WEBVTT 00:00:00.460 --> 00:00:01.290 I'm going to invite you to Genesis. 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:05.360 Chapter 41 is where we're at together today, Genesis chapter 41. 00:00:05.600 --> 00:00:09.620 And, we're continuing to engage the life of Joseph. 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:17.000 If you remember in this story, what we've learned together is that God has brought his grace through a particular family that was ultimately 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:21.950 going to bring his greatest grace known through the Messiah, who would give his life for us. 00:00:22.540 --> 00:00:30.060 so through the book of Genesis, the first 11 chapters, we get very acquainted with our with our depravity as human beings and our need for God's deliverance, 00:00:30.080 --> 00:00:31.360 our need for God's grace. 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:38.640 we find very fortunate for us that while God was completely just to judge us in our sin, he didn't, but rather he pursued us to 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:43.820 give us an opportunity to know him through the grace that he would bring about through the Messiah who would give his life for us. 00:00:44.140 --> 00:00:48.160 And we've been following that promise through a particular family, through the line of Abraham. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:51.960 And we followed Abraham's children, his grandchildren and his great grandson. 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:55.120 And that's where we find ourselves today in the life of Joseph. 00:00:55.260 --> 00:01:00.420 But what we've come to learn about Joseph is that his journey has not been easy, right? 00:01:00.420 --> 00:01:03.120 Certainly in the beginning he was a, let's say, a privileged young man. 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:07.620 He was given preferential treatment for the early years of his life until he was 17 years old. 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:11.180 And that's where his brothers kidnapped him and sold him as a slave to the Ishmaelites. 00:01:11.780 --> 00:01:16.880 Ishmaelites carried him into Egypt, and while I was in Egypt, he was taken as a young man. 00:01:16.880 --> 00:01:24.040 He was a foreigner in a land he was not familiar with, and learning a language he probably did not know, sold on to the slave market, 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:25.200 to a man named Potiphar. 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:30.240 And as he was a slave in Potiphar's house, he was accused of something he did not do. 00:01:30.240 --> 00:01:33.920 Even though he walked with integrity, he was accused of something erroneously. 00:01:34.500 --> 00:01:40.140 He was thrown into prison, and there he sat from the age of 17 to the age of 30. 00:01:40.240 --> 00:01:46.260 In fact, at the end of chapter 40 reminds you that as he's in prison, he ministers to some people. 00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:52.160 He asks one particular person to please remember him when they get out of prison so that he could be set free because he's there unjustly. 00:01:52.880 --> 00:01:58.770 And it tells you the very end of chapter 40, verse 23, and that one person he ministered to cared for forgot all about him. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.330 And in chapter 41, at the very beginning, verse one, it tells you. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:04.340 And so he sat in prison for two more years. 00:02:05.220 --> 00:02:10.860 And so here's Joseph as a young man from the age of 17 to the age of 30, walking a life of integrity before the Lord. 00:02:10.979 --> 00:02:12.690 And that led him to a place of slavery. 00:02:13.300 --> 00:02:18.020 It led him to a position of being in prison, and none of it his fault. 00:02:18.420 --> 00:02:24.250 It was people erroneously accusing him, attacking him, treating him poorly and in that position. 00:02:24.600 --> 00:02:26.260 It's incredible what Joseph does. 00:02:26.260 --> 00:02:31.940 You think at that point in life, it would have been easy for him to just say, forget about it, I give up, I keep trying. 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:33.440 It's just not working out. 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:38.700 And maybe ask those questions and that struggle that maybe all of us would ask does God not know where I'm at? 00:02:38.700 --> 00:02:39.640 Does God not love me? 00:02:39.700 --> 00:02:41.220 Does not God not care about me? 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:44.600 How do I reconcile the struggle that I'm facing with the reality that there is a God? 00:02:44.780 --> 00:02:45.320 Like what? 00:02:45.340 --> 00:02:45.340 What? 00:02:45.340 --> 00:02:46.420 What do I do, right? 00:02:46.420 --> 00:02:49.210 And Joseph in that moment could have given up. 00:02:49.600 --> 00:02:50.860 And the same is true for us. 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:52.940 We go through the struggles in life. 00:02:52.940 --> 00:02:58.360 We might often wonder those same questions, needing to reorient us in the truth of what God says. 00:02:58.820 --> 00:03:00.990 We go through adversity and we ask the those questions. 00:03:01.320 --> 00:03:02.170 Maybe you're in it now. 00:03:02.640 --> 00:03:03.700 God, do you not love me? 00:03:03.860 --> 00:03:05.340 God, do you know not know what's going on? 00:03:05.460 --> 00:03:06.690 God, do you not know how I feel? 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:10.860 And in those struggles, we get to that place of feeling like we want to give up. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:18.760 But what we discover in the life of Joseph, and we see this again and again in the Bible, that God does something beautiful in the waiting. 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:26.860 in fact, what God desires to do is often we see something far greater than we could ever comprehend in our own mind and 00:03:26.860 --> 00:03:27.410 imagination. 00:03:28.940 --> 00:03:31.000 we see this played out over and over again. 00:03:31.040 --> 00:03:37.600 We've seen it in the life of, for example, Abraham, that Abraham when God came to him, he was already 70 years old. 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:42.430 And God promised, he said to him, follow me, and I'll give you a kid at 70 years old. 00:03:42.860 --> 00:03:44.560 And Abraham had to wait 30 years. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:51.560 He was a hundred years old, which for many of us, if we think about having a kid at 100, that may not necessarily sound like a blessing, but. 00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:53.060 But for Abraham, he left. 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:55.200 And trusting in God by faith for that. 00:03:55.320 --> 00:03:58.460 And at 100 years old, God fulfills that promise. 00:03:58.720 --> 00:04:01.480 And in that waiting, God did something beautiful in his life. 00:04:02.480 --> 00:04:03.530 same is true for Moses. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:05.320 Moses was 40 years old. 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:07.500 He knew God wanted to use him in some way. 00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:11.440 He took matters into his own hands and decides to kill an Egyptian soldier. 00:04:11.880 --> 00:04:13.560 And he had to go into hiding because of it. 00:04:13.580 --> 00:04:21.060 And he spent 40 years hiding in a desert before an 80 years old, God called him back to lead the children of Israel out of slavery in 00:04:21.060 --> 00:04:21.860 the waiting. 00:04:21.880 --> 00:04:24.280 God works in his life in incredible ways. 00:04:24.420 --> 00:04:26.840 Even the apostle Paul, when you study his life. 