WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:07.240 I'm going to invite you to Genesis chapter 47 is where we're at together today in Genesis chapter 47 with a message. 00:00:07.300 --> 00:00:14.340 I didn't intend to necessarily be that timely, but if you've watched the news in the last 24 hours, you know this is probably a more significant 00:00:14.340 --> 00:00:18.620 title over some things that have transpired in our country in the last little bit. 00:00:18.860 --> 00:00:21.720 If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I want to live in that hole with you. 00:00:21.720 --> 00:00:24.660 Whatever world you're a part of, welcome me to that with you. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:29.640 But today we're going to talk about how to be a healthy leader in difficult days. 00:00:30.380 --> 00:00:32.439 How can we be a healthy leader in difficult days? 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:36.460 And I want to just say a couple things about this title as we get ready to get started. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:44.340 And one is, there's really not a secret to being a healthy leader in difficult days, because a healthy leader should be a 00:00:44.340 --> 00:00:46.780 healthy leader regardless of what the day brings. 00:00:47.800 --> 00:00:54.690 now, it may be that when you go through difficult days, it helps refine your focus and what it should look like and being a healthy leader. 00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:55.620 Right. 00:00:55.660 --> 00:01:03.500 But my hope for all of us is that our walk with Jesus is so deep that no matter what the day will be, whether it's easy, difficult, 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:08.460 good, bad, whatever, that you just drip the sweetness of Jesus in your life no matter what. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:15.340 Now, for some of us, sometimes it takes some shaking and waking up for us to recognize what in the world am I doing and how? 00:01:15.420 --> 00:01:16.970 How can I align my life with Christ? 00:01:17.440 --> 00:01:23.890 Maybe a difficult day it takes for us to recognize there's more to life than what we've been doing, and we see our need for the Lord. 00:01:24.360 --> 00:01:31.420 But sometimes when it comes to our level of commitment, if it just simply takes a difficult day for us to realize, man, I need to live 00:01:31.420 --> 00:01:31.900 for Jesus. 00:01:32.700 --> 00:01:39.920 Sometimes that response can be purely emotional, and we see the challenges and we can get serious for a minute, but that seriousness 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:41.360 may not endure. 00:01:42.220 --> 00:01:47.370 And what God calls us to is something more than just simply circumstantial leadership. 00:01:47.780 --> 00:01:52.310 But God desires for you to be a healthy leader no matter what, and especially in difficult days. 00:01:52.540 --> 00:01:59.620 Now, when I when I use the phrase healthy leaders, some of us may look at that and be like, well, I hope to be that one day, but I'm not ready for leadership now or I'm not 00:01:59.620 --> 00:02:00.060 there yet. 00:02:00.080 --> 00:02:01.760 I'm not a leader. 00:02:01.880 --> 00:02:09.240 But I think it's important for you to know, as a follower of Jesus, that God calls you to be ministers of him and to live on mission, 00:02:09.320 --> 00:02:11.300 which means all of God's people are leaders. 00:02:11.500 --> 00:02:13.970 For him, it's just a matter of what you're leading people to. 00:02:14.760 --> 00:02:14.900 Right? 00:02:14.900 --> 00:02:17.210 Is your leadership really healthy or not? 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:24.620 And when it comes to the idea of leadership, I think the most important thing to recognize what leadership is not about having a title. 00:02:24.660 --> 00:02:27.880 You know, there are plenty of leaders in this world that have titles and nobody follows them. 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:30.580 And just because you have a title doesn't make you a leader. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:38.220 Leadership is about influence and how you use your influence for the glory of the Lord or really the glory of yourself. 00:02:39.200 --> 00:02:45.110 And so what God certainly calls us to do as his people is to be healthy leaders, no matter the days. 00:02:45.200 --> 00:02:52.520 But we want to be specifically particular in difficult days, because we recognize that there is a definite need for the Lord. 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:57.970 And if you've paid attention to our country at all, you realize, man, our country is not getting better. 00:02:58.720 --> 00:03:02.610 And so therefore, it's important for God's people to really understand what this means. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:10.360 And Genesis chapter 47 is one of those chapters that helps us walk in light of this, particularly 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:17.580 dealing with the life of Joseph, which is where we've been now, I want you to know that when theologians, commentators, commentators 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:22.700 come to this chapter, there's actually some division over what they think is happening in this chapter. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:29.880 And it really starts in verse 13, that some people think that Joseph is making some people say that Joseph's making godly 00:03:29.880 --> 00:03:33.080 decisions for the well-being of Egypt and his family. 00:03:33.340 --> 00:03:36.150 Other people think he's actually taking ungodly steps. 00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:42.960 And verse 13 is really where that dividing line comes between theologians and commentaries on where that falls. 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:48.500 And if you want to know where I fall on this, I don't think Joseph is taking ungodly steps at all. 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:52.250 Rather, I think he's found a way to honor the Lord and bless the people where he is. 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:55.730 He's demonstrating healthy leadership in a difficult time. 00:03:56.260 --> 00:04:03.460 And one of the reasons I think that Joseph is doing this is that he's set the precedent for who he is as 00:04:03.460 --> 00:04:05.080 an individual before the Lord. 00:04:05.260 --> 00:04:07.290 And we've seen this as we've read his story. 00:04:07.600 --> 00:04:14.840 If you remember, in Genesis chapter 39, Joseph is propositioned by a woman to, tempted by a woman to 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:16.820 follow ungodly steps. 00:04:16.899 --> 00:04:20.410 And rather than follow that, he chooses to walk with integrity in this world. 00:04:20.540 --> 00:04:23.440 And she goes on to accuse him of something that he didn't do. 00:04:23.580 --> 00:04:25.870 And it cost him to the point that he's thrown in prison. 00:04:26.520 --> 00:04:30.900 So in the midst of temptation, he honors God, and when it costs him, he honors God. 00:04:30.940 --> 00:04:35.780 And when you get to Genesis chapter 40, when he's in prison, he's still honors God. 00:04:35.960 --> 00:04:40.720 In Genesis chapter 41, he's taken out of prison to interpret a dream for Pharaoh. 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:47.920 And when he interprets the dream for Pharaoh, he tells Pharaoh, God's given you a dream that says, there's going to be seven years of plenty, seven years of famine. