lord is with
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you, you're not in prison. She goes to prison. Okay, the
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whole thing is that this is not working. Aren't good things supposed to happen
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to good people, and aren't bad things supposed to happen to bad people,
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and if you're faithful, isn't it all supposed to work out? The text
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says, and God he showed him favor in the eyes. He granted him
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favor in the eyes of the prison warden. Again, who wants to have
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favor in the eyes of the prison warden? If you know the prison warden,
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things are not going well for you. Okay, how is it that
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God is with you and you have a personal relationship with the prison warden?
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Because now you're working for the prison warden. And we're reminded of something that
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all of us need to be reminded of every once in a while, that
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bad things have been happening to good people for a long time. But the
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corollary is this God has been with good people in bad times for a long
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time as well well. Eventually, Joseph eventually becomes somewhat of the administrative assistant
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to the warden. He's kind of running the whole prison. He's just got
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extraordinary, very administrative skills. And we find out later in the story he
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does not want to be there. I mean, he has some good luck,
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you know, he had some things work out for him, but he's
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miserable, and based on the description of this prison, this dungeon, it
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was probably underground. Who knows if he ever saw the light of day,
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or how rare it was for him to ever be able to step outside and
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to the sun. Well, as the story goes, Pharaoh's butler and Pharaoh's
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baker fall out with Pharaoh, and Pharaoh has them thrown into the same prison,
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and of course they meet Joseph, and time goes by again, years
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go by, and one day, the text tells us, and it's kind
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of funny that one day they wake up and they see Joseph, and Joseph
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can tell they're down. And when I read this, I think, of
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course they're down. They're like down, They're like in the dungeon, everybody's
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down all the time, but apparently on this particular morning, they were downer
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than normal, down okay, And Joseph says to them, Hey, I
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can tell something's going on. You know what's going on? They both said,
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well, we both had dreams and these dreams were so vivid and the
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real life we feel like they mean something, and we've talked about it,
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and we just don't know what these dreams mean. And Joseph says, well,
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give me a shot. I've in the past been able to interpret dreams.
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So they tell Joseph their dreams, and first the butler goes. He
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says, well, I had this dream. And Joseph listens to the dream
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and he says, well, I got some good news. In three days.
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It's Pharaoh's birthday. And on Pharaoh's birthday he's gonna lift up your head
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and restore you as his personal butler and wine taster. And then Joseph says
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this, it's so honest. He says, but when you're free, tell
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them about me. I was kidnapped from my hometown. I was kidnapped for
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my people. I've done nothing wrong. I do not deserve to be here.
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I want someone on the outside to know I'm here and to get me
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out of here. And of course the butler's thinking, well, yeah,
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if this dream comes true and I'm restored, of course i'll remember you.
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Well. The baker's listening to all this, He's like, wow, that
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was good news. Hey, what about me? So he tells his dream
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Joseph, and Joseph pauses and says, well, your head will be lifted
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up too, off your body unfortunately, and then your body is gonna be
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impaled on a steak, and the birds are gonna come and eat your flash.
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Know why Joseph felt like he had to go into all that detail for
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the poor baker, I don't know. I think he should have said,
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you know, no, I don't know what your dream means. We'll just
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have to I don't know. Boy, Well you know, let's just give
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it a few days, we'll wait and see. Well, sure enough,
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three days later, one of them is beheaded and impaled, and the butler
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is restored, and put yourself if you can. It's difficult for us to
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be in this situation, imagine. And a day goes by, and Joseph
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is thinking, maybe this is the day. Surely, surely the butler is
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going to say to someone on the outside, Oh, you're not gonna believe
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this. There's a guy in our dungeon who predicted this very event. And
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two days go by, and three and a week and a month, and
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the text tells us that the butler forgot all about Joseph. And for some
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of us, that's our life story right now, isn't it. You just
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feel forgotten? And a year goes by, and another year goes by,
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and another year goes by, and for all Joseph knows this is his lot
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in life for the rest of his life. But day after day after day,
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he continues to live as if God is with him. Now Joseph is
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thirty years old, and Pharaoh has a series of dreams, and he's so
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disturbed by these dreams, and they're so vivid, and he believes that somehow
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they mean something. So we calls in the court magicians, and he calls
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in his counselors, and he shares this dream and nobody can come up with
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an interpretation for these dreams. And then the butler remembers and he says to
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Pharaoh, Pharaoh, these are my words, not the text. Pharaoh.