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:31.090 When he first became a believer, he went to the Arabian desert for three years. 00:04:31.880 --> 00:04:38.220 And then and then he went to Tarsus and Antioch for ten years before he was called on his first missionary journey. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.730 And in the waiting, God did something incredible. 00:04:42.200 --> 00:04:49.040 And so this is what we want to learn in the life of Joseph today is really for secrets to never giving up. 00:04:49.280 --> 00:04:56.360 I want you to know when I, when I was looking over this again this morning, getting ready to teach, I felt it was a little bit lazy to call this four secrets, because 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:58.580 the Bible obviously wants you to know this. 00:04:58.580 --> 00:05:00.200 So this should not be a secret to us. 00:05:00.880 --> 00:05:03.320 but if you don't know this, it's a secret until you find it. 00:05:03.320 --> 00:05:03.780 Okay, so. 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:05.780 So four secrets to never giving up. 00:05:05.780 --> 00:05:10.280 And you know, when I, when I thought about this title, fitting this chapter, I even went back. 00:05:10.320 --> 00:05:17.520 Some of you may remember this, Jimmy Valvano's speech on ESPN when he was, he was riddled with cancer 00:05:17.520 --> 00:05:18.500 and he was about to die. 00:05:18.520 --> 00:05:22.670 And it started the Jimmy V Foundation for, for fighting against cancer. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:24.410 And they had him on ESPN give a speech. 00:05:24.980 --> 00:05:29.780 And he said towards the end of his speech, he looks back at the clock and he says, I'm not going to. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:31.700 He says something like, I'm not going to pay attention to that. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:33.600 And he's talking about the clock in the back of the room. 00:05:33.640 --> 00:05:37.380 He's like, he looks at the crowd and says, ESPN has a clock in the back that says 30s. 00:05:37.780 --> 00:05:39.460 He says, I don't care about your stupid clock. 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:40.220 He said. 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:45.930 He said, my body is riddled with tumors, and every moment I have in life matters, and I want to make every moment count. 00:05:46.200 --> 00:05:48.280 And then that's when he tells everyone, don't give up. 00:05:48.280 --> 00:05:49.260 Don't ever give up. 00:05:49.440 --> 00:05:57.240 You know, I know for us, I don't want to wait till we get to the point where we realize we're looking at the end of life to then all of a sudden make life matter, right? 00:05:57.260 --> 00:05:58.920 Every moment that we have is special. 00:05:58.920 --> 00:06:11.080 As people, and 00:06:11.080 --> 00:06:11.980 we can get to those places of difficulty where we feel like giving up. 00:06:11.980 --> 00:06:17.560 But there's certain things that are compelling to the soul in the midst of that adversity, that if we remind ourselves of some truth in God's Word, it not only not only gets us through that, but it helps us find the victory of the Lord in the struggles that we face. 00:06:17.980 --> 00:06:20.680 So in this four Secrets to Never Giving Up. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:27.180 Number one is this rest in a sovereign God, rest in a sovereign God. 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:29.700 And I realize one of the blanks in your notes is the word sovereign. 00:06:30.380 --> 00:06:34.120 So whoever spells this correct today, the greeters at the front door will give you a $20. 00:06:34.460 --> 00:06:34.640 All right. 00:06:34.700 --> 00:06:35.280 I'm just kidding. 00:06:35.280 --> 00:06:41.550 This not but sovereign is a spelling bee challenge for you, so rest in a sovereign god. 00:06:41.940 --> 00:06:43.420 no one take that serious, okay? 00:06:43.440 --> 00:06:45.500 I'm not giving $20 to anybody. 00:06:45.640 --> 00:06:48.700 to rest in a in a sovereign God, though. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:55.760 Here's what's important, that we need to learn some certain characteristics of who God is. 00:06:55.760 --> 00:06:58.180 That gives us comfort, right? 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:03.680 If you're going to rest in a sovereign God, it's important that you not just know God intellectually, but you know him experientially. 00:07:03.940 --> 00:07:11.120 You have a relationship with the Lord, and you've come to understand certain characteristics about God that makes it comfortable to 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:12.640 rest in his sovereignty. 00:07:13.140 --> 00:07:20.480 But because here's the tendency, as human beings, our default is to think much about ourselves and not enough 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:21.420 about the Lord. 00:07:22.300 --> 00:07:29.540 And even though we may know that our human nature is depraved, we tend to trust in who we are more than in who 00:07:29.540 --> 00:07:30.180 God is. 00:07:30.820 --> 00:07:34.970 And what we find in that is, it leads a soul to a lot of anxiety. 00:07:36.020 --> 00:07:41.880 In fact, one of the great Church Fathers, Saint Augustine, said this. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:49.020 He often talked about anxiety as God's way of pointing out to us where we have idols 00:07:49.020 --> 00:07:49.920 in our lives. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:57.760 Now, I'm not saying this is true for all anxiety, but what Augustine tended to say is you want to find where idols are really resting in you find 00:07:57.760 --> 00:08:04.820 out where your heart is anxious, because those are certain things that we're afraid of losing, or certain things that we don't want to let go 00:08:04.820 --> 00:08:06.660 of in order for God to have control. 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:09.220 And so we get anxious over those things. 00:08:09.260 --> 00:08:13.820 We try to power grab for them and put our hope in them and want them to deliver us. 00:08:13.820 --> 00:08:17.750 And when we realize they're not going to do that, it creates this stirring in our soul of anxiety. 00:08:18.580 --> 00:08:25.280 And it comes in this confidence of resting in ourselves more than resting in who God is. 00:08:25.720 --> 00:08:33.200 But as we get to know the sovereignty of this God, and as he rules and reigns who he is, that we have more confidence in resting 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:34.559 in him. 00:08:35.059 --> 00:08:43.260 In fact, some of the characteristics that I think are essential for us to know is, as we rest in his sovereignty, as the all powerfulness of God, right, 00:08:43.260 --> 00:08:49.380 that he rules and reigns over everything it tells us in Colossians chapter one, verse 16 and 17, all things were created by him. 00:08:49.460 --> 00:08:50.900 All things were created for him. 00:08:50.900 --> 00:08:55.300 And in him all things hold together, that he is sovereign over it all. 00:08:55.300 --> 00:08:55.940 He rules over it all. 00:08:55.960 --> 00:08:57.820 So he is all powerful. 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:01.680 He isn't this being that sort of got to a position of power. 00:09:01.760 --> 00:09:02.420 No, he is. 00:09:02.500 --> 00:09:04.350 He is the beginning of all things. 00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:09.220 He is, he is the self-existent one, the uncaused cause. 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:09.580 Right? 00:09:09.580 --> 00:09:10.840 He is the all powerful. 00:09:11.060 --> 00:09:15.910 Not only that, he is good, and his goodness is seen in the fact that he rules justly. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:24.480 And in Romans eight it promises that he works all things together for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, saying, 00:09:24.620 --> 00:09:28.090 there may be circumstances in your life where sometimes it looks challenging. 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.780 Sometimes you wonder where the goodness of who God is and what he's doing. 00:09:31.940 --> 00:09:39.140 But in Romans eight, it reminds you that he's got this grander plan of orchestrating things together for good to those who love God, meaning God. 00:09:39.140 --> 00:09:41.930 If you're in, Christ, has your best interest in mind. 00:09:42.440 --> 00:09:48.340 And so learning to trust in that in the sovereign hand of God to orchestrate things is important. 00:09:48.420 --> 00:09:50.430 This is what Joseph is doing in this story. 00:09:51.180 --> 00:09:52.920 He's going through the prison. 00:09:52.920 --> 00:09:54.240 He's going into slavery. 00:09:54.380 --> 00:10:00.160 But he understands that God can have a more masterful plan of what he desires to do in the life of Joseph. 00:10:00.540 --> 00:10:02.840 Because of the promises that have been given to his family. 00:10:04.620 --> 00:10:06.840 And so Joseph rests in him. 00:10:06.920 --> 00:10:14.240 You know, this is this is different than than the culture in which Joseph finds himself here in Egypt in Genesis chapter 41, 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:16.220 the first seven verses. 00:10:16.220 --> 00:10:23.320 I'm not going to I'm going to summarize some sections of this Genesis story, because it's the repeating of Pharaoh's dreams over and 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:27.760 over again, and I just don't want to keep reading the same dream over and over again for time's sake. 00:10:27.820 --> 00:10:32.530 But here in Genesis chapter one tells you, Joseph's in prison for another two years. 00:10:32.560 --> 00:10:33.380 Verse two. 00:10:33.380 --> 00:10:34.040 Pharaoh has a dream. 00:10:34.760 --> 00:10:36.460 Pharaoh has a dream about these. 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:42.540 These lump cows will say, seven, seven really fat cows by the Nile. 00:10:42.640 --> 00:10:49.250 And all of a sudden, as he's dreaming about these beautiful cows, these skinny cows come out of the Nile River. 00:10:49.460 --> 00:10:52.580 And rather than be herbivores, they're omnivores. 00:10:52.580 --> 00:10:53.860 They devour the cows. 00:10:53.880 --> 00:10:54.020 Right? 00:10:54.020 --> 00:10:54.860 That's a scary moment. 00:10:54.860 --> 00:10:58.460 When you see cow eating cow, it's like a zombie apocalypse among cows. 00:10:58.540 --> 00:10:58.900 Right? 00:10:58.900 --> 00:10:58.980 But. 00:10:59.060 --> 00:10:59.900 But the skinny cows. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:02.540 Seven skinny cows eat the seven fat cows. 00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:05.760 And when Pharaoh sees this, he sees it so vividly it shocks him. 00:11:05.760 --> 00:11:09.750 He wakes up from his dream, and after he settles down again, he goes back to bed. 00:11:09.780 --> 00:11:13.180 Immediately, when he falls back asleep, he has another dream about wheat. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:17.840 He sees wheat sprout up these seven sprouts of wheat, beautiful lump sprouts of wheat. 00:11:17.880 --> 00:11:25.260 And all of a sudden these other, these other portions of wheat come up seven sprouts of wheat and they're scorched by the earth. 00:11:25.380 --> 00:11:29.020 And these seven sprouts of wheat devour the lump wheat. 00:11:29.280 --> 00:11:33.520 And Pharaoh's now challenged by this, he's wondering, what is God trying to communicate to me? 00:11:33.520 --> 00:11:34.520 This was so vivid. 00:11:34.520 --> 00:11:35.560 This has to mean something. 00:11:36.060 --> 00:11:41.520 And so it tells you in Genesis that Pharaoh goes around and he asks the question. 00:11:41.520 --> 00:11:42.560 He looks for leaders. 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:44.540 In fact, you guys give me a click because I don't have control. 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:49.300 verse eight, he asked this question among the well, maybe. 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:51.380 Okay, there we are. 00:11:51.380 --> 00:11:51.680 Verse eight. 00:11:51.680 --> 00:11:53.580 He asks the question among the leaders in the morning. 00:11:53.880 --> 00:11:58.180 His mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. 00:11:58.280 --> 00:11:59.940 Pharaoh told them in his dreams. 00:12:00.100 --> 00:12:02.920 But no one could interpret them for him. 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:10.760 So what is what is saying in this passage is Pharaoh knows he needs an answer, and he goes and seeks all of the sage advice he could possibly find in his 00:12:10.760 --> 00:12:11.610 land. 00:12:11.800 --> 00:12:17.780 This word for magician is really, it's better translated as religious leaders in the land. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:18.820 So Pharaoh is. 00:12:18.900 --> 00:12:25.900 He's going around and asking religious leaders, anyone of any authority, any wise person in their society, give me some sort of 00:12:25.900 --> 00:12:30.340 answer as to what's happening here, and no one can give him a true answer. 00:12:30.660 --> 00:12:35.800 I mean, I'm sure he's getting some, some, some pandering to the idea, but no one's giving him a direct answer. 00:12:35.860 --> 00:12:38.230 What this what this represents or what this means. 00:12:38.560 --> 00:12:42.460 And you know, what I found interesting is I'm reading the story as it's unfolding in Pharaoh's dream. 00:12:42.460 --> 00:12:46.260 I feel like, man, are we like, are we describing America? 00:12:46.260 --> 00:12:50.580 Could we just transplant this to society today in America? 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:57.680 I feel like I feel like we're on the crazy circus together when I have I don't know if you guys feel this way, but 00:12:57.680 --> 00:13:04.980 I feel like I'm at a place in life when I turn any television on or listen to anyone sharing any opinion broadly across 00:13:04.980 --> 00:13:09.520 our country, it feels like, it feels like insanity let loose. 00:13:09.540 --> 00:13:16.860 Like I as a person, I feel like I'm starting to get depravity fatigue from this world, like the America that I feel like I grew up in as a kid. 00:13:17.100 --> 00:13:19.250 I look at today and I'm like, what is happened? 00:13:19.660 --> 00:13:20.120 Right? 00:13:20.220 --> 00:13:22.460 I just it is it seems exhausting. 00:13:23.340 --> 00:13:27.620 And it's like, no matter how many opinions you get, just no one, no one seems to have the right answer. 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:31.140 It just sounds like we're spiraling further, further down the crazy cycle. 00:13:32.160 --> 00:13:34.760 And I think this is where Pharaoh is in this story. 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:42.240 He he's looking for something to secure him, something to hold him, something that he knows it's resonating with what 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:43.100 he's discovered. 00:13:44.280 --> 00:13:48.060 And no matter how many answers he's seeking, it might temporarily satisfy. 00:13:48.060 --> 00:13:50.300 But there's no depth to it. 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:56.150 And much, much like I feel like we're finding ourselves in our society today. 00:13:56.380 --> 00:14:03.560 But can I tell you, in the darkest of moments how beautiful it is as 00:14:03.560 --> 00:14:04.740 an opportunity for the gospel? 