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:55.120 And in verse 33 of chapter 41, he tells Pharaoh the kind of individual he needs to look for in order to lead Egypt through 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:59.050 this time, and he tells him, find someone that is wise and discerning. 00:04:59.640 --> 00:05:03.740 Find someone that's not going to take advantage of people in the time of plenty. 00:05:03.760 --> 00:05:06.970 Find someone that's got the wisdom to lead people in the time of famine. 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:09.610 That's the kind of individual he tells Pharaoh to seek. 00:05:09.840 --> 00:05:14.920 Pharaoh looks around and realizes that person is Joseph, and he appoints Joseph to lead. 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:22.140 During that time, and not only do we see him in godly leadership when he has plenty, but we see him as a godly leader when he has little. 00:05:22.180 --> 00:05:24.340 It didn't matter the circumstance for Joseph. 00:05:24.460 --> 00:05:29.890 He knew who he was before the Lord, and he honored God whether he was in good days or difficult days. 00:05:30.340 --> 00:05:37.460 And you see this, finally in Genesis 45, when his family comes to Egypt during the famine to get food. 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:45.000 If you remember Joseph's story, he was sold into slavery over 20 years prior because his brothers were jealous of him. 00:05:45.100 --> 00:05:47.250 His family had no idea what happened to him. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:52.250 His brothers come to Egypt because there's a famine in their land, and they know Egypt has food. 00:05:52.320 --> 00:05:56.360 Joseph recognizes them immediately, but doesn't reveal himself right away. 00:05:56.360 --> 00:05:58.300 He wants to find out what kind of men they've become. 00:05:59.160 --> 00:05:59.260 But. 00:05:59.320 --> 00:06:06.420 But Joseph, rather than retaliate to his brothers with vengeance, with wrath being the second in command of Egypt, 00:06:06.520 --> 00:06:09.040 he had the position and authority to do it. 00:06:09.320 --> 00:06:12.420 But rather than that what he offers is grace and forgiveness. 00:06:13.260 --> 00:06:18.530 So for Joseph, it wasn't about what was happening around him that determined the kind of man he was. 00:06:18.640 --> 00:06:22.580 He already knew who he was because he knew who he was before the Lord. 00:06:23.640 --> 00:06:23.680 So. 00:06:23.780 --> 00:06:29.200 So for us, as we look at this chapter, we're going to talk about how can we be a healthy leader in difficult days. 00:06:29.400 --> 00:06:31.020 And there's two questions we're going to answer. 00:06:31.380 --> 00:06:34.660 What are we to do and how are we to do it? 00:06:34.900 --> 00:06:36.460 What are we to do and how are we to do it? 00:06:36.540 --> 00:06:38.180 And when it comes to what are we to do? 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:42.710 I want to lay a theological foundation for us that's repeated throughout all of Scripture. 00:06:43.260 --> 00:06:49.550 It reminds us of who God calls us to be and then really how God calls us to respond. 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:52.510 But point number one in your notes is this what are we to do? 00:06:52.840 --> 00:06:56.140 We are to carry our my personal responsibility. 00:06:57.080 --> 00:07:00.150 We are to carry our personal responsibility. 00:07:01.020 --> 00:07:03.740 And you see this repeated throughout Scripture. 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:08.300 and here's what I think is very essential for us to know as God's people. 00:07:08.320 --> 00:07:15.380 Because if you don't hear this in light of the gospel, what you're going to come to understand is just religious do gooder 00:07:15.380 --> 00:07:16.720 attitude, right? 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:24.180 This is not it's important to understand that our response as believers, it flows out of our relationship 00:07:24.180 --> 00:07:25.520 with God. 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:28.680 It's not to get God to love us that we do good things. 00:07:29.240 --> 00:07:34.210 It's because God loves us that we respond in love in return. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:35.290 And here's what I mean. 00:07:35.640 --> 00:07:39.400 Religious people will live their lives thinking, oh, oh no, God's mad at me. 00:07:39.400 --> 00:07:42.380 I better do something nice so that he owes me, right? 00:07:42.460 --> 00:07:45.640 I better come to church on Sunday so God can be happy with me. 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:49.270 And that way I can have my Monday to Saturday and come back to church on Sunday again. 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:51.300 I better follow those rules, you know? 00:07:51.300 --> 00:07:53.930 So I don't want to tick got off or make God mad. 00:07:54.060 --> 00:07:58.510 And you know, when I tip the scales of good versus evil, I've done more good than bad. 00:07:58.660 --> 00:08:00.290 So God has to embrace me. 00:08:00.540 --> 00:08:03.620 It's constantly making God serve, serve you. 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:10.980 It's making God bow down to you because you, in that sort of mentality, you think God owes you by the religious performance of your life from 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:12.600 a Christian worldview. 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:13.290 Here's what we recognize. 00:08:13.940 --> 00:08:15.650 God owes me nothing but his wrath. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:22.800 God doesn't didn't have to do anything for me that the as a sinner, God is completely just and judging me. 00:08:23.580 --> 00:08:30.600 But here's what's incredible God pursued me in my sin, in my ugliest state, in the in the worst of me as a 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:33.320 human being, God demonstrates his love towards me. 00:08:33.760 --> 00:08:35.289 That's Romans five eight. 00:08:36.200 --> 00:08:39.299 Jesus gave his life for me when he didn't owe me anything. 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:41.740 No one's ever loved me like that. 00:08:42.760 --> 00:08:48.260 But because of God's love, I now have freedom in Christ, forgiveness in him through the cross. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:50.620 And I have a relationship with the Lord. 00:08:51.460 --> 00:08:58.500 And when someone does something generously to you, human nature is we want to just do something in response, give a gift back, 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:03.580 or just extend our love or thanks, whatever we can do to show our appreciation for that. 00:09:03.880 --> 00:09:05.760 And that's the Christian life. 00:09:06.100 --> 00:09:08.800 We don't do something because we have to. 00:09:08.940 --> 00:09:11.400 We do something because we want to. 00:09:11.500 --> 00:09:15.060 It's an outflow of who we are because we've found our identity in the Lord. 00:09:15.160 --> 00:09:18.000 We were created to know him and to walk with him. 00:09:18.420 --> 00:09:21.150 And so the outflow of our life is to honor him. 00:09:21.800 --> 00:09:25.920 And throughout Scripture you see this reciprocated in second Thessalonians three. 00:09:25.920 --> 00:09:29.460 It says, for even when we were with you, we would give you this command. 00:09:29.500 --> 00:09:30.560 So Paul is writing this letter. 00:09:30.560 --> 00:09:33.360 He's saying, I'm not with you right now, but it doesn't matter if I was with you or not. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:36.970 I'm telling you this, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:40.440 Meaning the natural consequence of not doing stuff. 