WEBVTT 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:04.640 This morning we're going to be in Genesis chapter 50 primarily. 00:00:04.680 --> 00:00:08.400 I'm going to set up a sketch for us on the life of Joseph. 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:16.360 But what I want to do is use his story as an illustration for us in the practice of faith when we go 00:00:16.360 --> 00:00:17.590 through adversity. 00:00:18.700 --> 00:00:22.580 The idea of how to have faith when your feelings aren't there. 00:00:23.180 --> 00:00:28.640 And sometimes I'll jokingly say, when I wake up in the morning, I don't always wake up singing Chris Tomlin songs to the Lord. 00:00:29.140 --> 00:00:33.440 I have great days in the Lord and I have challenging days in the Lord. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:40.510 And when it comes to faith and feeling, we all wrestle with how to walk with God when we don't always feel like it. 00:00:40.900 --> 00:00:48.160 And while I very much enjoy having wonderful feelings when I walk by faith, feelings don't always follow 00:00:48.160 --> 00:00:48.500 faith. 00:00:48.740 --> 00:00:53.320 They are connected to one another, but not necessarily dependent upon each other. 00:00:53.820 --> 00:01:00.820 And what I mean by that is, I think there's glory given to God when we follow God when it's difficult than when we follow God just 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:01.760 because it's easy. 00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:02.140 Does that make sense? 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:08.940 Now, last week we talked about the idea of the Christian life representing this idea of kingdom. 00:01:08.940 --> 00:01:15.880 That God is a King who came to deliver his kingdom for us, that we could find redemption in Jesus and Jesus was victorious. 00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:17.720 And now we live for that King. 00:01:17.720 --> 00:01:19.730 And because of that, we're able to sacrifice. 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:24.660 We're able just as Jesus gave his life, the New Testament calls us to lay down our life for Him. 00:01:24.960 --> 00:01:30.640 And the reason we're able to do that is because nothing in this world we have to worry about losing, because in Jesus we gain everything. 00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:32.200 We have a victory. 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:35.940 But, when we walk in this world, there's also adversity. 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:41.300 And so when we practice that faith, that faith is more important than feeling. 00:01:41.320 --> 00:01:42.980 And so some days I'm not going to feel like it. 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:43.880 Some days I am. 00:01:44.180 --> 00:01:49.310 And when you read through the Bible, you see this struggle of individuals walking with Jesus in the midst of adversity. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:51.830 And that's exactly where the end of Genesis comes. 00:01:51.860 --> 00:01:55.210 You think the book of Genesis has written to a bunch of Hebrew slaves. 00:01:55.700 --> 00:02:00.460 And they're walking with the idea of understanding, well, how did this even happen to us that we were in slavery? 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:05.000 A lot of people's idea of God is when things are going well, God is for you. 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.120 And when things aren't going well, God is not with you. 00:02:07.360 --> 00:02:09.060 But God rains on the just and the unjust. 00:02:09.180 --> 00:02:13.020 Sometimes good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. 00:02:13.500 --> 00:02:15.460 And how do you walk with God in all of that? 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:19.020 And the end of Genesis really sets up that picture for us. 00:02:19.300 --> 00:02:21.920 But in light of that, I'm going to read this Psalm to us. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:23.180 This is Psalm 46. 00:02:23.860 --> 00:02:27.960 And this Psalm is reflective of exactly where we're going to be in the story of Genesis. 00:02:28.020 --> 00:02:31.700 I just want you to, in an attitude of worship, I don't think this passage needs really much exposition. 00:02:32.600 --> 00:02:39.720 I really just think just reading these words, you see the expression of what the psalmist is saying in this battle in our own lives for faith 00:02:39.720 --> 00:02:41.350 in the midst of adversity and feeling. 00:02:41.820 --> 00:02:42.730 And this is how it's written. 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:46.160 It says, "God is our refuge and strength. 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:48.980 A very present help in trouble. 00:02:49.740 --> 00:02:55.520 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountain slip into the heart of the sea. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:00.760 Though its waters, roar and foam, though the mountains quake, it's swelling pride. 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:09.040 There is a river who streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling, places of the Most High God 00:03:09.040 --> 00:03:11.560 is in the midst of her and she will not be moved. 00:03:12.380 --> 00:03:13.260 God will help her. 00:03:13.260 --> 00:03:16.360 When morning dawns, the nations made an uproar. 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:17.640 The kingdoms tottered. 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:19.200 He raised his voice. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:20.240 The earth melted. 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:22.240 The Lord of hosts is with us. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:25.390 The God of Jacob is our stronghold. 00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:27.580 Come behold the works of the Lord. 00:03:28.480 --> 00:03:30.460 Who has wrought desolations in the earth. 00:03:30.900 --> 00:03:33.260 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. 00:03:33.600 --> 00:03:36.520 He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. 00:03:36.900 --> 00:03:38.840 He burns the chariots with fire. 00:03:39.460 --> 00:03:42.560 Be still and know that I am God. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:45.760 I will be exalted among the nations. 00:03:45.760 --> 00:03:47.220 I will be exalted in the earth. 00:03:47.340 --> 00:03:48.940 The Lord of hosts is with us. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:56.350 The God of Jacob is our stronghold." When I think of the character of 00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:05.260 Psalm 46 lived out, I think Joseph is one that displays what this Psalm possesses 00:04:05.260 --> 00:04:06.410 beautifully. 00:04:07.160 --> 00:04:11.960 When I think about my own walk with the Lord, I want to be more like Joseph. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:19.079 If there's any character in scripture where I say, Lord, if I could have a little bit more of me in this, it would be the 00:04:19.079 --> 00:04:19.920 life of Joseph. 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:26.960 I think Joseph balanced the journey of life between faith and feeling, trusting in God while in adversity. 00:04:27.260 --> 00:04:31.140 Looking to God's promises over his problems. 00:04:32.860 --> 00:04:35.540 How do you deal with the challenges of life? 00:04:36.880 --> 00:04:43.960 If we believe God was with us in everything we experience, how would it change the way we look at our life 00:04:43.960 --> 00:04:45.040 and events? 00:04:46.140 --> 00:04:47.660 That God is with you in everything. 00:04:47.940 --> 00:04:55.120 In the divorce, in the promotions, and the graduations, in the surgeries, in the injustices, and 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:02.950 in the justices, and in birth, and moving, and sleepless nights, and in restful nights. 00:05:03.260 --> 00:05:05.300 You can imagine being the Hebrew slave. 00:05:06.440 --> 00:05:10.960 And you look at your people and you're wondering how in the world did we get to this place, slavery in Egypt? 00:05:12.280 --> 00:05:14.520 And maybe even how in the world did we get to 12 tribes? 00:05:16.640 --> 00:05:19.900 And wondering how did God fulfill his promise to Abraham? 00:05:21.200 --> 00:05:22.860 Especially when we were coming out of slavery. 00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:27.460 Maybe we would be asking similar questions. 00:05:27.900 --> 00:05:33.220 Remember, we looked at this together in Genesis chapter 12, 15, 17, 22. 00:05:33.220 --> 00:05:38.240 God promises through Abraham that God would build a nation and through that nation, bless all nations. 00:05:38.280 --> 00:05:40.860 And here are these Hebrew slaves who would represent that nation. 00:05:40.860 --> 00:05:42.360 They find themselves in slavery. 00:05:43.760 --> 00:05:50.960 And Joseph's life becomes an illustration to tie to Israel story and I think relate to our own story in following after God in the midst of adversity. 00:05:51.980 --> 00:05:58.400 And if you follow the story of Genesis, we're going through the peaks of understanding what the totality of what scripture is about. 00:05:58.400 --> 00:06:05.680 Seeing this theme that God has piecing together, or pulling together for these various stories, this large theme of his hand of redemption 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:08.920 for all people as Jesus comes to this earth and gives us life for us. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:13.460 And these individual stories lay out this greater scheme of God's plan. 00:06:13.520 --> 00:06:19.880 And we've seen this in Abraham and the giving of the promise and as you fall along in Abraham, Abraham has Isaac. 00:06:19.960 --> 00:06:23.240 He becomes the child through which the promise is delivered. 00:06:23.540 --> 00:06:26.740 And Isaac has Jacob and now Jacob has Joseph. 00:06:29.080 --> 00:06:36.840 God is showing these Hebrew slaves, at the end of Genesis, that He was with Israel going into Egypt. 00:06:38.320 --> 00:06:41.360 And he's with Israel coming out of Egypt. 00:06:42.520 --> 00:06:47.400 No character I think takes more space in the book of Genesis than does the life of Joseph. 00:06:47.620 --> 00:06:52.360 About 25% of the book of Genesis shares with us the story of Joseph. 00:06:52.660 --> 00:06:54.480 I'm not going to be able to encapsulate all of that to you. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:07:01.660 I just want to give a snippet to us, but God is going to demonstrate his presence and promises through Joseph's hardship 00:07:02.340 --> 00:07:04.710 and how we are to walk with God in it. 00:07:06.400 --> 00:07:10.380 The story of Jacob, Joseph's father Jacob had 12 kids. 00:07:11.580 --> 00:07:14.260 And the Bible tells us he played favorites with Joseph. 00:07:15.440 --> 00:07:20.720 Out of all of his 12, Jacob made no distinction here as to which child was his favorite. 00:07:20.880 --> 00:07:23.240 If there was any doubt, everyone knew that it was Joseph. 00:07:24.280 --> 00:07:29.640 Which is a good reminder as we jumped into the store to say to us that families were messed up. 00:07:30.280 --> 00:07:32.030 And so it should make us feel good about our own right. 00:07:33.200 --> 00:07:36.480 If God still loves them, God works through them, then God can use us. 00:07:37.580 --> 00:07:41.800 And what Jacob ends up doing is giving his son what we call the coat of many colors. 