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You remember a few years ago we had that little You know, it wasn't
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a big deal. It wasn't a really big deal, but you did have
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me. I hate to even bring it up. You have me thrown in
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the dungeon for a very short time because it wasn't a big deal. Anyway.
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While I was there, I met a Hebrew slave and he listened to
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my dream and told me what would happen based on my dream, And sure
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enough, it happened, and I think perhaps if he's still there, I
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mean, who knows if he's still there, who knows, if he's still
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anywhere, who knows, if he's a lie, it's been years. But
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if he's there, you should find him. So the text says that Pharaoh
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sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon, and when
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he had shaved because he was a mess, and when he had changed his
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clothes because he smelled like dungeon, he came before Pharaoh. Now again the
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contrast, we can't even begin to picture this, to come into the daylight
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for maybe the first time in a long time. Next thing, you know,
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you're being shaved and pampered and perfumed, and suddenly you know what's going
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on. Well, Pharaoh wants to see you. Pharaoh wants to see me.
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Pharaoh wants to see you. Here's how far you can get to Pharaoh.
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Here's how you walk, here's how you kneel, here's how you bow,
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here's the etique. You need to pay attention. He wants you in
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his presence now. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I had a dream,
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and no one can interpret it, but I have heard it said of you
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that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. Now what happens
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next is perhaps the most courageous phrase, the most courageous statement uttered by anyone
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anywhere in all of history. I mean, this is Joseph's big chance.
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And Pharaoh says, I'm gonna tell you my dream, and then I want
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you to tell me, you know, to give me an interpretation. But
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before Pharaoh can even begin telling Joseph what he dreamed, this foreigner for whom
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his God had done nothing for him lately, says to the most powerful man
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on the planet, I cannot do it, And the butler thinks, Hi
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ho, Hi ho, it's back to the dungeon. I go, Why
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in the world did I bring this up and draw attention to myself and my
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past. This is not gonna go well for me. Now. Joseph should
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have stopped right there, but he doesn't. He says, I cannot do
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it. Joseph replied to Pharaoh. But God, now this is even worse.
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He should have just stopped with I can't do it. May I go,
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please? But God will give Pharaoh, who thinks he is a god,
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who every day of his life is reminded you are a god, that
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you were the son. You were the son of our ultimate God. He
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said, But God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires. Oh, Pharaoh,
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you are little g God, But big g God can answer your request.
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Well, Pharaoh had to have been offended. Everybody in the courtroom's offended.
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You know, get a stake ready. But Pharaoh's like, you know
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what, I want somebody to tell me what this dream meant. So he
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said, here's the dream. He explains it to Joseph. Joseph pauses,
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and Joseph explains to Pharaoh what the dream means. And here's what the dream
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meant. You maybe remember this if you grew up in church. He said,
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Pharaoh, the reason you had a sequence of dreams is because God is
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establishing the fact that this is going to happen, and the dreams mean the
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same things. Egypt is going to experience seven extraordinary years. There is going
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to be so much grain. Your people are going to be swimming in grain.
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People from all over the world are gonna come here and purchase your grain.
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It's gonna kill the economy, probably because the prices are gonna go so
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low. There's gonna be so much grain. But after this seven years,
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there's gonna be a famine, and the famine is gonna be so bad that
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just a short time into the famine, everyone will have forgotten about all the
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abundance. It's gonna be so bad. And so that's the interpretation of your
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dream. Seven years of prosperity, seven years of famine. At which point
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Joseph should have stopped talking. But then Joseph does the unthinkable. Joseph begins
22:22
to give Pharaoh advice, at which point everyone in the court room must have
22:27
moaned. I mean, this kid still smells like Dungeon. And he leans
22:30
in and he says, Pharaoh, here's what you ought to do. No
22:36
one speaks this way to Pharaoh. Here's what you need to do. And
22:38
he kept going. He says, here's what you need to do during the
22:41
years of plenty. You need to bran. You need to designate certain cities
22:45
in the country as granary grain cities. You need to build extraordinarily large silos,
22:49
and you need to tax the people twenty percent of all the grains.