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:42.360 A lazy person is starve, right? 00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:43.080 Like that's. 00:09:43.100 --> 00:09:47.640 This is what he's saying is that you were made to reflect God's glory in this world. 00:09:47.660 --> 00:09:51.420 The reality is, as a human being, you're going to reflect something with your life. 00:09:51.540 --> 00:09:53.620 You're going to honor something with your life. 00:09:53.700 --> 00:09:55.270 It's a matter of what you worship. 00:09:55.320 --> 00:09:57.540 That's what's going to determine what you honor. 00:09:57.900 --> 00:10:04.360 If it's yourself, you're going to see this world for your purpose and treat people like tools to honor you because it's just about you. 00:10:04.680 --> 00:10:11.860 But when you realize you were created for more than yourself, you were created for God's glory and what God has done for you in this world, that he's given his life 00:10:11.860 --> 00:10:12.060 for you. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:15.350 Not only did he create you to know him, he's recreated you at the cross. 00:10:15.860 --> 00:10:18.050 Now you have this opportunity to live for his glory. 00:10:18.460 --> 00:10:25.500 And so when God made when God made us as human beings in the Garden of Eden, he told us in Genesis chapter one verse 26 00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:31.080 to 28 he said, And God made you in the image of God, male and female, he created you. 00:10:31.160 --> 00:10:36.020 And in verse 28 he said, be fruitful, multiply and subdue. 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:43.120 Well, God is saying is, look, Adam and Eve, I created this Garden of Eden, and I want you to take this garden and I want you to multiply it throughout 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:43.960 the world. 00:10:44.200 --> 00:10:49.550 I want wherever you go, to be blessed, because you've been blessed by the presence of God in your life. 00:10:49.860 --> 00:10:56.800 And so Adam and Eve saw the beauty of the garden, and they were commissioned and called out of the garden to be a blessing to this world wherever they go. 00:10:57.280 --> 00:10:59.620 But that wasn't God's intention just for Adam and Eve. 00:10:59.620 --> 00:11:02.010 That was God's intention for all of us. 00:11:02.180 --> 00:11:06.670 That wherever we would go in this world, that the world would be a better place because we have found who we are in the Lord. 00:11:06.800 --> 00:11:12.050 And now we have the opportunity to take what God has given us and bless others, because we've been blessed in him. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:16.660 And so for all of us, there's we carry a personal responsibility. 00:11:16.680 --> 00:11:19.020 In fact, first Timothy five says it like this. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:26.500 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and 00:11:26.500 --> 00:11:27.840 is worse than an unbeliever. 00:11:28.920 --> 00:11:35.080 Now, this person has no idea who they are because God has made them for a reason and that is first to know him. 00:11:35.620 --> 00:11:40.490 And as they know him through that relationship with him, live for his glory in this world. 00:11:41.040 --> 00:11:47.400 To understand there is purpose for which they have been created, that you're going to honor something, you're going to do something in this world. 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:49.640 Why not make it something that matters? 00:11:49.660 --> 00:11:50.980 Something, something that counts? 00:11:50.980 --> 00:11:53.350 We all have a responsibility to carry. 00:11:53.480 --> 00:12:00.820 In fact, there's a book by a man named Henry Cloud called boundaries, and Henry Cloud talks about these two points that I'm going to I'm 00:12:00.820 --> 00:12:02.280 giving you to start the sermon. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:03.640 But he says it like this. 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:05.050 He starts off when it comes to boundaries. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:12.220 He says it's important for everyone to understand we all have a backpack to carry in life because we all have a responsibility, and you're not 00:12:12.220 --> 00:12:14.320 made to carry someone else's backpack for them. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:21.090 In fact, it's hurtful to them because they never they never learn what it means to reflect God in this world because they won't carry their own responsibility. 00:12:22.400 --> 00:12:27.020 And the older you get, the more you get in that backpack, the more responsibility that you have. 00:12:27.180 --> 00:12:32.330 But it starts off young parents with children helping your children understand what it means to be responsible. 00:12:32.760 --> 00:12:35.550 And that's important to do because one day they're going to become adults. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:39.850 And when they don't learn to carry their own responsibility, guess who's going to be carrying it? 00:12:40.660 --> 00:12:42.360 It's going to start with mom and dad. 00:12:42.520 --> 00:12:49.560 And so it's important for you to learn how to help them mature and develop so natural consequences become a way to 00:12:49.560 --> 00:12:50.280 do that. 00:12:50.300 --> 00:12:57.320 For example, your kids have homework and maybe one day you might have get in a call as a, as a parent where your kid calls you 00:12:57.320 --> 00:12:57.950 from school. 00:12:58.060 --> 00:12:59.880 Mom, dad, I forgot my homework. 00:12:59.880 --> 00:13:00.690 Can you bring my homework? 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:08.360 And you can say, well, I'm glad you were responsible enough to do your homework, but you also need to be responsible enough 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:10.420 to know when it's supposed to be turned in. 00:13:10.620 --> 00:13:14.750 So therefore, whatever the consequence of that natural consequence is teach you next time. 00:13:14.800 --> 00:13:16.260 Remember your homework, right? 00:13:16.280 --> 00:13:18.920 Or you can choose to carry their backpack. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:26.260 But it's important as parents to learn to think about how am I helping my child develop and carrying their own responsibility? 00:13:26.500 --> 00:13:29.970 Because as they get older, they're going to have more responsibility in life. 00:13:30.860 --> 00:13:38.440 And the more responsibility that you have, the greater blessing you can be or the greater destruction that you can present. 00:13:38.540 --> 00:13:41.680 But we all have a backpack to carry in this world. 00:13:41.880 --> 00:13:43.320 Now that's important to think about. 00:13:43.380 --> 00:13:49.240 What does it mean in light of my relationship with the Lord and being set free to carry this backpack in this world? 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:56.660 Now, if you lean completely on this and that alone, can I just tell you ultimately you will become a person that still that lacks 00:13:56.660 --> 00:13:57.460 compassion. 00:13:58.160 --> 00:14:05.440 You might carry your backpack, which is wonderful, but there's also a place to understand in life, sometimes people can't always carry 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:07.340 what's placed on them. 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:10.760 And so point number two is this to help others. 00:14:11.760 --> 00:14:12.870 To help others. 00:14:14.140 --> 00:14:21.260 in Henry Cloud's book, boundaries, which is a great book for understanding, I 00:14:21.260 --> 00:14:26.380 don't have power to click for understanding the responsibilities were to carry as people in this world. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:29.720 he bases it off Galatians chapter six, verse two. 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:33.560 He says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. 00:14:34.280 --> 00:14:35.940 And so he's helping us think through. 00:14:35.940 --> 00:14:41.360 He's saying, look, we've all got this backpack to carry responsibility, and it's our privilege to reflect God in this world. 00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:48.490 It's a gift that God has given you a place to reflect his goodness in this world as Jesus has loved you. 00:14:48.980 --> 00:14:54.560 And that backpack is your opportunity to show your love back to him and how you want to honor God with your life. 00:14:54.920 --> 00:15:01.120 But then there are some times in life where we have these burdens that are so great that we can't carry them. 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:02.560 In fact, we need help. 00:15:03.040 --> 00:15:09.030 So there are times where you go through life where you have these boulders that left to yourself, it will crush you. 00:15:09.380 --> 00:15:16.400 But this is where God's community come, can come alongside and help one another carry these boulders temporarily till we get to that place 00:15:16.400 --> 00:15:18.500 again, where we're just back to our backpacks. 00:15:19.520 --> 00:15:23.140 And so learning how to help each other becomes important. 00:15:23.140 --> 00:15:30.240 Proverbs 1917 says this whosoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:33.540 will repay him for his deed. 00:15:34.220 --> 00:15:41.220 So God is saying like this, that when you help the poor, while you may be helping someone and struggling, you're not just 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:44.820 helping that person struggling, you're also honoring the Lord. 00:15:45.180 --> 00:15:48.470 And the reason you're honoring the Lord is that God made people in his image. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:56.040 And one of the most beautiful ways you can show your love for the Lord is seen in how you help other people, how you help 00:15:56.040 --> 00:15:58.740 them carry that boulder in their life. 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:06.220 Now, for us as North Americans or just United States people, here's what I think is 00:16:06.220 --> 00:16:09.460 important for us to think about when we talk about poverty. 00:16:10.300 --> 00:16:17.560 Our mind tends to go to things of monetary value, like money that you have, the 00:16:17.560 --> 00:16:22.320 place that you might live, the food that you have to eat, which is a part of that. 00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:30.040 But here's what's also important is to recognize that there is more to poverty than just monetary struggle. 00:16:30.800 --> 00:16:37.180 When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, poverty was impacted them immediately. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:39.540 And it was it was more than monetary value. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:43.060 In fact, in the book, when helping hurts, they write it like this. 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:50.120 They say, if we reduce human beings to being simply physical, as Western thought is prone to 00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:56.130 do, our poverty alleviation efforts will tend to focus on material solutions. 00:16:56.680 --> 00:17:03.960 But if we remember that humans are spiritual, social, psychological and physical beings, our poverty alleviation efforts 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.700 will be more holistic in their design and execution. 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:15.460 North American audiences tend to emphasize a lack of material things such as such as food, money, clean water, medicine, 00:17:15.560 --> 00:17:16.960 housing, etc. 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:24.380 however, impoverished communities typically talk in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, 00:17:24.460 --> 00:17:30.820 humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation, and voicelessness. 00:17:31.940 --> 00:17:38.470 So what he's saying is the effects of sin didn't just produce, a lack of monetary wealth. 00:17:38.860 --> 00:17:42.140 The effects of sin holistically impacted us in ways. 00:17:42.140 --> 00:17:46.510 When we talk about poverty as Americans, we oftentimes don't even think about so. 00:17:47.180 --> 00:17:54.260 So when God has called you to help people carry burdens in this world, it's not about just throwing money at something and saying, I hope that 00:17:54.260 --> 00:17:54.960 works out. 00:17:55.560 --> 00:18:01.120 But to understand people can be impacted in multiple, multifaceted ways. 00:18:01.260 --> 00:18:08.380 And sometimes poverty might monetary poverty might just be a reflection of something deeper that's going on in their life that led to that 00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:08.930 position. 00:18:09.260 --> 00:18:13.440 But until it's addressed, throwing money at something is not going to be a solution at all. 00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:15.130 In fact, that helping can hurt. 00:18:15.140 --> 00:18:17.440 It's going to continue to reproduce the cycle. 00:18:18.340 --> 00:18:25.840 And so coming along one another and understanding man impacted all of us in this room and all of us in some aspect, walk 00:18:25.840 --> 00:18:27.050 in that poverty. 00:18:27.740 --> 00:18:34.920 But to understand how the gospel impacts our life and transforms us in Jesus to help us understand 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.530 what it means to walk in the freedom of Christ. 00:18:38.140 --> 00:18:42.340 And Mother Teresa, who, dealt with poverty in the East. 00:18:42.340 --> 00:18:46.310 You know, people would often come to her and talk about, the poor that she served monetarily. 00:18:47.280 --> 00:18:52.880 And she would often remark back, the people in the West are more poor than the people of the East. 00:18:54.060 --> 00:18:56.880 And she would say, the struggles of the West are more severe. 00:18:56.940 --> 00:19:03.040 She would she would talk about the idea of loneliness and feeling unloved and no relationship with God. 00:19:03.080 --> 00:19:03.640 She said. 00:19:03.660 --> 00:19:08.460 That type of a human being is going through far worse than just simply not having enough food on the plate. 00:19:09.560 --> 00:19:16.780 And when you think about what it means to be impoverished and the place that God has you in this world to make a gospel difference in 00:19:16.780 --> 00:19:19.820 people when they struggle, that is what God calls you to. 00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:27.120 Now, it may be an alleviation of struggle, of monetary struggle of, not having enough food on 00:19:27.120 --> 00:19:34.200 the table, but to understand psychologically, there's more that happens in the human heart when they go through that, like, why did 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:34.780 I get here? 00:19:34.780 --> 00:19:36.090 And why does no one care? 00:19:37.140 --> 00:19:39.760 And how can someone come alongside and encourage me? 00:19:39.780 --> 00:19:46.840 You feel isolated and lonely, and sometimes when people are in that sort of situation, when human suffering happens, I find the tendency of 00:19:46.840 --> 00:19:48.920 people is that it makes them uncomfortable. 