00:07:42.060 --> 00:07:45.080 And it's a fancy way of saying, "Son, you've got the nice coat. 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:53.120 Let all your brothers do the dirty work and you can just to sit back and tell them what to do." And so Jacob gives his son Joseph 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:57.040 this coat to distinguish him from his brothers. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.100 And Joseph didn't play nice. 00:07:59.400 --> 00:08:01.820 He acted, I think, somewhat superior to his brothers. 00:08:02.140 --> 00:08:06.750 In fact, when you read in Genesis 37 this is what it says to us to sort of give this backdrop to the story. 00:08:06.940 --> 00:08:14.240 In verse three it says, "Now Israel," who is Jacob, "loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his old 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:18.420 age and he made him a very colored tunic. 00:08:18.520 --> 00:08:25.520 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly 00:08:25.520 --> 00:08:26.070 terms. 00:08:26.860 --> 00:08:33.880 Then Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more and said to them, 'Please listen to this 00:08:33.880 --> 00:08:35.309 dream which I have had. 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:43.640 A for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field and lo my sheave rose up and also stood erect. 00:08:43.659 --> 00:08:50.720 And behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.' Then his brothers said to him, 'Are you actually 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:57.880 going to reign over us or are you really going to rule over us?' So they hated him even more for his dreams and 00:08:57.880 --> 00:09:05.100 for his words." This attitude they carried towards Joseph, they built 00:09:05.100 --> 00:09:10.580 with this anger because of the love the father extended to Joseph above the other brothers. 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:16.760 And then Joseph coming with this sort of superior arrogance to his brothers and saying, all of you shall bow down to me. 00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:24.360 So it gives you, in this same chapter, the decision of the brothers, it says in verse 27, "Come and let us sell him," so his brothers come 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:26.580 and capture their brother Joseph. 00:09:26.620 --> 00:09:33.740 And they come up with this idea, "Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him." There was this debate among them if whether they should just 00:09:33.880 --> 00:09:36.020 kill their brother or sell him into slavery. 00:09:36.340 --> 00:09:38.840 And they said, "For he is our brother, our own flesh. 00:09:38.860 --> 00:09:39.520 And his brothers listened. 00:09:40.580 --> 00:09:42.900 And then some Midianite traders passed by. 00:09:43.260 --> 00:09:50.380 So they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver. 00:09:50.780 --> 00:09:57.560 Thus, they brought Joseph to Egypt." Verse 31 tells them how they shared this story with their father. 00:09:57.560 --> 00:10:03.520 It says, "So they took Joseph's tunic and slaughtered a male goat and dip the tunic in the blood. 00:10:04.140 --> 00:10:10.040 And they sent the very collared tunic and brought it to their father and said, 'We found this. 00:10:10.220 --> 00:10:17.380 Please examine it to see whether it is your son's tunic or not.' And then he examined it and said, 'It is my son's tunic. 00:10:17.420 --> 00:10:18.920 A wild beast has devoured him. 00:10:19.340 --> 00:10:26.360 Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.'" So the brothers not only sell Joseph into slavery, but they lie to 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:33.580 the father and lead their father to conclude that Joseph has been eaten by a wild animal, at the command of the father 00:10:33.580 --> 00:10:38.500 for Joseph to go check on his brothers who were out taking care of the animals. 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:43.200 When you get to this point in the story, let me just throw out the question. 00:10:44.520 --> 00:10:45.650 How would you feel if you were Joseph? 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:52.260 Been betrayed by the people that are supposed to love you. 00:10:53.140 --> 00:10:56.540 They are supposed to look after you, supposed to care for you. 00:10:57.880 --> 00:11:01.420 You think all of the thoughts that could be circulating in Joseph's mind. 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:03.840 But here's what Genesis 39 tells us. 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:12.920 "The Lord was with Joseph." You don't get any record of any complaint, 00:11:14.680 --> 00:11:20.100 but rather what you discover is this confidence that Joseph has in the midst of his circumstances. 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:24.330 Because above it all, God is with him. 00:11:25.060 --> 00:11:29.500 As you get to chapter 39, you get to more adversity that Joseph faces. 00:11:29.520 --> 00:11:34.080 Not only by the betrayal of his own brothers who then lie to his father about his death. 00:11:34.880 --> 00:11:38.140 But while he's in Egypt, he gets sold to Potiphar. 00:11:38.880 --> 00:11:43.400 And he rises in position in Potiphar's house to the point that he's leading Potiphar's home. 00:11:44.580 --> 00:11:48.380 And during this time he gets the eye of Potiphar's wife. 00:11:48.380 --> 00:11:53.730 And Potiphar's wife tries to tempt Joseph to the point that she actually grabs ahold of him. 00:11:54.640 --> 00:12:00.440 And Joseph in the middle of this, decides to not give in to that temptation and he runs away. 00:12:00.920 --> 00:12:03.090 And when he runs away, she's got a hold of his garment. 