00:14:06.660 --> 00:14:12.280 That if God's people, rather than run from it, rather than hide in it, rather than just give it over. 00:14:13.020 --> 00:14:18.860 If we could see the opportunity that God has for us in that, for the goodness of who he is to just shine forth. 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:24.440 I think more than any time in our country, people are looking for answers. 00:14:25.140 --> 00:14:32.460 That's why as a church that we have been growing so people are just sick of the things the world is tossing 00:14:32.460 --> 00:14:32.900 at them. 00:14:33.700 --> 00:14:40.500 There might be some temporal relief in that, but ultimately they know deep down in their soul that there's more to life than this. 00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:48.900 Which means for you as God's people, how important it is to not give up, but to dive deeper in the sovereignty of 00:14:48.900 --> 00:14:52.860 who God is and discover him in the midst of the struggles of life. 00:14:53.720 --> 00:15:00.740 I mean, if you were to walk out these doors today and you were just asked people some basic questions that are foundational for life people, people cannot 00:15:00.740 --> 00:15:04.440 answer them like the questions like, why do you exist? 00:15:05.660 --> 00:15:13.680 And the general answer people tend to say is to do as good as I can or just to be a good person, of which is, we 00:15:13.680 --> 00:15:15.070 definitely want you to be a good person. 00:15:16.280 --> 00:15:18.490 Like, don't go out and be destructive in society. 00:15:19.180 --> 00:15:26.260 But that's putting the cart before the horse that still doesn't get you to the to the most primary question of why you exist. 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:29.850 It talks about what you do, but it's not why you exist. 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:36.960 If all you exist for is to simply do good, can I just tell you God is way better at it than you are, and there's nothing you're going to do in your own strength that's really 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:38.150 going to impress him anyway. 00:15:38.700 --> 00:15:40.440 Like God can. 00:15:40.520 --> 00:15:42.000 God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. 00:15:42.040 --> 00:15:43.300 He created all of this, right? 00:15:43.300 --> 00:15:47.360 There's what are you going to do in your feeble self that's going to impress God that he can't do for himself, right? 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:50.160 Like, is that really the reason he created you just simply to do good? 00:15:52.200 --> 00:15:57.920 I mean, the book of Genesis starts off that way, to reminding us the reason you exist isn't to do good. 00:15:57.920 --> 00:16:00.000 The reason you exist is to know God. 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:03.760 You're made in his image, to connect to your creator. 00:16:04.640 --> 00:16:11.720 And as your life is surrendered to him as he has given his life for you at the cross, it's through that relationship with the Lord that then you live 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:17.380 out the purpose for which you were created in him, and ultimately you end up doing good to the point that it blesses other people. 00:16:18.780 --> 00:16:26.000 But it only comes through relationship with the Lord, trusting in the sovereign hand of God, or people asking the question, 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:28.300 how do you determine what's true? 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:36.660 And we've gotten so far away from understanding it, the idea of a universal truth that in our own country, what we tend to fixate on is temporal 00:16:36.660 --> 00:16:39.880 truth or experiential truth or relative truth. 00:16:39.920 --> 00:16:40.660 It's true for you. 00:16:40.660 --> 00:16:41.120 It's true for you. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:42.420 And what's true for me is true for me. 00:16:42.580 --> 00:16:44.040 Which honestly isn't really truth. 00:16:44.040 --> 00:16:45.030 It's just a relative statement. 00:16:46.620 --> 00:16:48.100 But there are certain truths that govern life. 00:16:48.100 --> 00:16:49.730 And how do you determine what's true is important? 00:16:50.800 --> 00:16:52.820 Or how can you trust in God? 00:16:52.820 --> 00:16:53.870 What makes God believable? 00:16:53.900 --> 00:16:56.340 And not just any generic God, the God of the Bible? 00:16:56.440 --> 00:16:59.900 Why trust the Bible and what makes Jesus who he is? 00:17:00.580 --> 00:17:05.000 And those questions become foundational for life and being able to encourage people. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.160 And that only happens in a walk with the Lord. 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:15.230 But our default is people is rather than trusting the sovereign hand of God is to trust in ourselves. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:19.760 And I think this is why we struggle as human beings. 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:27.819 We struggle in knowing the true God because our lives aren't fully surrendered to 00:17:27.819 --> 00:17:28.280 him. 00:17:29.060 --> 00:17:33.500 We come to God with agendas and conditions we tend to. 00:17:33.620 --> 00:17:37.400 There's been studies on America over the last couple of decades asking the question, what? 00:17:37.520 --> 00:17:39.580 What really is America's God? 00:17:40.840 --> 00:17:44.800 And the answer theologians have come up with is our God. 00:17:44.800 --> 00:17:51.900 Our belief system is therapeutic moral deism, therapeutic moral deism, which means we want to feel 00:17:51.900 --> 00:17:52.690 good about ourselves. 00:17:52.900 --> 00:17:55.870 So we'll kind of do good things in order to feel good about ourselves. 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:59.150 And we'll leverage God for that purpose to make us feel good. 00:17:59.260 --> 00:18:05.280 The idea of deism is that there's a belief that God exists, but he's sort of created the world, wound it up, and he's distant from us. 00:18:05.280 --> 00:18:06.600 He doesn't want to be active in our lives. 00:18:06.900 --> 00:18:08.650 It's really up to us from here. 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:13.620 And so we just have this therapeutic want to feel positive and do a little good with this deistic god. 00:18:13.620 --> 00:18:15.220 Not not really intimate relationship. 00:18:16.320 --> 00:18:19.480 And because of that, we sort of create our own God. 00:18:20.040 --> 00:18:21.600 And we come to this God with conditions. 00:18:21.840 --> 00:18:28.860 We say to God, okay, God, if you do this for me, and we sort of tell him who he needs to be to bow to our will, then I'll trust in you 00:18:28.860 --> 00:18:32.840 and I'll live out this therapeutic, moralistic, deistic belief system. 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:36.160 And so we and it fits well with our culture, right? 00:18:36.180 --> 00:18:37.860 And our American culture. 00:18:38.180 --> 00:18:40.300 It's have it your way, Burger King, isn't it? 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:46.440 Just whatever makes you happy, you kind of shape it according to what you desire and even your God. 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:48.500 You sort of just pick what you want. 00:18:48.740 --> 00:18:51.330 But when it comes to the biblical God, that's not how it works at all. 00:18:52.520 --> 00:18:53.700 God doesn't want a part of you. 00:18:54.840 --> 00:18:56.180 God says it's all or nothing. 00:18:56.180 --> 00:19:01.120 God wants all of you surrendering all you are to who he is. 00:19:01.120 --> 00:19:04.120 As Jesus has given his entire life for you. 00:19:04.760 --> 00:19:05.940 There is no peace in your. 00:19:05.980 --> 00:19:07.760 A relationship with God until that happens. 