00:19:49.760 --> 00:19:51.980 And rather than run to it, they run away from it. 00:19:52.860 --> 00:20:00.180 And it may be you may not have the physical means to help someone, but being a friend in 00:20:00.180 --> 00:20:07.480 times of struggle, it gives, it helps someone be humanized and 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:08.060 what they've gone through. 00:20:08.260 --> 00:20:13.580 I recently went through a book written by a young lady who was a part of the Larry Nassar story. 00:20:14.540 --> 00:20:22.390 If you know, that's the guy that took advantage of gymnasts, some 200 and some females and she talked about one particular church that encouraged her. 00:20:22.740 --> 00:20:25.540 She it was it was actually her church that she was raised in as a young lady. 00:20:25.580 --> 00:20:32.060 And she said they came to her and they said, this has to be impacting you as your story comes out. 00:20:32.080 --> 00:20:33.470 Because it was exposed to the world. 00:20:33.560 --> 00:20:37.840 They said, how do you want us to articulate this to the church that's praying for you? 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:39.550 So they wanted to be guarded for her well-being. 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:45.480 And then they said to her, how has this impacted your children, your relationship as a mother to your children? 00:20:45.600 --> 00:20:46.600 And what about your marriage? 00:20:46.660 --> 00:20:53.780 And how can we encourage your marriage and the struggle of sin that someone else had done to her was impacting her family 00:20:53.780 --> 00:20:55.690 as she was walking through this? 00:20:56.060 --> 00:21:03.250 And so when we think about what it means to not only carry on backpack, but also help someone during a time of a boulder, what does it look like for God's people to do that? 00:21:03.360 --> 00:21:10.250 To understand God has given you a platform of influence and as you see, struggles in this world, those are gospel opportunities for you to take. 00:21:10.340 --> 00:21:11.250 I need to move on quicker. 00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:12.530 Let me let me get the next question. 00:21:13.460 --> 00:21:15.880 How are we to do it then? 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:16.720 How are we to do it? 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:23.440 Point number one, under the next question, be a servant leader compelled by godly conviction. 00:21:23.860 --> 00:21:27.150 Be a servant leader compelled by godly conviction. 00:21:27.420 --> 00:21:31.640 And it's not enough just to say servant leader, but you need to identify what your leadership is under, right? 00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:33.180 And that is certainly under Christ. 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:40.680 We need that conviction of who we are in the gospel to understand the difference God calls me to make in this world and therefore become a servant leader. 00:21:40.760 --> 00:21:45.460 Take that opportunity to make the difference in the book of Genesis chapter 47. 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:47.480 You see this with Joseph. 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:55.760 Joseph takes his brothers before Pharaoh, and the way he chooses to describe the family, chooses to describe himself to Pharaoh 00:21:55.760 --> 00:21:57.580 is very interesting. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:05.920 In Genesis 47, verse four, it says, they said to Pharaoh, we have come to sojourn in this land, for there is no pasture for your 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:06.980 servant's flocks. 00:22:07.040 --> 00:22:09.000 And for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. 00:22:09.320 --> 00:22:12.180 And now please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen. 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:17.290 Now I got to tell you, if I'm just thinking about me and all I'm interested is me and my glory. 00:22:17.690 --> 00:22:25.080 When I come to the land of Egypt and I just left the land of famine, I can tell you I would be saying like this I 00:22:25.080 --> 00:22:30.020 am coming knowing my brother is second in command for the biggest house on the highest hill, with everything. 00:22:30.020 --> 00:22:30.280 Right? 00:22:30.420 --> 00:22:31.760 Whatever you want to give, give it right. 00:22:31.760 --> 00:22:32.970 Because I am not going back there. 00:22:33.080 --> 00:22:34.900 That is, that is not a good place, right? 00:22:34.940 --> 00:22:42.240 But rather than rather than say that he describes himself as a sojourner and essentially saying, we're nomad 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:49.420 here, this is just temporary, that we know that we don't ultimately belong here because our hope is somewhere else, and their hope 00:22:49.420 --> 00:22:52.080 is wrapped in the promises of God. 00:22:52.180 --> 00:22:59.680 So they're identifying who they are in the story based on who God is by communicating to Pharaoh. 00:22:59.960 --> 00:23:07.000 we're here, but this is just a temporary place for us that we know God has a different plan for our life, and they choose to 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:09.470 use this word sojourner for a particular reason. 00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:15.040 And for us, that word was introduced to us all the way back in Genesis 15. 00:23:15.180 --> 00:23:20.620 In Genesis 15, this is where God came before Abraham and gave the Abrahamic covenant. 00:23:20.660 --> 00:23:26.160 And if you remember in that story when God made this covenant to Abraham, he didn't base it on anything Abraham did. 00:23:26.180 --> 00:23:29.590 God said, I'm giving you this covenant completely on who I am. 00:23:29.940 --> 00:23:35.380 I am going to bless you, and through you I will bless all people, groups, all nations. 00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:42.580 But the way he as he gives this promise to Abraham, the way he describes the future of Abraham's people, is this know for certain that 00:23:42.580 --> 00:23:49.660 your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for 400 00:23:49.660 --> 00:23:50.060 years. 00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:58.280 So he's saying to Abraham, he doesn't tell Abraham when this is going to happen to his lineage, but he tells Abraham that this will happen to your lineage. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:03.400 But when they get to that land, here's what's important they remind themselves that they're just sojourners. 00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:04.140 This is temporary. 00:24:04.560 --> 00:24:08.360 And by identifying themselves this way, they're resting themselves. 00:24:08.360 --> 00:24:10.980 And the greater promises of what's to come in the Lord. 00:24:11.540 --> 00:24:13.840 They realize they serve someone greater. 00:24:14.340 --> 00:24:21.080 And so therefore, wherever they're at in these moments, they want to bless the people, but they recognize their greater identity in God. 00:24:21.600 --> 00:24:25.970 They have this deep conviction as they rest as servant leaders. 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:33.500 In fact, you see the idea of them being servants through verse one to verse six, when it when they describe themselves 00:24:33.500 --> 00:24:34.500 before Pharaoh. 00:24:34.500 --> 00:24:34.890 Look at this. 00:24:35.560 --> 00:24:42.870 Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, my father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds, and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. 00:24:43.140 --> 00:24:44.600 They are now in the land of Goshen. 