00:12:03.640 --> 00:12:07.720 So much so, that to free himself, he takes off the garment and runs. 00:12:08.180 --> 00:12:12.200 And when Potiphar's wife sees this garment in her hand, she decides to scream. 00:12:12.580 --> 00:12:15.980 And she accuses Joseph of trying to attack her. 00:12:15.980 --> 00:12:18.960 And what happens to Joseph is Joseph is then thrown in prison. 00:12:20.180 --> 00:12:27.340 And then it says in verse 21, "But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:35.140 to him." Again, no record of complaint in the midst of adversity, but 00:12:35.180 --> 00:12:36.820 just the recognition of God's hand. 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:44.260 And while he's in jail, most of us probably would think that this is not a very spectacular place to be. 00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:49.440 But then it begins to give us an idea in verse 23 of something about the life of Joseph. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:56.760 It says, "The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge, because the 00:12:56.760 --> 00:12:57.680 Lord was with him. 00:12:58.940 --> 00:13:04.770 Whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper. 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:10.150 As the story unfolds in the life of Joseph and the outlook in which he carried. 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:12.880 Joseph is in prison. 00:13:13.820 --> 00:13:18.980 But we begin to see in Joseph's circumstance that while he is in prison, Joseph's spirit is free. 00:13:20.640 --> 00:13:24.160 Because he believes God is there to supply in his need. 00:13:24.920 --> 00:13:30.770 And so in chapter 40 what you find is a cupbearer and a baker in jail with Joseph. 00:13:31.140 --> 00:13:32.030 And they had these dreams. 00:13:32.160 --> 00:13:33.880 And Joseph interprets the dreams. 00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:36.060 And Joseph interprets the dreams correctly. 00:13:36.580 --> 00:13:38.820 One of them is free, the other one loses his life. 00:13:38.880 --> 00:13:44.840 But the one that's freed, Joseph says, when you're with Pharaoh, remind them of the great thing that I have done. 00:13:45.040 --> 00:13:51.560 So in chapter 41 finally, it's remembered that Joseph interpreted these dreams correctly. 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:54.740 And Pharaoh himself has a dream. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:58.880 And he's brought Joseph before him to deliver this dream. 00:13:58.920 --> 00:14:00.020 And Joseph gives the interpretation. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:06.460 And the interpretation deals with this famine that's going to hit Egypt and it's going to last for seven years. 00:14:07.540 --> 00:14:14.560 And when Joseph gives the interpretation to Pharaoh, it tells us in chapter 41 verse 41, "Pharaoh says to Joseph, 'See, I have 00:14:14.560 --> 00:14:19.980 set you over all the land of Egypt.'" So Joseph goes through this adversity in slavery. 00:14:20.380 --> 00:14:23.140 And this adversity by being thrown in jail by Potiphar's wife. 00:14:23.520 --> 00:14:27.340 And to find himself now in a position where he's literally the second in command in Egypt. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:32.180 And Pharaoh puts him in charge of his household. 00:14:34.260 --> 00:14:41.880 During the famine, by God's providence, Joseph's father, hears 00:14:41.880 --> 00:14:48.980 in Egypt, while everyone else is starving, there is food aplenty in the land of Egypt. 00:14:50.400 --> 00:14:54.280 And so Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy some food for the family. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:03.140 And when they get to Egypt, they discover through some circumstances that build throughout these chapters that their brother 00:15:03.140 --> 00:15:08.760 Joseph is the one that the Lord used to bring deliverance for Egypt. 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:14.750 And in chapter 45, when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, this is what it says. 00:15:16.260 --> 00:15:20.840 "Do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. 00:15:22.020 --> 00:15:25.320 For God sent me before you to preserve life. 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:33.140 For the famine has been in the land these two years and are still five years in which there will be neither plowing, nor harvesting. 00:15:34.540 --> 00:15:38.300 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth. 00:15:39.260 --> 00:15:40.940 To keep you alive by a great deliverance. 00:15:42.100 --> 00:15:45.340 Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God. 00:15:46.340 --> 00:15:53.340 And he has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his household and ruler over all of the 00:15:53.340 --> 00:16:00.140 land of Egypt." And then Joseph gives this incredible statement again. 00:16:00.340 --> 00:16:03.480 By the time you get to chapter 45 you see this presentation of his brothers. 00:16:04.060 --> 00:16:08.420 But in the midst of chapter 45 to chapter 50 Joseph's father Jacob dies. 00:16:10.180 --> 00:16:16.020 And his brothers are now worried that maybe Joseph was only being nice to them because their father was still living. 00:16:16.100 --> 00:16:20.570 But once the father died, what's going to happen to them? 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:24.760 And then Joseph gives these powerful words in chapter 50. 00:16:25.400 --> 00:16:32.990 He says, "But Joseph said to them, 'Do not be afraid for I am not in God's place. 00:16:33.780 --> 00:16:41.040 As for you meant that evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present 00:16:41.040 --> 00:16:45.320 result, to preserve many people alive. 00:16:45.420 --> 00:16:46.380 So therefore, do not be afraid. 