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Plays On Word Radio
Ep 42: Understanding Suffering and Peace Through the Bible (Part 1)
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What happens when we peel back the layers of the Bible, examining its stories with fresh eyes and an open heart? A deep exploration into Joseph’s story unveils unexpected prophecies, and shadows of Christ, revealing the profound intricacy of scripture!
Message by
Fred David Kenney, Jr.,
Pastor/ President & Artistic Director of Plays On Word Theater
Message given at
Calvary Chapel Waupaca: https://calvarychapelwaupaca.org/
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Typology
Speaker 1Lord , you know I want you to listen to place on Word radio . Why don't we read over things ? It's like , wait a minute . He left him in prison , but what did he do ? He responded with the Word of God , right ? So the point is , the Word of God will bring comfort in our suffering . Who here just show hands knows what I'm talking about . Can I get an amen ? Amen , those of you you know what I'm saying . There's nothing like the Word of God ministering to you with the Spirit of God . Through the Word of God , it brings hope , it brings joy , it brings strength , it brings encouragement , peace . Oh , how can I forget that ? Amen .
Speaker 2Hello and welcome to Place on Word radio , where we discuss , analyze , work and play on the Word of God . Thank you for joining us on this excursion . Today let's join Pastor Teddy , also known as Fred David Kenney Jr , the founder of Place on Word Theatre , as he does a deep dive into the Word of God .
Speaker 1We're going to drill down a little bit . I mean , basically the play is about the story of Joseph okay , and the story of Joseph in the Old Testament because there are different Josephs in the Bible the story of Joseph , the son of Jacob . He was one of 12 and they were shepherds and he had a really hard time . I mean a tough time . If you read from Genesis 37 , the story of Joseph right there , if you go to 37 and then up to 50 , you're going to see Joseph really went through it and had a hard time , difficult time , and he was exalted . I mean , you guys have all seen or heard the story . Remember the Disney movie Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat ? Like who here doesn't know the story of Joseph ? You guys , most of us , we've heard the story of Joseph . If you haven't , I suggest go read it . When you get a chance , go read it . It's a great story . But at the end of the story , after he's been exalted and put in charge of the entire land and everything , and when his father dies , they go and bury his father in the land of Canaan , in the Promised Land , not in Egypt . And when they come back to Egypt after the funeral is over , they come back to Egypt and Joseph , his brothers , they're a little worried because now dad's gone , the thought that no doubt went through their minds like uh-oh , now he's going to get us , now we're going to . Now , this is a big payback , and so if you have your Bibles , let's .
Speaker 1I just want to look at Genesis 50 for a second Before we're going to come in and examine this , and I want to take a look at verse 18 of Genesis 50 . It says then his brothers also went and fell down before his face and they said behold , we are your servants Verse 19, . Joseph said to them do not be afraid , am I in the place of God ? Verse 20, . But as for you , you meant evil against me , but God meant it for good in order to bring about , as it has this day , to save many people alive Verse 21, . Now , therefore , do not be afraid , I will provide for you and your little ones . And he comforted them and he spoke kindly to them . So those of you at the play did you notice at the end of the play we did some comparisons between Jesus and Joseph , how Joseph is a type of Christ in the Old Testament . He's a picture and a type the Bible is full of direct prophecies about Jesus saying he's coming , this one is coming . You know , they give direct prophecies . Just for example , top of my head , isaiah 53 talks about the crucifixion and Psalm 22 , he was pierced for us and they wagged their heads . You look at those Psalms . Those are direct prophecies about this one that's coming . But the Bible also has a bunch of pictures and types , shadows of this one that's coming . I'll give you an example .
Speaker 1Back in the 40s , when the draft started and they were drafting guys to go fight in World War II , this woman , she was supposed to be married , she was engaged to this guy and her fiance got drafted and taken . He got taken into draft and he was going to fight the Germans . And so what she did ? She took a eight by 10 or whatever . She had a photo blown up of him , the photo she had of him , and she put that photo in her pocketbook . And everywhere she went , when she was getting groceries at the store , she had her pocketbook . She had this big picture sticking out . It was her fiance , whom she loved . It was this picture . Everywhere she went , laundromat , everywhere this picture was sticking out of her purse , her bag . When her fiance came home , she no longer needed that picture . That picture was a type , it wasn't the substance .