00:19:08.500 --> 00:19:15.780 But that will never happen until you begin to realize this, the sovereign hand of God, and that this God is good and this God is for 00:19:15.780 --> 00:19:16.240 you. 00:19:16.920 --> 00:19:20.160 And you ultimately see that played out through the life of Jesus. 00:19:21.020 --> 00:19:23.880 If that weren't true, Jesus wouldn't walk this path before. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:27.760 He wouldn't have endured that grief and suffering, and he wouldn't have given his life for you. 00:19:28.780 --> 00:19:36.860 But the fact that God was willing to lower himself, to take on flesh, to walk as we walk and to give his life for your freedom, screams 00:19:36.860 --> 00:19:42.240 at you that there is a God who is sovereign, who cares who has defeated sin, Satan, and death. 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:47.800 That as you have seen his life given over for you, then you in turn can give your life to him. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:52.020 Number one, secrets to never giving up. 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:54.920 Resting in the hand of that sovereign God. 00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:56.730 And here's how you see it play out for Joseph. 00:19:56.840 --> 00:20:03.560 Verse 14 Sefaira sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon when he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh. 00:20:03.560 --> 00:20:06.380 Pharaoh said to him, I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. 00:20:06.380 --> 00:20:09.160 But I have heard that you can interpret dreams. 00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:09.700 Verse 16. 00:20:09.760 --> 00:20:10.420 I can't do it. 00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:14.240 Joseph replied to Pharaoh, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires. 00:20:14.320 --> 00:20:16.840 I love this here. 00:20:16.840 --> 00:20:20.140 Here you see, in order to come before Pharaoh, Joseph's got a doll himself up. 00:20:21.800 --> 00:20:23.620 But his walk with God is just raw. 00:20:24.800 --> 00:20:26.420 He can come to the Lord wherever he's at. 00:20:26.600 --> 00:20:27.980 He's not there to impress God. 00:20:29.020 --> 00:20:36.500 He just has come to a place where he has been stripped of everything, and in so doing, he's discovered God is who he needs, and in that lays 00:20:36.500 --> 00:20:37.860 his life down for the Lord. 00:20:38.220 --> 00:20:42.860 In any state that he has found himself, his life is given over to God. 00:20:42.860 --> 00:20:47.230 Pharaoh maybe try to impress at least the people wanted him to by getting him cleaned up. 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:53.300 But in verse 16 he very clearly says to Pharaoh, it's not me that interprets the dreams, but the sovereign God. 00:20:54.280 --> 00:20:56.740 This would have been a perfect time to elevate himself, right? 00:20:56.740 --> 00:20:57.590 To talk about how great is. 00:20:57.860 --> 00:21:00.060 That's right Pharaoh, I am amazing, right? 00:21:00.100 --> 00:21:03.730 But he doesn't because he knew what ultimately would transform. 00:21:04.500 --> 00:21:05.420 And it's not him. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:09.620 It's the Lord that transforms our life. 00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:11.160 And that's who he wanted Pharaoh to know. 00:21:11.180 --> 00:21:12.940 That's who he wanted Egypt to know. 00:21:12.940 --> 00:21:14.060 Rest in the sovereign hand of God. 00:21:14.060 --> 00:21:16.600 Point number two is this let the joy of the Lord be your strength. 00:21:17.900 --> 00:21:19.620 Let the joy of the Lord be your strength. 00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:21.530 Joy is a wonderful thing. 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:24.000 I hope you experience it all the days of your life. 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:27.760 In fact, in Proverbs 17 it says, A joyful heart is good medicine. 00:21:28.860 --> 00:21:29.460 And you know we can. 00:21:29.500 --> 00:21:31.570 We as people can find joy in all sorts of places. 00:21:31.600 --> 00:21:33.270 We can find it in relationships with people. 00:21:33.660 --> 00:21:37.160 We can we can find it in circumstances of life. 00:21:37.460 --> 00:21:41.980 But more important than any of those things, it is paramount that we find our joy in the Lord. 00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:42.920 And here's why. 00:21:43.760 --> 00:21:45.580 Everything else will disappoint you at some time. 00:21:46.600 --> 00:21:48.980 At some point in your life, relationships will fail. 00:21:49.560 --> 00:21:54.220 Your experiences will not always be positive, but the Lord will always remain consistent. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:56.930 The joy of the Lord is to be your strength. 00:21:57.380 --> 00:22:01.080 In order to experience true joy, you need to find it in something that endures. 00:22:02.300 --> 00:22:03.840 And sometimes Christians are even happy. 00:22:04.220 --> 00:22:06.680 excuse me, Christians are even careful in how they talk about joy. 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:14.400 They'll often refer to things like that, give a positive experience, like relationships with people as something that makes them happy, or having 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:19.760 an experience in life as something that makes them happy, because it sort of differentiates the difference between happiness and joy. 00:22:19.780 --> 00:22:24.940 That joy should be deeper than that joy should be something that endures. 00:22:24.940 --> 00:22:27.200 And the only thing that endures is what you have in the Lord. 00:22:27.640 --> 00:22:34.920 Now let me just tell you, when you think about joy and you look at Genesis chapter 41, nowhere in this chapter does it talk about joy in the Lord. 00:22:35.820 --> 00:22:42.840 But here's what I want you to know is the idea of discovering joy in the Lord is repeated over and over again in Scripture without necessarily using the 00:22:42.840 --> 00:22:43.840 phrase. 00:22:44.220 --> 00:22:51.420 It wasn't until you get to the book of Nehemiah in chapter eight that you finally see someone coining the term to describe what a relationship with 00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:52.420 the Lord is really about. 00:22:53.700 --> 00:22:56.000 Nehemiah put it into words. 00:22:56.040 --> 00:22:56.260 What? 00:22:56.360 --> 00:22:59.560 What God's people had been walking through all of their days. 00:23:00.180 --> 00:23:03.160 And when Nehemiah put in the words, it was it came in a beautiful place. 00:23:04.080 --> 00:23:09.550 If you remember the story of the book of Nehemiah, God's children were taken as captives into Babylon. 00:23:09.580 --> 00:23:10.450 They were going through a struggle. 00:23:10.520 --> 00:23:12.370 They would have been asking those questions of struggle. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:13.240 God, do you love us? 00:23:13.340 --> 00:23:13.540 God? 00:23:13.540 --> 00:23:14.160 Do you care about us? 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:15.200 God, are you giving up on me? 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:16.420 Do we matter to you? 00:23:17.280 --> 00:23:18.640 In the book of Nehemiah is the story. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.310 When they come back into Jerusalem and they rebuild the walls, they rebuild the temple. 00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:29.710 And in chapter eight they read the law of the Lord, and they realize they had been living as a sinful people, and many of them didn't know God's Word. 