Part One: Waiting on God: Joseph's Lessons in Trust, Patience, and Divine Timing

Join us for this enriching episode of 'Word on Wednesday with the Simons' where we delve into Genesis chapter 41. We recap Joseph's story — from his time in Pharaoh's prison, through his miraculous rise to power, interpreting the Pharaoh’s dreams, to implementing a divine plan to save Egypt from famine. We discuss the importance of patience, waiting on God's timing, and trusting in His plan even when it seems like nothing is happening. Additionally, we examine the practical, financial wisdom found in Joseph's story, offering insights on how to apply these principles in our modern lives. Don't miss this deep conversation filled with spiritual insights and practical takeaways.

00:00 Introduction and Greetings

00:45 Opening Prayer

01:52 Recap of Genesis Chapter 41

04:36 Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dreams

11:26 Discussion on Waiting and Faith

13:53 Reflections on Patience and Trust

17:19 Lessons from Joseph's Story

22:19 The Importance of Servant Leadership

33:20 Keep Showing Up and Trusting God

33:33 God as the Ultimate Sustainer

34:25 Faithfulness and Human Nature

35:16 God's Timing and Unexpected Blessings

36:26 Joseph's Wisdom and Pharaoh's Trust

38:09 The Principle of Saving 20%

41:01 Applying Biblical Principles to Modern Life

44:58 Building Generational Wealth Together

51:40 Joseph's Rise to Power

59:30 The Importance of Wisdom Over Knowledge

01:02:08 Final Reflections and Prayer

Pastor Tony and Laura Simon live in Orange County, California, and are the founding pastors of New Covenant/Covenant City Fellowship, a wonderfully colorful congregation of vibrant members who love Jesus, food, fellowship, and fun.

Laura is an award-winning author and passionate speaker who serves pastors' wives, ministry leaders, and women seeking to live authentic lives within church culture.

Together, Tony and Laura have two young adult daughters and sons. They'd love to hear from you and can be reached at newcovenant007@yahoo.com.

Transcript

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[00:00:00] Thank you for being with us on Word on Wednesday with the Simons. Ms. Lord will be joining me in just a few moments. Just want to take this time out to say good evening. Hope that everybody had a great day and a great week , take this time out before we pray to say thank you all that have participated and been a part of our. Pastoral anniversary. Thank you for lending and being a part of this ministry. We pray God's blessings upon you.

So on word of prayer. Then we'll get into the lesson found in Genesis chapter 41. And we're gonna begin reading after we recap at verse 25. Let's pray. Father, how we love you and how we thank you for this day. God, we thank you for life, health, and strength. We thank you for our minds.

We thank you for things being as well as there are in our households, in our health god, we pray that we will focus on it's [00:01:00] you that has done everything for us and that you have kept us and maintained us in spite of all that is transpiring in our lives.

God, we thank you that you gave your darling son Jesus and due time that we may have a right to eternal life. And then, God, you blessed us that we may be at this right now presence, sharing. Now, God, I pray for the students as well as me, and Lord, the teachers, God, take what we have studied, put it in our remembrance and then God recall what you want us to say so that your body can be benefited, that you will get the glory. And God, there may be one that is in the midst of us that does not know you in a pardon of their sins. God, we pray that you will save them now for this is the day of their salvation.

Now, God bless us in this moment that we will spin in your word, that you will get the glory out of our lives. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, we're gonna get right to it.

So we're gonna do a recap of chapter 41. Two years [00:02:00] have passed, and in two years, Joseph leaves from Potiphar's house. He's in the federal prison or the palace prison. He's been there. He he's a Pharaoh, has a dream about seven cows that were sleek and well fed.

That came up from the river grazing on grass, and then seven skinny cows that came up from the Nile and stood beside. The cows that were well fed and sleek, and the seven sick cows devoured the seven fat and cows. And then Pharaoh woke up, then Pharaoh goes back into dream the second time, his second time dreaming.

In verse number five, his seven heads of grain plumping came up on one stock, and then after them, seven heads of grain sprouted up thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin basically swallows up the plump and Pharaoh awoke from the [00:03:00] dream. And in verse number eight, he was troubled by what was happening in this dream.