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:54.860 I will provide for you, for you and your little ones.' So he comforted them and 00:16:55.020 --> 00:17:02.200 spoke kindly to them." Much of the Christian life is 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:06.920 living by faith through feelings of adversity. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:12.200 You see this idea of following the Lord in adversity, in the life of Joseph. 00:17:12.460 --> 00:17:18.839 I think for us there's even no greater example than Jesus who was betrayed falsely and condemned like Joseph. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:24.319 He was raised and use his position to save and forgive and reconcile. 00:17:24.560 --> 00:17:29.980 And so both Jesus and Joseph become these ultimate examples for us. 00:17:30.040 --> 00:17:34.560 Even to the point when you read in the New Testament in encourages you down that same framework. 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:42.160 If you were to read the book of 1 Peter and the persecution of Christians, 1 Peter 3:16 says this to us, 00:17:42.760 --> 00:17:50.060 "Keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against you, against your good behavior 00:17:50.060 --> 00:17:52.840 in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:59.560 For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 00:18:00.580 --> 00:18:03.120 For Christ also suffered once for sins. 00:18:03.140 --> 00:18:06.520 The righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God. 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:14.920 He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit." How 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:15.360 do you do that? 00:18:17.280 --> 00:18:19.600 I would like to say my whole life I've been perfect at it. 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:29.220 Every time someone showed me that I was number one as they drove by, I responded and said, "God bless you." How 00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:31.540 do you do this? 00:18:31.840 --> 00:18:36.180 I mean this is certainly the place in our lives where the rubber meets the road. 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:41.120 The reality of where my Christian faith is discovered in the adversity that I experience. 00:18:43.060 --> 00:18:46.340 How do I live and trust in God in my struggles? 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:53.400 It's not that I don't recognize this passage of 1 Peter 3:16 is important. 00:18:54.620 --> 00:19:01.720 It's rather figuring out how to connect it to the circumstances in which I walk in, like Joseph and like Psalm 46 00:19:01.720 --> 00:19:02.340 says. 00:19:03.540 --> 00:19:11.060 The point of the point of Joseph's story isn't to say to us, avoid sexual relations with cougars and you become president or prime minister. 00:19:11.860 --> 00:19:16.790 I'm not trying to say to you today, look, if you follow God, you're going to get everything that you ever want in your life. 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:23.340 There's adversity throughout all of our experience in this world, whether you're Christian or not. 00:19:23.620 --> 00:19:26.700 You think about what Joseph went through, what we just said about his life. 00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:30.540 Joseph endured physical and sexual abuse. 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:35.720 He walks with God. 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:43.260 Maybe if I would just equate another thought that's not expressed with Joseph, that I could also relate to us as human beings, is the idea that 00:19:43.260 --> 00:19:44.270 we go through abuse physically. 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:45.620 We can go through abusive sexually. 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:47.920 You can go through abuse spiritually. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:57.730 I think some of my life is dealing with people that have just felt some trauma in some spiritual abuse through people they trusted. 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:03.700 It's hard to see God when light is convoluted in the dark. 00:20:05.140 --> 00:20:06.770 When people you trust lie to you. 00:20:08.580 --> 00:20:13.880 You put your trust spiritually with someone that is supposed to be a mentor to you. 00:20:13.900 --> 00:20:17.980 Or physically and they take advantage. 00:20:19.340 --> 00:20:22.420 Here is someone that's supposed to represent light now convoluted in the darkness. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:23.780 And how do you know what to do? 00:20:26.120 --> 00:20:32.560 How can you allow those moments of hurt to refine you rather than define you? 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:37.680 How do you trust God in the struggles? 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:44.280 I think the promises to Israel with the life of Abraham, God choose us. 00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:46.470 That would be the Hebrew slaves position. 00:20:47.480 --> 00:20:54.660 God chose us, but yet how we reconcile God choosing us with the hardship that we've 00:20:54.660 --> 00:20:55.410 faced? 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:04.660 I don't want for Joseph, or us, and Joseph's life's already been lived out, but for any of us, I don't want to become a prisoner to our past. 00:21:06.260 --> 00:21:11.210 But to trust God with our future and now he has it. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.010 It's how do we do this? 