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:31.460 Most of them didn't know God's Word. 00:23:31.580 --> 00:23:32.760 And they're lamenting in that. 00:23:33.800 --> 00:23:35.640 And Nehemiah tells them, don't lament. 00:23:35.640 --> 00:23:36.780 God has rescued you. 00:23:36.780 --> 00:23:41.000 God has been faithful, and now you have the privilege of knowing God's Word to walk with him. 00:23:41.700 --> 00:23:43.160 The joy of the Lord is your strength. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:50.460 And they had learned that even though they had been consistent to the Lord or inconsistent to the Lord, God had always been consistent 00:23:50.460 --> 00:23:52.120 to fulfill his promises to them. 00:23:52.860 --> 00:23:55.820 And they realized as they had trusted in everything else, it had failed them. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:57.130 But it was. 00:23:57.400 --> 00:23:59.480 It was the Lord who was always faithful. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:03.920 And so they used this phrase, the joy of the Lord is their strength. 00:24:03.940 --> 00:24:06.440 And you see this happen over and over in Scripture. 00:24:06.500 --> 00:24:07.280 Just that idea. 00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:14.740 Even in job, when job lost his family, his kids, when he lost his home, when he lost his wealth, when he lost his crop, when he lost his 00:24:14.740 --> 00:24:17.420 animals, all that he lost. 00:24:17.660 --> 00:24:24.500 You know, he asked job at that moment, in an earthly sense, people may look at him and be like, job, you'll be happy again when you get all that stuff back. 00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:28.900 But job says, no, that's not, that's not what I'm shooting for. 00:24:28.900 --> 00:24:28.900 That's not where my joy comes from. 00:24:28.900 --> 00:24:35.170 In chapter 23, verse ten, he says, but he knows the way that I take when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. 00:24:35.460 --> 00:24:39.280 Job is saying, look, here's the goal and desire of my life is to honor of the Lord. 00:24:39.620 --> 00:24:44.500 It's the joy of the Lord that is his strength, his life completely given over to him. 00:24:44.560 --> 00:24:51.240 It's this eternal perspective that helps him think through the struggles that he faces in the day. 00:24:51.780 --> 00:24:59.160 Sometimes we have this tendency when we face adversity, to get so fixated on that struggle that we fail to put it into an eternal perspective, resting 00:24:59.160 --> 00:25:05.800 in the sovereign hand of God, that God is good and he will work this out for his good. 00:25:06.860 --> 00:25:09.570 And when you get to take a step back and think to yourself, you know what? 00:25:09.700 --> 00:25:16.960 No matter what happens, I know who I am because I know whose I am, and therefore I'm going to make my aim, continuing to 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:21.180 live for his glory, because I know whether it's in this world or what's to come. 00:25:21.180 --> 00:25:22.580 God's going to work it all out. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:28.610 Even in Hebrews 12 with Jesus it says, Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith, who for the joy. 00:25:29.080 --> 00:25:31.380 That was set before him endured the cross. 00:25:31.380 --> 00:25:33.160 So you see the suffering, the struggle of the moment. 00:25:33.220 --> 00:25:40.540 But he has a greater purpose, a greater pursuit in mind and despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 00:25:40.620 --> 00:25:45.700 He's saying, in the midst of struggle his life remained constant towards this one purpose, which was to glorify the father. 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:53.200 And in so doing, at the at the end he could see be seated once again in heaven at the right hand of the father, which is a 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:57.560 place of favor, because he lived an honorable life. 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:02.160 When you think about the joy of the Lord is your strength. 00:26:02.260 --> 00:26:09.380 This is what we see in the life of Joseph, that Joseph is called before the King in order to, or Pharaoh in 00:26:09.380 --> 00:26:11.360 order to interpret his dreams. 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:15.650 And he has this eternal perspective to the temporal battles in which he's facing. 00:26:15.780 --> 00:26:22.980 And as he's interpreting this dream, this is what he says to Pharaoh in the midst of interpreting, he says, Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are 00:26:22.980 --> 00:26:24.260 one and the same. 00:26:24.560 --> 00:26:28.060 God has delivered, has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 00:26:28.140 --> 00:26:33.860 It is just as I said to Pharaoh, God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:41.320 The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it 00:26:41.320 --> 00:26:42.180 soon. 00:26:43.980 --> 00:26:47.550 And in the midst of the struggle, Joseph has just remained constant. 00:26:48.800 --> 00:26:55.940 It's the joy of the Lord that he lives, for he knows what he has in the Lord will endure and 00:26:55.940 --> 00:26:57.920 being stripped of everything. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:26:59.410 I think helped. 00:26:59.580 --> 00:27:06.320 Joseph continued to remain in this place of absolute surrender to the one who held him in his hands. 00:27:07.120 --> 00:27:07.630 Point number three. 00:27:09.040 --> 00:27:15.080 In so doing, you can live in a secure identity, live in a secure identity. 00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:18.720 When you trust in the sovereign hand of God. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:22.120 When the joy of the Lord becomes your strength. 00:27:23.320 --> 00:27:30.380 You rest in the identity that you have in him and Joseph in the story, he interprets 00:27:30.380 --> 00:27:33.140 the dream and then he tells Pharaoh what he think Pharaoh should do. 00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:37.700 He says to Pharaoh, look, you've got seven years on this dream, seven years of plenty. 00:27:37.700 --> 00:27:44.780 Well, you'll have an abundance of food, but then you're going to have seven years of famine, and you need to take the seven years of plenty in order 00:27:44.780 --> 00:27:46.780 to carry you through the seven years of famine. 00:27:47.360 --> 00:27:54.620 And then he recommends for Pharaoh in verse 33 he says, now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man, and put him in charge of 00:27:54.620 --> 00:27:55.810 the land of Egypt. 00:27:57.020 --> 00:28:04.400 The only way you ever really have a discerning, wise man is if you have someone whose life is truly given over to the Lord, because any other person 00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:11.500 is going to use that position of power to serve themselves, but as only someone who truly finds 00:28:11.500 --> 00:28:18.640 their identity in the Lord when they say, my life wasn't created for me, God, but created for you, and as your life is shaped in him, 00:28:18.940 --> 00:28:22.740 then you discover how God has then desired to use you to bless others. 00:28:23.080 --> 00:28:24.980 You don't need other people to affirm you. 00:28:25.040 --> 00:28:26.300 Your longing is not to have power. 00:28:26.420 --> 00:28:32.460 So people think you're great or possession so that you feel great, but rather you've come to learn that what you have in the Lord is what you. 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:39.580 All you need in life and what you have in God is far greater than anything this world can give to you and Joseph. 00:28:39.580 --> 00:28:46.780 In that secure position, he gives this recommendation of what really Pharaoh needs to look for a person of wisdom 00:28:46.780 --> 00:28:51.510 to navigate the circumstances in which they're about to find themselves. 