00:24:45.060 --> 00:24:48.620 And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. 00:24:48.660 --> 00:24:51.130 And Pharaoh said to his brothers, what is your occupation? 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:55.740 And they said to Pharaoh, your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were. 00:24:55.800 --> 00:25:01.440 They said to Pharaoh, we have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servant's flocks. 00:25:01.960 --> 00:25:04.190 For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. 00:25:04.660 --> 00:25:07.610 And now please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen. 00:25:07.840 --> 00:25:08.780 Verse five. 00:25:08.780 --> 00:25:12.620 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, your father, your brothers have come to you. 00:25:12.620 --> 00:25:18.560 Verse six, the land of Egypt is before you settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:20.240 Let them settle in the land of Goshen. 00:25:20.560 --> 00:25:25.600 And if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock. 00:25:27.820 --> 00:25:33.350 When they come into this land, rather than take any position, they take the position of a servant. 00:25:34.560 --> 00:25:36.820 And not just any servant. 00:25:36.840 --> 00:25:43.620 When you read the very last verse of chapter 46, it tells you that shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians. 00:25:44.580 --> 00:25:51.140 They took the lowest of the servant positions because they weren't looking to impress people with who they were. 00:25:51.620 --> 00:25:56.020 They were looking to use their life for God's glory, knowing that where they were was just temporary. 00:25:57.040 --> 00:26:00.640 And through that, we're going to bless the people. 00:26:01.220 --> 00:26:07.880 And so in this story, they take this position of a servant leader or a shepherd. 00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:10.710 Many of us, we think about the idea of servant leadership. 00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:16.220 We think in terms of leadership we don't like often the word servant attached to it. 00:26:16.280 --> 00:26:23.500 And Jesus talked about this in Matthew chapter 20, verse 25 and on he says, leaders of the world, they like to climb the ladder 00:26:23.500 --> 00:26:26.170 and basically boss people around. 00:26:26.520 --> 00:26:28.820 They like to use their power over people. 00:26:29.780 --> 00:26:36.840 But rather, what God calls us to do is to be shepherds of people to rather than leverage our position by 00:26:36.840 --> 00:26:41.870 our authority to use it for our purposes, to treat people like tools, to bless us. 00:26:42.340 --> 00:26:46.730 We know who we are in the Lord, and we've been blessed in him, and therefore we can bless others. 00:26:47.460 --> 00:26:54.580 We serve them rather than this, lording over people as the Gentiles will do, he says, or the world will 00:26:54.580 --> 00:26:55.030 do. 00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:59.630 God calls us to come beneath people, to serve them, to become who God has called them to be in him. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:02.300 And Jesus modeled this better than anybody. 00:27:02.780 --> 00:27:08.560 In fact, he used that word shepherd to connect himself to the type of leadership he brought into this world. 00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:13.800 When you think about what a what a shepherd is, a shepherd doesn't stand behind the sheep and drive them and beat them forward. 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:16.980 A shepherd gets out in front of them and guides them and leads them. 00:27:16.980 --> 00:27:17.590 Where to go. 00:27:18.700 --> 00:27:25.840 And when the Bible designs or talks about leadership for us, it it's that picture in first Peter five of a shepherd that 00:27:25.840 --> 00:27:33.040 you care about the well-being of the sheep, so much so that you defend them, you go before them, and you set the example for what it means 00:27:33.040 --> 00:27:34.870 to follow after the Lord. 00:27:35.340 --> 00:27:40.220 You know, it's been said, all that you need for evil to prevail is for godly people to do nothing. 00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:44.280 But man, God has you in a place to make a difference in this world. 00:27:44.560 --> 00:27:51.860 And it's seen by as you find your identity in him and you leverage that to bless others because of what God has done for you as you're shaped in 00:27:51.860 --> 00:27:58.980 that godly conviction before Christ, to the point that even see in verse seven, when Joseph's dad is brought 00:27:58.980 --> 00:28:00.900 before Pharaoh, look what he does, it says. 00:28:00.900 --> 00:28:06.960 Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and stood him before Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 00:28:07.380 --> 00:28:10.000 Verse ten, it says the same thing Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 00:28:10.760 --> 00:28:13.020 And it's saying, the family isn't there just to get what they want. 00:28:13.020 --> 00:28:20.100 So they stay alive, but they're there for the flourishing of people that wherever they go, the blessing of God could be made known to 00:28:20.100 --> 00:28:21.540 the people groups that they serve. 00:28:22.840 --> 00:28:24.720 It's for us. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:28.800 It's being servant leaders with godly conviction. 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:33.190 Even when first Peter or when Peter wrote with the letter, first Peter, look at what he says here. 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:34.600 And reflection. 00:28:34.600 --> 00:28:37.260 I think of Abraham all the way back from Genesis 15. 00:28:37.380 --> 00:28:44.400 He says to the church, beloved, I urge you as sojourners, as exiles, to abstain from the 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:47.920 passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. 00:28:48.180 --> 00:28:55.240 I think Peter very much has in mind the blessing of Abraham being made known through the people of God, that you too would realize 00:28:55.240 --> 00:29:02.300 that this is not your home, but God has given you a platform to use your influence to make a difference in this world for his glory to the benefit 00:29:02.300 --> 00:29:09.400 of others, and that you would seize that opportunity with godly conviction as servant leaders for his 00:29:09.400 --> 00:29:09.900 Kingdom. 00:29:09.940 --> 00:29:16.980 So he goes on, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds 00:29:16.980 --> 00:29:19.880 and glorify God on the day of visitation. 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:25.160 Which brings me to point number two in your notes, which is this maintain Maintain godly character. 00:29:26.280 --> 00:29:28.700 Maintain godly character. 00:29:29.660 --> 00:29:33.540 It's one thing to come to this place to recognize, I've got a godly conviction. 00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:38.500 But over time, what tends to happen for us is that our convictions can wane. 00:29:39.420 --> 00:29:42.620 Our mission drifts, our vision fades, our convictions wane. 00:29:43.220 --> 00:29:48.100 And we've got to remind ourselves every day of the importance of who you are because of what Christ has done in you. 00:29:49.060 --> 00:29:55.380 God has you in a place to make a difference, and it's a matter of what your life is given over to, as to what kind of difference you're going to make. 00:29:56.860 --> 00:30:02.340 And so every day, for us as God's people, it's so important we wake up and say, God, thank you for the gift of today. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:06.570 And my life as a living sacrifice is given over to you. 00:30:07.120 --> 00:30:14.260 God, use my life for your glory in this world to maintain that godly character that God has called you 00:30:14.260 --> 00:30:15.790 to in this world. 00:30:16.940 --> 00:30:24.480 And I think the only way we're able to do this as God's people is really through through understanding what biblical love is about, because 00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:26.440 we've seen that love made known in Christ. 00:30:27.280 --> 00:30:34.620 And if you don't understand what biblical love is about, when you have a position in this world of any sort of leadership, a position of any sort of influence, you 00:30:34.620 --> 00:30:41.010 will use it to abuse and destroy rather than bless and serve. 00:30:42.100 --> 00:30:45.130 Our motivation has to be love in order for it to be pure. 00:30:45.340 --> 00:30:47.080 A love for God and a love for others. 00:30:48.040 --> 00:30:51.250 And so we're called in that then to maintain godly character. 00:30:51.540 --> 00:30:56.080 And you see this contrasted between between really Jacob's life and Joseph's life. 00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:01.420 And in verse eight and on because it says, And Pharaoh said to Jacob, how many are the days of the years of your life? 00:31:01.700 --> 00:31:05.320 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, the days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. 00:31:05.840 --> 00:31:12.980 Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers and the days of their 00:31:12.980 --> 00:31:13.430 sojourning. 00:31:13.980 --> 00:31:17.070 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 00:31:17.580 --> 00:31:18.660 Here's what Jacob's saying. 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:20.080 Different than than Joseph. 00:31:20.920 --> 00:31:22.900 Joseph's life is transparent. 00:31:23.980 --> 00:31:26.050 Joseph's life is accountable. 00:31:26.600 --> 00:31:28.860 And Joseph knows before Pharaoh and the Lord. 00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:32.860 He's just he's an open book because he has nothing to be afraid of, nothing to be ashamed of. 00:31:33.280 --> 00:31:34.500 He's walked that kind of life. 00:31:35.180 --> 00:31:35.520 Jacob? 00:31:35.520 --> 00:31:36.000 Not so much. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:40.550 He tells you that in verse nine he says, few are my days and evil they've been. 00:31:40.900 --> 00:31:48.020 And so what he's saying is, look, he hasn't lived as long as his father, grandfather, those before him and his days haven't always been great because 00:31:48.020 --> 00:31:49.180 he lives with some regrets. 00:31:50.180 --> 00:31:51.920 Early in his life he was that deceiver. 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:53.680 And then with Joseph. 00:31:53.860 --> 00:32:00.640 The reason Joseph was sold into slavery is because he showed favor to his son above all the other brothers, and his other brothers hated him because of that. 00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:03.440 And so Joseph has some regrets in his life. 00:32:03.480 --> 00:32:10.640 Now, let me just tell you, the beauty of the cross of Christ is that Jesus wants your guilt and shame, and God wants your guilt and shame. 00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:13.860 He doesn't want you to carry that because he carried it for you on the cross. 00:32:13.980 --> 00:32:16.340 So you every day you're a new creation in Christ. 00:32:16.360 --> 00:32:17.700 The past is done away. 00:32:17.720 --> 00:32:19.160 You get to walk in that new life. 00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:20.560 But we want to. 00:32:20.580 --> 00:32:22.840 We don't want to walk with regrets in this world. 00:32:23.700 --> 00:32:26.330 We want to walk for the purpose for which we were created in Christ. 00:32:26.460 --> 00:32:29.750 To live our life to its fullest, with no regrets. 00:32:30.140 --> 00:32:31.180 Starting right now. 00:32:32.100 --> 00:32:36.740 It's always when, if you're willing to lay your life before the Lord and saying, God, my life is not my own. 00:32:36.800 --> 00:32:39.720 You made me for your purposes in this world. 00:32:39.720 --> 00:32:41.340 God help me to fulfill that. 00:32:41.800 --> 00:32:45.070 Number three equip others to succeed. 00:32:46.020 --> 00:32:48.080 Equip others to succeed. 00:32:49.400 --> 00:32:53.740 You know when you talk about success, God has called us to be people that multiply in this world. 00:32:54.140 --> 00:32:57.140 Genesis 128 be fruitful and multiply. 00:32:57.700 --> 00:32:57.980 God. 00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:01.780 God wants to reproduce through you what he produces in you. 00:33:02.760 --> 00:33:02.880 God. 00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:09.100 God wants you to be fruitful and multiply, to take that Garden of Eden and see it flourish throughout this world. 00:33:09.280 --> 00:33:16.500 And the reason God reminds us of that is because as creatures, you will produce something, but what you're going to produce is determined by 00:33:16.500 --> 00:33:21.240 what you find your value in as a human being, what you ultimately worship you. 00:33:21.360 --> 00:33:25.800 It's impossible not to worship something you will look to, something to give you worth, value and meaning. 00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:32.930 But the hope is that you find it in the Lord, and therefore you reproduce through you what it is that God desires. 00:33:33.780 --> 00:33:39.130 So when you think about when you think about equipping others for success, it's important for us to define what is success. 00:33:40.320 --> 00:33:42.820 Because in a worldly system, people might say it like this. 00:33:42.820 --> 00:33:49.660 Well, it's, it's when you get a certain title and you make a certain amount of money and you have a certain amount of power, then you're successful. 00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:57.680 But can I tell you when you get to heaven or if you get to heaven, Jesus is not going to say to you, what was your title in life? 00:33:57.680 --> 00:33:58.700 And let me see your bank account. 00:33:58.800 --> 00:33:59.720 Oh, it's big enough. 00:33:59.720 --> 00:34:00.360 I'll let you in. 00:34:00.360 --> 00:34:02.600 I guess God doesn't care about that. 00:34:03.700 --> 00:34:07.260 God measures success in a different way and the way that God defined it for us. 00:34:07.260 --> 00:34:15.060 Really, the most concise definition, I think, is in John 15 verse five, Jesus says it like this abide in me and 00:34:15.060 --> 00:34:17.520 I in you, and you will bear much fruit. 00:34:19.120 --> 00:34:22.520 Your success is based on your abiding in Christ. 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:24.300 It's not the fruit you produce. 00:34:24.300 --> 00:34:25.560 You can't produce that fruit. 00:34:26.540 --> 00:34:28.719 Christ produces that fruit through you. 00:34:29.600 --> 00:34:32.489 Abide in me and I in you, and you will produce much fruit. 00:34:32.860 --> 00:34:40.100 God's calling in your world is to abide in him, and as your life is given over to him, Jesus produces that fruit through you. 00:34:40.280 --> 00:34:46.080 Another way of thinking about abiding is this idea of faithfulness, that your life would be given over to the Lord faithfully. 00:34:47.060 --> 00:34:49.790 Now, when it comes to Jacob, this is where the debate is. 00:34:50.219 --> 00:34:52.070 I'm going to give you a summary of this because I'm out of time. 00:34:52.219 --> 00:34:59.560 But with Jacob they read verse 13 and on, and he thinks some people think that he's just depleting all 00:34:59.560 --> 00:35:03.120 of Egypt of the resources because he just wants to take advantage of them. 00:35:03.280 --> 00:35:03.400 Right? 