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:21.220 While I don't want to be contrived towards the pain that we go through as people, I do want to talk about how Joseph 00:21:21.220 --> 00:21:25.420 works through this, through the power of Genesis 50 what he acknowledges for us. 00:21:25.780 --> 00:21:33.060 But I want to recognize in saying this, look, when go through adversity in their lives, there is a need to process that with people around us that love us and 00:21:33.180 --> 00:21:33.700 care for us. 00:21:33.800 --> 00:21:39.420 Because just because we might have this type of understanding that Joseph has in Genesis 50 doesn't mean we always live it out. 00:21:39.500 --> 00:21:42.640 We need to be reminded of the truth that's recognized in these things. 00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:49.880 And so I want to simplify what Joseph is saying here, but I want us to know that sometimes when we struggle in our own lives and 00:21:50.020 --> 00:21:56.990 particular areas of pain that we've gone through and trusting in God through those things, we need people around us to encourage us. 00:21:57.880 --> 00:22:02.000 But at the same time, I want us to see the simplicity of what Joseph says in his circumstance. 00:22:04.660 --> 00:22:06.500 How will we trust God in the struggles? 00:22:08.040 --> 00:22:15.200 Living in the present for which God calls us happens when we're able to face our pain and 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:15.520 our past. 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:24.500 When we look in Joseph's story, Genesis 50:19-20 particularly in verse 20, I want us to know when we talk about moving forward 00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:26.980 in God, it doesn't mean you sweep everything under the rug. 00:22:27.060 --> 00:22:28.500 In fact, Joseph didn't do that at all. 00:22:29.120 --> 00:22:33.500 I think sometimes as Christians we get this concept of forgiveness that is not healthy to the soul. 00:22:34.180 --> 00:22:36.300 Sometimes we equate forgiveness with forgetting. 00:22:36.320 --> 00:22:38.080 And forgiveness and forgetting are not the same thing. 00:22:39.620 --> 00:22:45.480 In fact, I would say part of what makes forgiveness forgiveness is the idea of confronting the thing that brought the pain into your life. 00:22:46.020 --> 00:22:50.950 It doesn't mean you always have to go out and just call it out face to face, but just acknowledge it for what it was. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:51.550 Find the acceptance. 00:22:52.220 --> 00:22:56.430 In fact, when you go through hardship in our lives, it can be related to the idea of grieving. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.460 Counselors will tell you there's five steps to grieving. 00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:06.640 And we get to that place of healthiness and moving forward in the grief when we get to the last stage, which is acceptance. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:11.340 And being able to call something what it is brings us to that resolution of acceptance. 00:23:12.980 --> 00:23:14.380 It doesn't define you. 00:23:16.760 --> 00:23:18.290 But rather it can refine you. 00:23:18.700 --> 00:23:21.060 We'll look at that in a minute, but look what Joseph says. 00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:25.000 He goes through this adversity and he doesn't sweep it under the rug with his brothers. 00:23:25.040 --> 00:23:31.460 He says, "As for you meant evil against me." He called it for what it was. 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:34.960 You meant it for evil against me. 00:23:36.260 --> 00:23:41.560 Living in the present with what God calls us to and that happens when you're able to face the pain of our past. 00:23:43.220 --> 00:23:50.520 Number two, the reason we can face our pain and past is because of God's presence and his promises 00:23:50.520 --> 00:23:51.400 which are greater. 00:23:52.600 --> 00:24:00.200 And so acknowledges, while this happened, verse 20, "You meant it for evil against me." Look what he says, "But God 00:24:00.260 --> 00:24:07.720 meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many 00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:11.460 people alive." But God. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:15.780 God's promises are greater. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:23.310 And what you intended for evil, God can intend for good. 00:24:23.660 --> 00:24:30.650 The reason we can confront the pain of past is God's promises are bigger than our struggles. 00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:32.620 And here comes the result. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:41.800 Verse 19 and 21 really share with us that resolved, but when I have promises over my pain, forgiveness 00:24:41.800 --> 00:24:42.400 is possible. 00:24:44.100 --> 00:24:49.260 When hope is greater than despair, that's what we're saying, it's possible. 00:24:50.900 --> 00:24:52.200 So what does Joseph do? 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:55.440 He puts his faith over his feelings. 00:24:57.300 --> 00:24:58.300 He learns to trust again. 00:25:00.300 --> 00:25:05.520 And when you go through, you think about spiritual abuse, let's say. 00:25:05.520 --> 00:25:07.340 The convolution of light and darkness. 00:25:09.220 --> 00:25:09.660 The pain happened. 00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:13.030 Acknowledge the pain. 00:25:14.580 --> 00:25:16.350 But the truth matters in these moments. 00:25:17.580 --> 00:25:19.950 The truth is what you trust in to move forward. 00:25:21.140 --> 00:25:27.750 And out of all of those things more than the fallenness of man, God is more trustworthy because his promises are true. 00:25:29.780 --> 00:25:34.720 Don't give someone else the power for which Jesus calls you to in Him. 00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:38.280 Don't let them dictate where God desires for you to be. 00:25:40.020 --> 00:25:44.540 And so what he's saying in this story is he's trusting in the promises over his pain. 00:25:45.300 --> 00:25:52.380 And when you rest in the Providence of God, what he's acknowledging in the story is by resting in the Providence of 00:25:52.380 --> 00:25:58.100 God, you can extend grace to others because you ultimately in Jesus win. 