Speaker 1The Old Testament is loaded with types of Christ , pictures pointing to of what he's going to do , how he will be . But when he came , those types we put them down . We can use them to see him . But the typology we don't want to push it too far , because the fulfillment came and Christ is the fulfillment and Jesus was talking to the Pharisees in John chapter five , and Jesus was talking to them and these are the guys that have their PhDs in Bible Like , if you ask anybody who knows the Bible , everybody's going to point to the Pharisees and be like those guys know the Bible . Jesus says to them you guys , this is in John five . He says you guys diligently search the scriptures . You search the scriptures but you don't even realize that they speak of me . That's a pretty heavy claim , but if you cut the Bible anywhere , it bleeds Christ . It is . It points to him . The Bible is from A to Z . He's the Alpha and the Omega . I mean it points to him . So with that in mind , I just wanted to read a couple of typology pictures because I couldn't do this in the play . But I think you guys are going to kick out of this . Listen to this .
Speaker 1This is just a comparisons with Joseph and Jesus . Joseph's mom , rachel , she was barren , and Jacob was pretty old I mean , he was , he was 90 or 91 . And so she finally got pregnant , and it was a miracle birth . That's a little type that happens over and over throughout the Old Testament , this idea of a miracle birth which points to the ultimate miracle birth the virgin will be with child and she'll give birth to a son and we'll call his name Emmanuel . That's the ultimate that these pictures point to . Got another one Joseph was loved by his father and Jesus was loved by his father . At the baptism of Jesus , the voice came right . The dove , the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove on Jesus . And what was ? The voice from heaven said this is my son whom I love . A declaration from the father . Yeah , that's another point and shadow there .
Speaker 1Joseph seeks the welfare of his brothers and Jesus came not to condemn , but that the world would be saved through him . So when Joseph was sent to his brothers to check on them by his father , he was seeking their welfare , he was going to them it wasn't for judgment and Jesus the first time he came , it was not for judgment , but , interestingly enough , his brothers rejected him . When he first had his dreams , his brother said get out of here , you're not going to rule over us . And then they ended up selling him into slavery , you know , and he ended up working for Potiphar and put in prison . That whole thing .
Speaker 1The next time his brother saw him was a different story . He had all power and authority . He was basically glorified . His brothers , when they looked and saw him , they didn't even recognize him . And then , when he made himself known to them , whoa , that's what's going to happen , because Jesus came already the first time and his brothers rejected him . The world rejected him . When he comes back again , it's not going to be as the hippie guy on the surfboard , you know . No , it's going to be the glorified King with all power and judgment . Time will be up , and so that's that picture and type that .
Speaker 1When his brothers saw him the second time , they were like oh wow , joseph was stripped of his coat and they stripped Jesus of his garment , his outer coat there , and they cast lots for that . Joseph was sold for the price of a slave . And Jesus , what did Judas do ? All right , you guys know the story of Judas he sold Jesus out for a handful of coin , which was basically the price for a slave . Same type of thing . These are types and shadows .
Speaker 1Joseph was falsely accused and Jesus was falsely accused . I mentioned that yesterday . Joseph was cast in the prison though he was innocent , and Jesus was sentenced to death though Pilate found no fault in him . I could go . I mean . This list goes on and on . Joseph warned of coming danger and urged the hearers to make suitable provisions to meet it , as did Jesus . He warned his hearers that death did not end all , but there was life beyond the grave and we should prepare and be ready . Now Joseph became savior to all people and Jesus was a savior , is not was . Jesus is the savior to all people .
Speaker 1The only way to be saved was to go through Joseph . That was the only way . There was no other way , and I'm sure there were some clowns out there saying yeah , I'll show you , I'll show you how to get green out of dirt and how to make turned stones into meal , and so I'm sure there were people that were doing that . That's what religion is doing now . They're telling a false way . Joseph at the time was the only way to be saved , because he was the one that God had chosen for people to come to him to be saved .
Speaker 1Christ Jesus is the only way to be saved . I got news for you All roads lead to God . Yeah , I'm not a heretic , hear me out . Yeah , all religions lead to God , but there's only one that leads to eternal life and salvation . Every single road is going to lead to God . Every knee will bow before him . Mark my words it's going to happen . It's gonna happen . Everybody will be before God . But there's only one way to be saved , and over and over he makes it clear throughout the scripture there's one way . He has chosen one way , and the way that he has chosen is the best way . God doesn't make mistakes . If there was a better way to be saved , you can best believe God would have done it , because everything God does is perfect . So the way that this has been done is the way , the best way , the perfect way , and we can bank on that .
Speaker 1So the main point is that I wanted to share with the story of Joseph , and some of the highlights is that Jesus and Joseph both of them suffered . Right . We can agree on that . Like when you read the story . You're like , oh my goodness , this guy . He's sold as a slavery , he's falsely accused , he's thrown in prison . Well man , this is bad news , and Jesus also suffered .