00:35:03.420 --> 00:35:08.260 So they first bring all their money for food in verse 13 and then verse 14, all the money's gone. 00:35:08.260 --> 00:35:13.400 And then they bring all, all their livestock in verse 17, and now all their livestock is gone. 00:35:13.480 --> 00:35:20.620 And finally in verse 18 and 19, they say to Jacob, everything's gone but our land and ourselves just buy our land now 00:35:20.620 --> 00:35:23.420 and buy us the slaves, and we'll just serve you. 00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:25.550 And so they literally offer everything. 00:35:26.340 --> 00:35:30.340 But what you see in the life of Jacob is that he reconfigures the whole system of Egypt. 00:35:30.340 --> 00:35:34.390 So everyone succeeds, because if all the people die, there is no Egypt left. 00:35:34.760 --> 00:35:41.000 And here's what it says Joseph said to his people, behold, I have this day brought you, brought you and your land for Pharaoh. 00:35:41.040 --> 00:35:43.860 Now here's seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:48.120 And at the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and 4/5 shall be your own. 00:35:48.240 --> 00:35:54.020 As for seed, for the field, and as for food, for yourselves and your household, and as food for your little ones. 00:35:54.220 --> 00:35:56.760 And they said, you have saved our lives. 00:35:56.780 --> 00:35:57.910 May it please, my Lord. 00:35:58.260 --> 00:36:01.670 We will be your servants to servants to Pharaoh. 00:36:01.860 --> 00:36:03.090 Let me just summarize this real quick. 00:36:04.980 --> 00:36:08.750 Joseph realizes they have a backpack to carry, and there's a boulder on their shoulder. 00:36:10.500 --> 00:36:14.440 And Joseph is saying to them, look, I'm going to we bought everything from you. 00:36:14.440 --> 00:36:15.220 There's nothing left. 00:36:15.220 --> 00:36:15.950 But I want you to succeed. 00:36:16.280 --> 00:36:17.390 I want you to be able to carry your backpack. 00:36:17.780 --> 00:36:20.820 So I'm going to give you seed for your land. 00:36:21.400 --> 00:36:22.860 And I want you to harvest your land. 00:36:22.920 --> 00:36:25.620 And Pharaoh is only going to tax you based on what you make. 00:36:25.640 --> 00:36:32.700 In fact, he's inserting a 20% flat tax, which I got to say, if that was ever offered to me. 00:36:32.840 --> 00:36:33.200 Right. 00:36:33.200 --> 00:36:40.320 Like, if you think about how much your taxes people today, if the government ever says 20% flat tax, you don't have to ask me wherever I need to vote, whatever I need to do. 00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:40.840 Yes. 00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:41.140 Okay. 00:36:41.240 --> 00:36:44.030 That is, I will just take that right now, that deal, whatever it is. 00:36:44.240 --> 00:36:50.600 But Joseph has reconfigured the nation to say, look, based on what you make, you can give back to Egypt. 00:36:50.620 --> 00:36:51.700 Egypt was already paying. 00:36:51.700 --> 00:36:53.180 They were already paying taxes. 00:36:53.660 --> 00:36:55.030 I mean, if there's a government, there's taxes. 00:36:55.880 --> 00:37:01.110 But he's figured out a way to tax the people in proportion to what they make so that they can have an opportunity to flourish. 00:37:01.120 --> 00:37:03.620 You get to keep 80% will only take 20%. 00:37:03.740 --> 00:37:11.010 Joseph could have said 90 hours tins yours, but rather than that he let them keep 80% and 20% went back to Egypt. 00:37:11.160 --> 00:37:16.920 He thought of a way to meaningfully help them carry their backpack as he helped them lift the boulder. 00:37:18.240 --> 00:37:20.600 Guys, the same thing God calls us to in this world today. 00:37:21.500 --> 00:37:28.680 God has you in a place to make a difference, to help people discover who they are in this world so they can walk with their backpack to glorify God, to see 00:37:28.680 --> 00:37:32.920 the flourishing not only in their own life, but in the lives of people around them. 00:37:33.600 --> 00:37:40.680 And at the same time, you have the privilege to come alongside people when they're struggling to help them carry that boulder, to represent how the gospel ministers to us in that 00:37:40.680 --> 00:37:43.180 brokenness, to see the goodness of who he is. 00:37:43.940 --> 00:37:50.860 one figure that I think did this well in history, and this will be my last example, I'll be done is a lady by the name of Charlotte Moon. 00:37:51.620 --> 00:37:55.820 She's actually from Charlottesville, Virginia, which was made popular a few years ago. 00:37:55.820 --> 00:37:57.280 If you know anything about Charlottesville. 00:37:58.500 --> 00:38:03.920 Charlotte Moon was adverse to Christianity until 18 years old, and she gave her life to Christ. 00:38:04.820 --> 00:38:07.570 She went on to become a missionary in China. 00:38:08.680 --> 00:38:10.860 And she served the people beautifully there. 00:38:10.860 --> 00:38:15.580 In fact, she walked with such a godly conviction as a servant leader that she said this. 00:38:15.580 --> 00:38:20.740 She said, if I had a thousand lives, I would give them all for the women of China. 00:38:21.800 --> 00:38:24.400 I mean, she used her life to serve those ladies. 00:38:24.500 --> 00:38:26.380 She only took furlough from China. 00:38:26.380 --> 00:38:28.220 40 years of ministering in China. 00:38:28.220 --> 00:38:35.340 She took furlough I think, three times in her life, but just faithfully served to the point that one day there was a great famine in China in 00:38:35.340 --> 00:38:36.920 1912. 00:38:37.120 --> 00:38:42.280 And Charlotte literally gave everything that she had to those ladies so that they could survive. 00:38:42.280 --> 00:38:44.980 She gave all of her food and all of her resources, all of her wealth. 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:52.700 She died penniless, in fact, in 1912, she had given so much to these women that she started to starve. 00:38:52.740 --> 00:38:59.230 And she got down to 50 pounds, and they put her on a boat and sent her back to America, because she was dying of starvation. 00:38:59.740 --> 00:39:04.920 And before the boat got to the first place, it was going to dock in Japan, she passed away from starvation. 00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:09.030 She literally gave everything for the people that she loved. 00:39:09.560 --> 00:39:16.580 I remember when I read her story as a student in college, I paused right there in that moment, and I shut my book and I just said, God, 00:39:17.220 --> 00:39:18.940 give me a heart for people like that. 00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:24.340 I want to live my life somewhere in this world for your glory, that people can see it. 00:39:24.380 --> 00:39:28.560 I want to give everything that I am for your goodness in this world. 00:39:29.200 --> 00:39:34.630 Little did I ever think God would bring me to Utah, but this was it. 00:39:35.340 --> 00:39:42.120 God, I want to go down swinging for the fences here and you learn as you walk with the Lord at that particular time. 00:39:42.120 --> 00:39:49.240 I'm 19 years old and a student thinking about missions, but you also learn that it becomes a particular group of people, 00:39:49.240 --> 00:39:49.700 a church. 00:39:49.700 --> 00:39:51.310 And not just that, my own family. 00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:58.220 God, you're calling to me in this world as this place, this church, my family. 00:39:58.280 --> 00:40:02.200 God, may I be faithful to be that kind of leader that you call me to be.