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:01.720 See verse 19, verse 21, this is what his explanation is. 00:26:02.280 --> 00:26:02.560 Don't be afraid. 00:26:04.280 --> 00:26:06.010 I am in God's place. 00:26:06.620 --> 00:26:08.960 Verse 21, "Therefore do not be afraid. 00:26:10.220 --> 00:26:12.260 I will provide for you and your little ones. 00:26:13.420 --> 00:26:20.580 So we comforted them and spoke kindly to them because his God was greater." 00:26:20.980 --> 00:26:24.540 His hope that he found was in the promises of God because his God was greater. 00:26:24.840 --> 00:26:32.880 And in the greatness of his God, it became possible to acknowledge the pain of the past and offer grace to 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:34.380 those who had wronged him. 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:36.240 To learn to trust again. 00:26:38.320 --> 00:26:39.900 We struggle with faith and feelings. 00:26:41.040 --> 00:26:43.770 We need his promises to be bigger than our problems. 00:26:45.740 --> 00:26:49.800 Bad things happen, but it doesn't make God's promises untrue. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:54.480 But it makes his people foolish and this world sinful. 00:26:57.600 --> 00:27:02.130 But when we hold on to his promises over our problems, forgiveness is possible. 00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:10.060 Sometimes I think in our lives we don't forgive because we feel like someone damaged us. 00:27:11.760 --> 00:27:14.080 And we can't get back what we lost. 00:27:15.780 --> 00:27:17.740 And so what we want is vengeance. 00:27:19.660 --> 00:27:27.040 However, without taking away from the evil that happens, what if you believe that through it all, there was a good God who 00:27:27.040 --> 00:27:28.240 could redeem it? 00:27:30.860 --> 00:27:36.460 What if God's hand was powerful enough that none of that pain would ever be wasted? 00:27:38.360 --> 00:27:40.040 What Joseph is saying to us. 00:27:40.080 --> 00:27:41.280 Remember, be honest with the past. 00:27:42.740 --> 00:27:46.260 Trust in His promises and forgive to move forward. 00:27:47.300 --> 00:27:54.400 Because God is more than capable in the midst of our adversity to use it for His good and glory into 00:27:54.460 --> 00:27:54.680 our benefit. 00:27:56.430 --> 00:27:58.940 When it comes to forgiveness, it's more than a feeling. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:02.200 It's first to decision based on faith. 00:28:03.860 --> 00:28:10.360 Sometimes we think in terms of forgiving other people, we have this idea that it's gotta be about feeling like forgiving. 00:28:10.420 --> 00:28:14.460 But the reality is forgiveness is primarily built, I feel, on the promises of God. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:18.820 That regardless, He is greater. 00:28:20.540 --> 00:28:21.900 Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting. 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:24.450 Forgiveness means you get to be honest with the past. 00:28:25.320 --> 00:28:30.410 Forgiveness frees me so that I no longer project my past problems, on my future successes. 00:28:31.180 --> 00:28:36.720 Forgiveness is about trusting in God's Providence over my problems. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:44.960 And Joseph didn't know every detail of how things would work out, but he understood either way he was going to win because 00:28:45.040 --> 00:28:47.360 his God was faithful. 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:50.560 And his God uses adversity. 00:28:52.120 --> 00:28:52.660 It isn't wasted. 00:28:54.760 --> 00:28:59.340 How would life change for us if we believed that God was with us in everything? 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:02.670 You think about this for a minute. 00:29:04.040 --> 00:29:09.120 God didn't save Israel despite Joseph suffering. 00:29:11.720 --> 00:29:15.540 God saved Israel in these moments through Joseph suffering. 00:29:17.340 --> 00:29:18.180 It wasn't wasted. 00:29:21.020 --> 00:29:24.980 Jesus didn't save us despite his suffering. 00:29:27.840 --> 00:29:30.820 Jesus saved us through his suffering. 00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:33.220 God redeems it. 00:29:35.300 --> 00:29:35.920 God uses it. 00:29:37.520 --> 00:29:44.680 In fact, in the book of 1 Corinthians, I think it's important for us to know that God doesn't wait 00:29:44.680 --> 00:29:47.140 for adversity to go away and then decide to move. 00:29:47.220 --> 00:29:49.860 And we just gotta sit there and twiddle our thumbs and hoping it's over. 00:29:50.820 --> 00:29:52.300 God is big enough to work through it all. 00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:55.130 Trusting in him. 00:29:55.420 --> 00:30:02.440 1 Corinthians 1, Paul talks about that in our lives, that even in the present adversity that we all face that on the back end of walking 00:30:02.600 --> 00:30:07.300 through this adversity, God uses that challenges in our own life to encourage other people where they are. 00:30:08.700 --> 00:30:16.260 It's not despite suffering, but God uses and works through it because God is more than capable of redeeming it all. 00:30:17.280 --> 00:30:23.860 For me, I don't think anyone lives this out better than Corrie ten Boom. 00:30:27.620 --> 00:30:30.250 Corrie ten Boom is one of the heroes, I think of the last century. 