Seeking Comfort in Suffering
Speaker 1Now , like Joseph and Jesus , this is where it really gets to the nitty gritty . We are not exempt from suffering , and that's a real tough thing . I mean , some people would preach . If you watch I don't suggest watching TV evangelists , but if you saw some TV evangelists make you believe that if you come to Christ , all of your problems disappear . If you just have enough faith , you come to God . Everything's perfect . That's not a biblical representation . The main problem goes away , though , when we come to Christ . When we come to God , our main problem , the main problem , which is sin , that's dealt with when we come to Christ , but we still have to deal with in this world until he's completely done with everything . We get the down payment of having our sins removed and being filled with the Holy Spirit . Now we've got a right relationship with God . So , in a sense , everything is right , everything's made right , but we still have the practicality of dealing with the situation in our lives .
Speaker 1I'll give you another example here . You guys have lottery here , right , powerball and mega millions , and all that Just for conversation's sake . Say I bought a ticket right . Whatever it is , it's up to 500 million or whatever . Say I buy a ticket here in Wapaka Usually it's out of state people that win anyway , so maybe I will win . So I buy a ticket and it hits right and I have the ticket in my pocket .
Speaker 1So now I've gone from being dirt poor to a multimillionaire in my net worth . My net worth is skyrocketing . Now my net worth is $500 million . But practically if I empty out my pockets , I've got a pen , I've got some hand sanitizer , I've got my keys . Practically on paper I'm a millionaire , but practically I still don't . I can't even buy a cup of coffee right now .
Speaker 1When we come to faith in Christ , spiritually we become beyond billionaires . You could say we hit the lottery . I mean , our net worth goes up exponentially to infinity because of him . We become sons of God . But practically we still have to live this life and we are in this world but we're not of this world . So it is difficult .
Speaker 1So anybody who preaches to you you come to Christ , all of your . You know everything's gonna be rosy . They're lying to you and the reason I say that you always let the scripture dictate and paint the framework for you on how you're supposed to see things . Let the scripture be the final court of arbitration . The scripture , over and over , shows men and women of God who really suffered , had a hard time . Not everything was not rosy , and I'm just gonna give you one example .
Speaker 1How about John the Baptist I present ? This is the courtroom I present John the Baptist . He was locked up , put in prison and he sent some of his boys to Jesus . He was like , hey , man , go ask Jesus if he's the one or if they're supposed to be somebody else . And Jesus responded to them , his guys , and said go and tell John the things which you see in here . The blind see the lame walk , the lepers are cleansed , the deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them . So Jesus responds with the word . And he responds with the word that John most likely would have known , because , jesus , he was touching on Isaiah , where it says the eyes of the blind are gonna be open . That's a prophecy of Christ . The lame will leap like a deer . That's Isaiah 35 . Isaiah 61 , he's gonna preach good tidings to the poor . Isaiah 42 , he says he's gonna open up the eyes of the blind and the prisoners will be let out of prison . Jesus responded with the word for John the Baptist .
Speaker 1What blows my mind is I think of John being in prison and Jesus didn't get him out of prison . Think about that for a second . Like John's sitting in prison , go ask , send this guys , go ask Jesus if he's the one , or we'd wait for somebody else . There's two ways you can look at this . You can either think , okay , john was stressing out sitting in prison , like , oh man , this is terrible , go ask Jesus if he's the one . Or the other way you can look at it . The other perspective is John's guys were freaking out and John knew , and John was like go ask Jesus if he's the one , or if we're to wait for somebody else . And either way , though , the bottom line is Jesus had the power , with the word , to get John out of prison and he didn't . That's heavy . That's kind of .
Speaker 1A lot of times we read over things and it's like wait a minute . He left him in prison , but what did he do ? He responded with the word of God , right ? So the point is , the word of God will bring comfort in our suffering . Who here just show hands knows what I'm talking about . Can I get an amen ? Amen , those of you , you know what I'm saying . There's nothing like the word of God ministering to you with the spirit of God , through the word of God . It brings hope , it brings joy , it brings strength , it brings encouragement . What else Did I miss anything ? Peace , oh , how could I forget that ? Amen , joy , joy . I think I might have said that , but if I didn't , that's good , that's a good one . Anything else , I hope I didn't forget anything . It's not a test , not no quiz . This is the thing .