22:52
So for the next seven years, you collect twenty percent of all the grain.
22:56
And and here's the kicker, and you are to do this, Pharaoh
22:59
in your name. And this is why I think Pharaoh let them keep talking.
23:00
In other words, this is a tax on the grain. Nobody's gonna
23:03
care. They're gonna have so much, and this is a tax to you
23:07
personally. You will own twenty percent of all the grain in all of Egypt.
23:11
After the seven years, Pharah's like, okay, Shell, keep keep
23:14
going. This is this is good. Then after the seven years, when
23:17
the famine hits and the rain stops and the crops die and the locusts come,
23:21
then at the right time, somebody needs to pay attention. You're gonna
23:23
open these grain silos, these these cities where all these stores of grain are,
23:26
and don't give it away. Sell it to the people. Pharaoh's like,
23:32
I see where this is going. Keep going, sell it to the
23:33
people. And this is gonna be such a big complicated thing. You're gonna
23:37
need to find somebody to put in charge of this, because somebody cannot take
23:41
their eye off this ball for the next seven years. Somebody needs to wake
23:45
up every single day for the next seven years working on this and then managing
23:48
it on the back end. Silence. The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and
23:56
his all of his officials. It sure did because by the end of this
23:57
story, and we don't have time to go the details, by the end
24:00
of this story, Pharaoh personally owned the entire nation personally because by the end
24:07
of the famine it was so severe people began trading their cattle, their land,
24:11
their slaves for grain. And guess who owned it all in the end.
24:15
So so Pharaoh asked him, can we find anyone like this man,
24:19
one in whom is the spirit of God? Now, when Pharaoh asked a
24:22
question and he kind of telegraphs what he wants to answer to be, everybody
24:26
in the courtroom gives him the answer he wants, because he's a god.
24:29
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has made all of this known to
24:32
you, not only what's going to happen, but what we should do about
24:33
it. There is no one so discerning and wise as you, you shall
24:37
be in charge of my palace. And of course the people who think they're
24:41
second, third, and fourth in line are like, wait, wait,
24:45
wait, wait, okay, we've known this kid forty five minutes and you're
24:48
about to put him in charge of the whole. But you know it's Pharaoh.
24:51
You don't do that. He's gonna be in charge of my palace,
24:53
all my people there to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the
24:56
throne, will I be greater than you? And he makes Joseph the prime
25:02
minister of Egypt. Woo. Joseph gets to work. We know he's efficient.
25:07
He trained in Potiphar's household, but he didn't know he was training.
25:11
He trained in the dungeon. He didn't know he was training. And now
25:15
he has a responsibility of saving a nation. And he gets to work,
25:18
and he builds the storehouses, and he chooses the city, and he organizes
25:21
the whole thing. And for seven years they tax the grain and twenty percent
25:23
of the grain of store. Seven years end, and I mean the rain
25:26
ceases and things get really bad. In fact, it was so bad everybody
25:30
forgot as he predicted. They forgot about the good years. And at the
25:33
right time, when the time is right, they begin to sell the grain.
25:36
And people spend all their money on grain, and they traded their cattle.
25:38
And this famine reached outside the borders of Egypt, all the way north
25:42
to where Joseph's family lived, and they begin to feel the effects. And
25:48
the tech says that when Jacob, Joseph's father, learned that there was grain
25:52
in Egypt. This is funny, he said to his sons, the other
25:56
ten sons plus Benjamin, Why do you just keep looking at each other?
26:00
I mean, we're starving to death. He continued, I have heard that
26:03
there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us,
26:07
so that we may live and not die. In other words, why did
26:08
it even have to cut guys? Come on, we can't We're gonna die.