00:30:30.820 --> 00:30:37.820 I would even encourage parents, if you've got young kids, especially daughters, her book, "The Hiding Place," is an incredible 00:30:37.820 --> 00:30:42.380 story of a lady who grows up in a home that she is discipled by her parents. 00:30:42.900 --> 00:30:47.780 Goes through tremendous struggle and the things that she does in her life, but trusting in God. 00:30:47.780 --> 00:30:48.580 Incredible. 00:30:49.560 --> 00:30:54.090 In fact, there's a story within the book where she's in concentration camp. 00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:59.550 She helped Jewish people escape and she hid them and they ended up getting caught. 00:30:59.900 --> 00:31:01.590 And her and her sister in this concentration camp. 00:31:02.180 --> 00:31:03.820 Her sister's named Elizabeth. 00:31:04.360 --> 00:31:08.140 And while they're in the concentration camp, they lead this Bible study. 00:31:09.760 --> 00:31:13.480 And they do so at the expense of risking their own lives. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:16.100 If the soldiers find out they could be killed. 00:31:17.040 --> 00:31:24.280 And one of the things that Corrie ten Boom remarks during the book is that she hates in the particular camp that she's in or the particular house that she's being held 00:31:24.280 --> 00:31:26.320 in because there's so many fleas. 00:31:27.020 --> 00:31:29.340 She had the worst home out of the entire concentration camp. 00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:30.540 There's so many fleas. 00:31:30.980 --> 00:31:33.700 They were just getting eaten alive, and she became so angry. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:37.240 And her sister said to her, you need to even praise God for the fleas. 00:31:38.500 --> 00:31:40.220 And Corrie ten Boom struggled with that. 00:31:40.260 --> 00:31:46.020 And now let me just say this, look, when it comes to giving God praise, I don't think you need to give praise to God for everything. 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:50.200 But I do think there is a way to give things to God in everything. 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:51.560 Does that make sense? 00:31:51.580 --> 00:31:54.340 There's a difference between being thankful for and being thankful in. 00:31:54.660 --> 00:31:57.000 I'm not saying look, walk out today and be thankful for cancer. 00:31:59.020 --> 00:32:02.920 But there is a way in the midst of the struggles that we face to be thankful in them. 00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:07.600 And Corrie ten Boom's sister Elizabeth looked at her and said, you need to thank God for the fleas. 00:32:09.600 --> 00:32:11.600 Corrie ten Boom thinks why the world would I do that? 00:32:12.200 --> 00:32:14.360 And so they are leading this Bible study in this concentration camp. 00:32:14.520 --> 00:32:16.220 And all of a sudden it dawns on Corrie ten Boom. 00:32:17.100 --> 00:32:22.180 These soldiers go into every home and ransack it and pillage it and are difficult on the people. 00:32:22.420 --> 00:32:24.670 But they kept walking past her home and she realizes why. 00:32:25.900 --> 00:32:27.430 It's because they didn't want to be near the fleas. 00:32:29.320 --> 00:32:34.540 And in the midst of the fleas, God uses that to raise up a people to praise his name. 00:32:36.540 --> 00:32:39.980 Corrie's sister ended up losing her life in the concentration camp. 00:32:41.640 --> 00:32:43.780 You know what's really amazing about Corrie ten Boom. 00:32:44.860 --> 00:32:47.360 Is after the war, she goes on to establish a home. 00:32:47.360 --> 00:32:52.580 And the purpose of this home is to help soldiers recover from the trauma of the war. 00:32:53.300 --> 00:32:54.040 And not just any soldiers. 00:32:55.120 --> 00:32:56.360 The same soldiers that killed her sister. 00:32:58.220 --> 00:33:01.180 Corrie ten Boom loves on the Nazi soldiers. 00:33:02.660 --> 00:33:04.380 How in God's name could you ever do that? 00:33:05.980 --> 00:33:10.000 How could you turn around to the same people that hate you and respond in love? 00:33:11.520 --> 00:33:12.060 I only know one way. 00:33:13.900 --> 00:33:16.020 God's bigger. 00:33:16.200 --> 00:33:17.240 And nothing is wasted. 00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:19.860 And he redeems it all. 00:33:21.280 --> 00:33:25.820 And I can imagine in moments like Corrie ten Boom's, there is some days that you don't feel like it. 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:30.520 But your faith is bigger and God is able. 00:33:31.880 --> 00:33:38.220 And what man means for evil, God uses it for good. 00:33:39.560 --> 00:33:39.760 In what? 00:33:41.060 --> 00:33:44.590 By faith, by faith you trust. 00:33:46.560 --> 00:33:53.620 I say that to us this morning, to say this, out of all the things that we talk about are the goodness of God's kingdom as we go through this series together, it's 00:33:53.660 --> 00:33:56.600 not to ignore the fact that in our lives we're going to have struggles. 00:33:58.380 --> 00:33:59.550 And what do you walk in? 00:34:01.540 --> 00:34:02.760 Feeling or faith? 00:34:04.660 --> 00:34:05.660 We walk by faith. 00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:10.920 It's the recognition that God's promises and his presence is with us. 00:34:12.520 --> 00:34:20.060 It doesn't mean we have to be thankful for everything, but in everything His glory can be made known. 00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:27.170 That while we all face hardship, we don't want to ignore the pain of our past and the hardship that we go through. 00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:33.440 But in the middle of that, we find a place to acknowledge it and rest in the goodness of our God. 00:34:35.380 --> 00:34:39.530 The wars of this world will rage, battle even against her own soul. 00:34:39.800 --> 00:34:46.620 Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know I am God."