00:28:52.040 --> 00:28:53.390 You need a person of character. 00:28:54.120 --> 00:28:58.800 Can I tell you character is your greatest platform to make a difference for the Lord in this world. 00:28:59.180 --> 00:29:01.120 It's the reason people trust you. 00:29:01.940 --> 00:29:09.080 Now, I know we're not perfect people, and even in our failures, we can ultimately point back to the character of a God who is greater, who forgives us 00:29:09.080 --> 00:29:09.820 in our failures. 00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:17.020 But character becomes this place of being able to use your leadership to make a difference in this world. 00:29:17.760 --> 00:29:20.140 It is the most important attribute of any leader. 00:29:20.800 --> 00:29:21.650 Is that your character and. 00:29:22.120 --> 00:29:24.940 And when I say character, I mean godly character. 00:29:24.940 --> 00:29:28.370 In verse 37, then the plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. 00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:33.370 So Farah asked them, can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the Spirit of God? 00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:40.840 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you, as fair is 00:29:40.840 --> 00:29:41.400 looking around. 00:29:41.560 --> 00:29:48.120 And because Joseph has remained consistent in his character, Pharaoh realizes that the person that should be in this position is Joseph. 00:29:49.100 --> 00:29:54.200 In verse 40, you shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:56.820 Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. 00:29:57.540 --> 00:30:00.620 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt. 00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:04.360 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:08.440 He dressed him in robes of Finland and put a gold chain around his neck. 00:30:08.460 --> 00:30:09.320 He's about to be a rapper. 00:30:09.460 --> 00:30:10.320 I think he had. 00:30:10.680 --> 00:30:12.120 He had him ride in a chariot. 00:30:12.140 --> 00:30:12.580 I'm kidding. 00:30:12.580 --> 00:30:13.300 I don't know where it came from. 00:30:13.660 --> 00:30:16.490 He had him riding in a chariot and he's his second in command. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:19.220 And people shouted before him, make way! 00:30:19.220 --> 00:30:22.500 Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. 00:30:23.660 --> 00:30:23.660 When? 00:30:23.800 --> 00:30:26.020 When Pharaoh gives Joseph the signet ring. 00:30:26.040 --> 00:30:26.940 This is an incredible moment. 00:30:27.300 --> 00:30:31.000 This signet ring is like getting, getting all the power of the land. 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:31.360 This is like. 00:30:31.660 --> 00:30:33.020 This is Pharaoh's credit card. 00:30:33.020 --> 00:30:36.780 If you want to go buy something, you just say, charge it to Pharaoh and you stamp it with the ring. 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:39.640 You want to make a law, you just write the law and you just stamp it with the ring. 00:30:39.740 --> 00:30:40.040 That's. 00:30:40.120 --> 00:30:42.760 That's the kind of authority that Joseph has. 00:30:42.900 --> 00:30:45.060 But it's the consistency of his character. 00:30:45.400 --> 00:30:52.480 Even when he was accused falsely, he didn't wallow in the mud with those people he choose, chose to just walk with the Lord and honor 00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:55.660 him and bless those around him wherever he found himself. 00:30:55.960 --> 00:30:56.480 Incredible. 00:30:56.500 --> 00:31:03.040 The only way you get to that place is to be secure in your identity, and the only way you're secure in your identity is you're resting in the joy of the Lord. 00:31:03.100 --> 00:31:08.550 And the only reason you want to make the Lord your joy is because you understand who the sovereign God really is. 00:31:09.100 --> 00:31:12.640 And because of that, now he finds him himself in this position. 00:31:12.820 --> 00:31:19.820 And one of the things I really want you to see in this story, it's like the author of Genesis knew where he was going to end, because when you read in the very beginning of 00:31:19.820 --> 00:31:25.770 Genesis chapter one and verse 26 and 27, it tells us that when God made all of us, he made us in his image. 00:31:26.600 --> 00:31:33.620 And for the Hebrew slaves that this book was originally written to, this would have been an incredible statement, because for a Hebrew slave, what they have been taught and 00:31:33.620 --> 00:31:37.350 learned is that there is only one who is in the image of God, and that is Pharaoh. 00:31:37.940 --> 00:31:42.150 Pharaoh is God's representative on this earth, and at certain points they just treated him like he was God himself. 00:31:43.080 --> 00:31:47.120 And so there was this way of saying, you guys are lesser than this guy. 00:31:47.580 --> 00:31:50.500 This guy is God's guy, and you guys are just beneath him. 00:31:51.020 --> 00:31:58.120 And when the book of Genesis was written, what it was actually saying to is saying to you, look, there can be people in different positions in this world, but no one is more important than someone 00:31:58.120 --> 00:31:58.570 else. 00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:02.180 All of us are made in the image of God, which gives us all intrinsic worth. 00:32:02.180 --> 00:32:03.600 Your value is not based on what you do. 00:32:03.600 --> 00:32:05.080 Your value is based on who you are. 00:32:05.760 --> 00:32:13.080 And so we all have the beautiful privilege of rehumanizing people in this world, that what the world will do is try to shame people, make 00:32:13.080 --> 00:32:18.930 them feel worthless because they're not as good as someone else at something that is not biblical, that is not right, that is not good. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:22.780 And so what the Bible helps us understand is the. 00:32:22.780 --> 00:32:26.810 Worth of who you are in light of who God is, that you've been given this intrinsic value. 00:32:27.520 --> 00:32:34.600 And then you see this illustrated through Pharaoh, that now, while we learn that we're all made in the image of God, even though Pharaoh was, it was taught to the people 00:32:34.600 --> 00:32:35.970 that only Pharaoh was that way. 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:39.190 Here you see Joseph now elevated in this position. 00:32:39.480 --> 00:32:44.100 Now I want you to know, just because he is in this position isn't when now he has worth. 00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:49.310 Joseph knew who he was and the worth he carried all along. 00:32:49.960 --> 00:32:52.910 That's why he was able to be faithful to the Lord as he went through this adversity. 00:32:53.820 --> 00:32:56.460 Just because he got this position didn't change who he was. 00:32:56.860 --> 00:33:00.700 And that's the danger with people receiving power, right? 00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:04.820 All of a sudden they get power and they start abusing it and they start abusing it. 00:33:05.080 --> 00:33:07.120 Not because really the power changed them. 00:33:07.120 --> 00:33:11.900 Sometimes it does, but really the power gave them opportunity to fully express what was already in them. 00:33:13.080 --> 00:33:20.160 But it's when you walk with the character of which you were created in Christ and you understand who you are, then you'll leverage the 00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:24.240 opportunities that God gives you for his glory in this world to the benefit of others. 