Speaker 1The scripture was written for us . Listen to what Paul said in Romans , for whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we might , through patience and comfort of the scriptures , might have hope . The scriptures are for us and I encourage you guys and myself in this as well . I'm not acting like I've got this one . I'm locked down To go to the scriptures when we're , when we need comfort , when we need encouragement , when we need to hear from God , when we need , when we know things are not right . I encourage run to the scripture , go to the scripture , let the Lord speak to you and , even if you don't know what to say , pray the Psalms to God , pray them back to Him . It's a great way of being encouraged .
Speaker 1Okay , so we receive God's comfort in our suffering . When we are suffering , we receive comfort . It says in the story of Joseph , in Genesis 39 , it says three times . It says the Lord was with Joseph . You guys remember that in the play when he got sold into slavery he's like this is a low point . But then he looks up and he says but God was with me . Listen to this for a second from the scripture . Let me share this with you from the word of God .
Speaker 1Paul says in 2 Corinthians blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort , who comforts us in our tribulation , that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God . For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us , so our consolation also abounds through Christ . Now , if we are afflicted , the NIV says if we're distressed , it is for your consolation . The ESV says it's for your comfort . If we're afflicted , it's for your comfort and salvation , which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer . If we are comforted . It's for your consolation and salvation , and our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings , so also you will partake of the comfort or consolation , the word of God that he allows things to happen .
Speaker 1Why he allows things to happen , we'll get to in a second , but there are two things that have greatly helped me when I was I found myself in a difficult position or when I was distressed or needing comfort . There are two things that I've learned to lean on when I don't have an understanding of what's happening . One is number one is the character and nature of God , meaning he is 100% perfect , 100% good , he does not make mistakes , he is aware of everything and he loves me . Those things you think about , the character and nature of God . He's the most radical being there ever was and he did the most radical thing . The cross of Christ is the most radical expression of love there has ever been . It says God demonstrated his love for us that while we weren't even on his team , we were enemies of God . Christ died for us and that's how he demonstrated his love . It's a demonstration of his love . That's radical , a lot of people will say .
Speaker 1Well , how can a God of love dot , dot dot ? You know you run into coworkers and neighbors or whatever . Oh you Christians , how can a God of love fill in the blank ? God has made the hard decisions . He's over and over . God is the one that makes the hard decisions . God has been . He knows everybody who's died , like every death he's seen . There's nothing that he has not . Just think about that for a second . The older I get , the more difficult because more funerals I have to go to . It's just , it's difficult . He's been everywhere . He knows everyone has died .
Speaker 1But it says in Matthew . It says your hairs are numbered . God cares for you . It says in 1 Peter . He cares for you . He is the one that spoke and everything leapt into existence is invested in you personally . That's absolutely amazing . If you think about that , god , wait a minute , god Almighty , just pause on that for a second . He knows my name . He knows how many hairs are on my head and some of us are . That's a number going backwards , but still think about that . He knows more about you and loves you more than the thing that you know the most about and the thing that you love the most in the world . He's invested in you and when you can't .
Speaker 1A friend of mine , bishop Way , he told me when I was going through a difficult time recently . He told me he said , listen , man , when you can't trace God , you have to know to trust God . And I was like , okay , and ironically , before he told me this , we were coming back from his church and my wife anybody here ? Use Waze at all . The Waze app . It's like Google Maps . I mean , who here ? Is anybody , here is Google Maps Anybody . Have a smartphone ? Okay , break out the flip phones , folks . All right , you got a rotary phone back there , man . Yeah , so anyway , it's an app on a smartphone . It's an app . It's like Google Maps . I'm a Google Maps guy . Actually , I'm not even . I'm a Map guy
The Importance of Perspective in Navigation
Speaker 1.
Speaker 1Hagstrom , I break out of Hagstrom , I'm old school . Give me the book , I want to find out what a road is . But I was using Google Maps and we're driving back from some . We were on a mission somewhere I think it was Maryland and we're driving back and my wife is trying to get me to use Waze . She's like you need to try Waze . You get on Waze and I'm like , okay , I'll try it , I'll put it on . So I put it on Waze and we're driving back and from Delaware into New Jersey , there's the Delaware Memorial Bridge . It's a big suspension bridge . It's not as big as the Golden Gate , but it looks like the Golden Gate without the Golden . Okay , so we're about to come up to it .