26:11
You've got to go down there and buy some with his grain. So
26:15
the boys load up and they head to Egypt, and the stage is set,
26:22
and the fortunes have been reversed. Now Joseph was the governor of the
26:33
land, the person who sold the grain to all his people will look at
26:37
there. And apparently the boys showed up in the very city where Joseph just
26:42
happened to be on that particular day, dispensing and overseeing the dispensed seeing of
26:47
grain. So when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their
26:52
faces to the ground. And as soon as Joseph saw them, he recognized
26:57
them, but he pretended to be a stranger, and they did not recognize
27:03
him. And do you know why they did not recognize him? Because he
27:07
walked like an Egyptian. That's why they didn't recognize Joseph. Because he's thirty
27:22
years old. And the last time they saw him, he was a scrawning
27:25
little teenager probably who was terrified, who was terrified, and the last they
27:32
heard of him was him begging for mercy. And they just erased all that
27:36
from their minds, and now they are in the presence of the second most
27:38
powerful person on the planet as far as they were concerned. So here's the
27:44
question we all have to wrestle with. And some of you are not wrestling
27:47
with this now, but you will in the future. I just want you
27:49
to be ready. What do you do when you've got the power and your
27:55
words determine the destiny of your enemy? Happens when things turn around, When
28:00
what goes around came around. What happens when you've got the power and your
28:04
words determine the destiny of your enemy. And the answer to this question depends
28:10
upon what you did with your bitterness and your anger. And if you are
28:15
still dragging it around when this happens, you will be like the people you
28:21
don't like and as his boys were bowed down before him. I'm sure the
28:26
things that he just remembered, those nights with the Ishmael lights, hearing them
28:32
laughing by the campfire, wondering where am I going? What's happening to me?
28:36
Who knows what happened to him or how he was treated along the way,
28:40
the prayers that weren't answered, standing on that auction block, striped naked,
28:45
with people walking around, checking him out from every angle, deciding who
28:48
should purchase, and what he was worth, and what he would be good
28:52
for, what he could be used for, the lie told by Potiphar's wife,
28:56
Just when things at least were you know, in some sort of symbol
29:00
of order and something, you know, a life that he could possibly survive
29:03
and be thrown once again into the dungeon, and there before him are the
29:07
men responsible for all of that For the next three chapters, you should read
29:14
it. For the next three chapters. He plays with them. He says,
29:17
well, I think you're spies, and they're like, no, no,
29:19
no, we're not spies. You know. Do you have any other
29:22
brothers? Yeah, we got a younger brother. Okay, I want you
29:23
to go and bring him and wonder if who's gonna stay here as a hostage?
29:26
They're like, oh no, yeah, if you want grain, He
29:27
gives them grain and they go and for several months, for several months,
29:30
he they're back and forth. He accuses them of being spies. Then he
29:34
sets them up and you know, basically makes it look like Benjamin stole something
29:37
of value. I mean, it just goes on and on and on,
29:41
and basically he's testing them to see have they changed? Are they distilled?
29:44
Are they still the men that I remember when I was seventeen? And I
29:48
don't know, but I'm guessing he had to have been wrestling with his own
29:51
emotions as well. What do I do? What do you do when you've
29:53
got the power and your words determine the destiny of your enemy? And the
29:59
tech says, as this whole story escalates and there's so much detail, months
30:03
again go by, and finally they're all back in Egypt and he gets them
30:08
in a room and he has his attendant in his guards, and then he
30:11
does something that completely freaked them out. The text says that Joseph could no
30:15
longer control himself before all of his attendants, and he cried out, have
30:18
everyone leave my presence, and suddenly they are alone in the room with this
30:23
guy who has given them so much attention, and they just can't figure out
30:26
why has he singled us out? Why all of this interaction with this Why
30:32
are we anyone to this person? So there was no one in the room.
30:36
There was no one in the room when Joseph made himself known to his
30:38
brothers, imagine this moment. And Joseph said to his brothers, he's been
30:45
waiting for this. I am Joseph. And they weddeesthed themselves. Okay,
31:02
that's not in the text, but their bowels released because they expected him to
31:14
do unto them what they had done unto him with one word. Ten steaks
31:22
in the courtyard to be impaled. The way it worked back then, you
31:26
didn't impale everyone at one time. Oh no, that was too quick.
31:30
You had the nine sit in a group with their hands tied as they watched
31:33
the one slowly impaled on a sharp pointed steak, and then you watched as
31:38
he slowly died. And not to be too graphic, you died when the
31:42
steak finally reached your heart because of the weight of your body. And then
31:48
the second brother. This would take hours and hours. It could take more
31:52
than a day. That's what awaited them. Joseph said, is my father
32:00
still living? That's it is my father's He had no idea what was happening
32:05
back at home, but his brothers. Of course, this makes perfect sense.