00:33:24.920 --> 00:33:31.960 That's why power didn't change who Joseph was, but rather in getting this power, he was able to use it to the blessing of people around him. 00:33:34.020 --> 00:33:35.780 Live in a secure identity. 00:33:37.660 --> 00:33:38.860 let me give you point number four. 00:33:40.580 --> 00:33:42.180 Remain focused on the mission. 00:33:44.260 --> 00:33:47.020 Remain focused on the mission. 00:33:48.800 --> 00:33:49.740 Why should you never give up? 00:33:51.820 --> 00:33:54.220 God wants to do a beautiful work not only in your life, but through your life. 00:33:58.860 --> 00:34:05.960 In Genesis chapter 41, verse 50, Joseph, right before the famine, he had two kids, and he uses the name of his 00:34:05.960 --> 00:34:08.679 kids to really tell the story of God in his life. 00:34:09.420 --> 00:34:16.340 He says this before the years of a famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Potipherah, priest of on. 00:34:16.540 --> 00:34:23.540 Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh, and said, it is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my 00:34:23.540 --> 00:34:24.639 father's household. 00:34:25.139 --> 00:34:31.710 Then the second son, he named Ephraim, and said, it is because God has been has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. 00:34:31.780 --> 00:34:32.739 Here's what he's saying. 00:34:34.500 --> 00:34:37.139 I could have let all the baggage of my life tell me who I am. 00:34:40.500 --> 00:34:42.760 But having God in my life taught me who I really am. 00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:46.960 And because of that, I could put all of the past behind me. 00:34:48.540 --> 00:34:55.620 I get to discover who I am by the grace of God, because of God made known in my life, and the things that happened to me are 00:34:55.620 --> 00:34:56.080 not me. 00:34:56.980 --> 00:34:59.070 I'm something far more beautiful in the Lord. 00:34:59.620 --> 00:35:03.760 And so Joseph uses his first son to say, it's important to learn to put the past in the past. 00:35:04.700 --> 00:35:07.600 When Jesus gave his life for me, he covered it all past, present, and future. 00:35:08.820 --> 00:35:11.340 And because of that, then Ephraim represents in the Lord. 00:35:11.340 --> 00:35:12.170 He has a double portion. 00:35:13.060 --> 00:35:19.720 And what he's saying is, no matter what this world offers to me, what God offers is doubly better than anything the world can do. 00:35:21.380 --> 00:35:24.680 And so he's learned in his relationship with the Lord who he really is. 00:35:25.540 --> 00:35:32.340 He's able to let go of those things that might try to define him, to allow his life to be defined and the goodness of who God is, that he could live in the blessing of the Lord. 00:35:32.340 --> 00:35:35.260 Knowing what God gives to him is far greater than anything this world could ever offer. 00:35:36.860 --> 00:35:44.160 And then through that, he can then bless the world, because he's not looking for this world to give him any affirmation, 00:35:44.920 --> 00:35:48.440 or this world to tell him what his worth is made of. 00:35:48.600 --> 00:35:56.160 But rather he's already discovered that in the midst of the prison, in his own struggles, because he's found his relationship in God, all 00:35:56.160 --> 00:35:57.780 of him surrendered to the Lord. 00:35:58.120 --> 00:36:05.200 And he discovers this in verse 56, when the famine was spread over the whole country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, 00:36:05.200 --> 00:36:12.170 for the famine was severe throughout Egypt, and all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere. 00:36:13.540 --> 00:36:13.960 I mean, here it is. 00:36:14.060 --> 00:36:19.060 He could have given up at any time, but he just he knew what God wanted him to do. 00:36:19.080 --> 00:36:21.120 And that was just simply be faithful where he was. 00:36:21.900 --> 00:36:27.240 And as he continued to be faithful, God brought him to an opportunity to use his life to bless the entire world. 00:36:27.900 --> 00:36:31.020 I mean, far, far better than anything could have Joseph. 00:36:31.140 --> 00:36:32.540 Joseph could have done in his own strength. 00:36:33.440 --> 00:36:39.140 God used his life to make a difference, because in the midst of that struggle, he didn't give up. 00:36:40.100 --> 00:36:42.260 He trusted in a sovereign God. 00:36:42.460 --> 00:36:47.010 He rested in the joy of the Lord, and through that found his identity. 00:36:47.220 --> 00:36:50.460 And because of that, then was able to continue to live on this mission. 00:36:51.140 --> 00:36:54.480 And he found how it blessed people around him. 00:36:55.740 --> 00:36:59.920 Now, I know when you read a story like Joseph, and I'll close with this. 00:37:01.220 --> 00:37:06.370 When you read a story like Joseph, our tendency as human beings is to look at that and think, man, that's great for Joseph. 00:37:06.540 --> 00:37:07.980 But I'm not Joseph, right? 00:37:08.600 --> 00:37:14.860 And truth be told, you're not you're not you've likely never been a slave and never been in prison. 00:37:14.860 --> 00:37:15.520 You're not Joseph. 00:37:15.680 --> 00:37:16.960 Right? 00:37:18.040 --> 00:37:19.440 but here's what I want you to know. 00:37:21.700 --> 00:37:23.040 on the screen is a picture of people. 00:37:23.600 --> 00:37:26.160 And here I want you to know something particular about this picture. 00:37:26.460 --> 00:37:28.790 And that is, it's of no importance to any of us. 00:37:29.580 --> 00:37:31.120 There is no one special in this picture. 00:37:31.360 --> 00:37:38.490 This is a picture of ordinary people I got on an internet, and I decided to look for a photo that had no copyright to it, so I wouldn't get in trouble. 00:37:39.120 --> 00:37:40.220 of just ordinary people. 00:37:40.220 --> 00:37:40.730 That's what I googled. 00:37:41.060 --> 00:37:41.750 Give me an ordinary crowd. 00:37:42.700 --> 00:37:42.920 And. 00:37:42.920 --> 00:37:46.980 But here's what I've learned about the Lord over the years is God really loves ordinary people. 00:37:48.200 --> 00:37:52.320 And the reason I know that is because he made so many dang much of us right there. 00:37:52.840 --> 00:37:54.990 He filled the world with nothing but ordinary people. 00:37:57.220 --> 00:38:02.700 But what makes ordinary people amazing is not in and of themselves. 00:38:04.120 --> 00:38:08.060 What makes ordinary people amazing is when they're attached to an extraordinary God. 00:38:09.880 --> 00:38:11.940 And being connected to an extraordinary God. 00:38:11.940 --> 00:38:13.820 Ordinary people do extraordinary things. 00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:19.000 God's not looking for people to impress him with who you are. 00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:22.440 God just wants all of you where you are. 00:38:23.800 --> 00:38:27.020 Not in this therapeutic moral deism where you tell God what you want. 00:38:28.200 --> 00:38:33.980 Rather you surrender to understand who he truly is and understanding who he is. 00:38:34.100 --> 00:38:38.340 He can become the joy of your life and becoming the joy of your life. 00:38:38.340 --> 00:38:45.120 You find the identity of who you are in light of who he is, and therefore can live a glorious mission for his purposes in this world. 00:38:45.680 --> 00:38:48.140 And in so doing, extraordinary things happen. 00:38:49.100 --> 00:38:50.260 It's not because of what you've done. 00:38:51.240 --> 00:38:52.900 But it's because of what God has done for you. 00:38:52.900 --> 00:38:54.000 He has not given up on you. 00:38:54.780 --> 00:39:00.500 Even in the moments where it feels like maybe he has even the moments when you're struggling, you're asking the question, God, where are you in this? 00:39:00.500 --> 00:39:01.300 Do you not love me? 00:39:01.560 --> 00:39:03.720 The cross of Christ screams at you. 00:39:04.880 --> 00:39:08.480 His life is full of love and grace and mercy for you.