Speaker 1It's at night , it's I don't know , 9 o'clock at night , and traffic's rolling and I'm like , okay , all of a sudden , this thing says take your next exit . And I'm like whoa , whoa , whoa , whoa , whoa , whoa , whoa , whoa , whoa . We're on the highway here . I'm not taking the next exit . I've taken this road a million times . I know this road , this thing is wrong . I'm ready to throw this out the window . I'm like this Waze app is nonsense . And she says I don't know you should . You should try to you , should you should you really ? I really wish you would try . And so I said okay , lord , I'm gonna . I'm gonna honor you by honoring my wife , even though I know this is wrong . Okay , for the sake of peace and quiet , all right , I'm gonna follow this , this thing , man .
Speaker 1So we take the off , we take the first exit , which I know is wrong . The bridge is like five miles up ahead . I'm like this is madness , man . We take the , we take and we're going through like downtown , not even downtown . We're going through a residential area . I'm like , oh , this is , this is great , this Waze is some good stuff . I tell you . We're going through and we make our way all the way up to where the bridge entrance is and I never saw this one entrance to get back on the highway . As we pull up to it , I see that traffic is backed up like 10 miles . I mean it's it's . Traffic is completely at a standstill . We get on the on ramp and go right on the bridge and go right over .
Speaker 1Oh , I guess the Waze knew something . I didn't Listen to your wife and I tell you , many of us . We were delivered from that trouble and it seemed like real difficult time I was going through . I was like man , we're going through the hood here . I don't even know what's happening here . We went through this residential area and I'm like I don't know this area and it was a , it was a trial for me , but many of us have a track record with God's deliverance in our lives .
Speaker 1Right , like the Waze delivered me and I didn't understand where I was going , but I said , all right , I'm , I'm , and I didn't trust the thing , but the track record now when I get , when this thing says , make a , make a , I'm what I'm making this right , I don't know . It doesn't have to tell me again . If it says traffic up ahead , it doesn't even say traffic up . If it says slow down , I'm like , all right , let me slow down . And because I trust this , I understand it better now . I understand it a lot better than I did and many of us don't . We don't even realize the things that God is protecting us from .
Speaker 1Like the ways took me on a totally different detour and I didn't realize it , but it was protecting me from a world of hurt . Sitting in traffic like oh , I can't believe this , it's nine o'clock at night , what's happening ? I'm a little dramatic . So the idea is I have a different perspective now for ways and a heavenly perspective changes things for us . Now . The heavenly perspective is when you don't focus on your situation but you focus more on the destination or who it is who's running everything .
Speaker 1And when we were driving through Chicago on our way here , we hit traffic , we hit rain , there was construction and I could have been really upset in traffic . I was being pushed a little bit to be upset . I'm like man , pastor Dave told me there's a fish fry on Friday . Man , I can't believe we're gonna miss this and I could have been really upset . I heard Wisconsin has to throw down with fish fry every Friday . I can't believe this . I could have been upset . But when I focused on the destination , which was Wapaka right , when I focused on here , okay , all right . Okay , my situation was changed . When I focused on the destination , not the situation , I was still in traffic , it was still raining and there was still construction and we were still going bumper to bumper . But I focused on being here and it brought me joy in the midst of that situation . So I'll give you one last example of perspective .
Speaker 1This guy he used to take the subway in New York and I tell this story a lot . I got it from actually got it from the guy who did the radio program , the Gettysburg guy . Yeah , he told this story about this guy who used to take the subway every day for work and he hated it and it was crowded . But he enjoyed taking the subway on Sunday because no one was on the subway and it was great . He could sit there , read his paper and relax . So this one Sunday he's sitting there , he's reading his paper and , just like God , this is great , you know .
Shifted Perspective and Focused Destination
Speaker 1And all of a sudden this guy comes on with two kids and the kids are running around making all kinds of noise , creating a ruckus , and the guy's sitting there reading the paper and he starts getting really upset . Man , like I can't believe this man , this guy . He's letting his kids run crazy . Finally , he couldn't take it anymore . He said can you say something ? Can you do something about your kids ? And the dad says I would . Their mother just died . We just came from the hospital . I don't even know what to say to them .
Speaker 1Instantly this guy's perspective got shifted . Now he's not angry , he wants to show compassion to this dad and the kids . The situation didn't change . His perspective changed . And we need to have a perspective , a heavenly perspective , because sometimes we're so zoomed in on our problems and I'm saying this from experience , I'm a pro at this . Okay , being zoomed in on , I don't have it all dialed in , being zoomed in on my problems and then the Lord has to pull me back and say wait a second , I'm sovereign over this . The idea is the destination . We need to keep focused on the destination where we're going and who we're going to . We know the journey of the day .
Speaker 2This program was made possible by the Plays On Word family of supporters . To find out more , check out our website at PlaysOnWordorg .