32:08
But his brothers were not able to answer him because they were terrified in
32:12
his presence, because they were rehearsing as well what was said and what was
32:19
done and what would probably happen to them. But they did not need to
32:25
be terrified in his presence, because Joseph had lived as if God was with
32:32
him during his absence, and he kept bitterness at bay. What Joseph could
32:44
not have known was that God's plan for the ages dangled by the thread of
32:52
his one word, that before him sat the ten tribes of the twelve Tribes
33:00
of Israel, through whom God would introduce the Savior of the World, who
33:07
would do for the world exactly what Joseph ultimately did for his brothers, The
33:14
Savior of the world, who would do for you, exactly what Joseph would
33:19
ultimately do for his brothers. Forgive them, because he didn't carry around a
33:27
bag of bitterness and a sack of anger, even though he had every reason
33:31
in the world to do so. He has them stand up, embraces all
33:37
of them, and says, you're to go home. You're to get dad,
33:40
You're to get your families, your grand family, your kids. I
33:43
want to know all your kids' names. Bring pictures. I want to know
33:45
what's been going on. I've been missing out. I want you to go
33:47
home. I'm going to send as much grain as you you will ever need.
33:51
I'm going to send an armed escort. I want you to bring them
33:52
all back, and I'm going to care for you for the rest of your
33:57
lives. And he does, and years go by, and then Jacob,
34:01
their father dies, and the ten get together and go uh oh, that's
34:07
what he was waiting for. He got us here. We have been his
34:12
hostages all along. He was just waiting for Daddy to die. And once
34:15
Daddy dies, now he's going to exact his vengeance on us and his brothers.
34:22
The text says they came to him and they threw themselves down before him,
34:25
and they said, we are your slaves. We sold you into slavery.
34:31
If you will spare our lives, if you will spare our children's lives,
34:35
if you will spare our grandchildren's lives and the lives of our people.
34:38
We are your slaves. But Joseph said to them, do not this is
34:45
so powerful, Do not be afraid. And then here's the question that you're
34:50
gonna have to ask yourself at some point in your life. Am I,
34:53
Joseph says, in the place of God? Not am I God? I
34:57
know I'm not God, But am I in the place of God? So
35:00
listen to this. You will never experience I've seen this played out some of
35:06
you. It's playing out right now. You will never experience the good that
35:09
comes from the bad unless you recognize God was with you during the bad and
35:16
then refuse to play God when things are good. You will never experience the
35:22
total good that can come from the bad unless you live during those hard,
35:27
tough years as if God is with you, and then you refuse to play
35:30
God when things are good. Joseph said, you you intended to harm me,
35:38
But God's bigger than that. And God was silent, but God wasn't
35:44
still it seemed like God was far away, but God was working. But
35:47
God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving
35:52
of many lives. So then don't be afraid. You're not my slaves.
35:58
I'm not gonna simply not execute you. I'm going to provide for you and
36:01
your children. And he reassured them, and he spoke kindly to them.
36:07
Now here's the thing. One day, maybe one day soon, you may
36:14
have power over the person of the persons who took from you, who hurt
36:17
you, who harmed you, who stole that first marriage, who stole your
36:22
childhood, who stole the opportunity you had to raise your own children. You
36:27
don't know what's going to come around. And in those moments, you'll remember
36:30
what they took from you, and you'll remember what they did to you.
36:34
And in that moment, your heavenly father is going to invite you to remember
36:37
something else as well. He's going to ask you to remember who was with
36:43
you. And in that moment, you'll have a decision to make. What
36:46
will you do? What will I do? When we've got the power and
36:52
our words, your words determine the destiny of your enemy. Will you pay
36:57
them back or will you use those words to pave the way forward? Your
37:06
decision will not be determined by what's happening. Then your decision will be determined
37:13
by what you do between now and then. It will be determined by the
37:16
perspective you maintain between now and then. And I hope that you will take
37:23
your cue from the one who gave his life to you, and not from
37:29
the one or the ones who took life from you, from the one who
37:35
was with you, and not the ones who abandons you. And if you
37:39
do in that moment, you will be like your father in heaven, and
37:46
you will be free.