He summons the musicians, the wise men of Egypt. And just about that time in verse number nine, the cup bearer recalls or has a recall of his failure and talks about the time that they were in, pharaoh's prison. The baker and the cup bearer. Go to Joseph. Joseph gives them the interpretation of their dream, and the, cup bearer says it was as he said it would be.

Pharaoh then summons in verse 15, Joseph to come, to the palace. He comes to the palace, and he's swell shaven and, puts on clean clothes. And Pharaoh says to Joseph, I had a ring. No one can interpret it, but I heard it said that you were one. That can hear a dream and interpret it. Verse 16, he says, I can't do it by myself, Joseph replies, but [00:04:00] God will give Pharaoh a sound answer.

They repeat the seven cows and the seven fat ones. Seven skinny ones and the skinny ones, the fat ones. He repeats the corn, the stock of corn that's skinny, the stock of corn that is plumped and ripe. And when he, has the explanation, he explains to them in verse number 25, and that's where we're gonna pick up.

Laura's gonna read 25 and this is the explanation that he gives, to Pharaoh about the dream of the seven and the seven. Okay Lord, you can pick it up and take it from here. Okay, so in the Easy Read version says, then Joseph said to Pharaoh, both of these dreams have the same meaning. God is telling you what will happen soon.

The seven good cows and the seven good heads of grain are seven good years. And the seven thin sick looking cows and the seven thin heads of grain mean that there will be seven years of hunger in this area. These seven bad years will come after the [00:05:00] seven good years. God has shown you what will happen soon.

He will make these things happen. Just as I told you for seven years, there will be plenty of food in Egypt, but then there will be seven years of hunger. The people will forget how much food there had been in Egypt before. This famine will ruin the country. It will be so bad that people will forget what it was like to have plenty of food.

Pharaoh, you had two dreams about the same thing. That means God wanted to show you that he really will make this happen and he will make it happen soon. So Pharaoh, you should choose a wise, intelligent man and put him in charge of Egypt. Then you should choose other men to collect food from the people.

During the seven good years, the people must give them one fifth of all the food they grow. In this way, these men will collect all the [00:06:00] food during the seven good years and store it in the cities until it is needed. Pharaoh, this food will be under your control.

Then during the seven years of hunger, there will be food for the country of Egypt, and Egypt will not be destroyed by the famine. Okay, let's stop there. We've covered 10 verses 25 to 36. And there's a whole bunch in, this reading that we have, uncovered and have, read.

And so we want to understand that there are gonna be basically seven good years and seven bad years there's going to be two opposite effects that will take place. And God warns Pharaoh. Now, what is unusual about this text is he doesn't warn his people, but he warns. The non-believer the people that don't believe in but he has his people [00:07:00] that are giving the instructions. Second thing about this text that makes it unusual is this is the second famine that Egypt has gone through because in chapter, 12 of Genesis when Abram or Abraham was, there, they too had gone through a famine and Egypt, wasn't affected by the famine.

According to chapter number 12, verse number 10. So you wanna highlight there's two famines that have happened in this dispensation of time and both affect Egypt and the surrounding areas. Now what makes it unusual? The third thing that makes it unusual is Egypt has a river Nile that goes through the country, and it makes it unusual because they were even affected by the famine, which most of [00:08:00] the time they're not affected by the famine.

Because usually if you have water, you have growth. Famine comes when there's no water to water crops for you to have crops or if you have, as in the case of Moses, when he sends locusts or he sends pestilence to dev virus. And so we see two different famines that happen in the Book of Genesis that are recorded.

So we got these three things that are factoring into this situation that is taking place. One would think and Lord, you can jump in on this one would think that God would rather warn the Godly folks instead of the ungodly folks, but he chooses to go to Pharaoh first or show the dream to Pharaoh first.

He is consistent because he did the same thing. [00:09:00] He warns a bialek about Sarah and tells him if you touch her, then I'm gonna destroy your land and your people. So God will talk to folks that we don't think he's talking to, or he will work through ungodly folks to get all folks under subjection.

Okay. So those, just a couple things that are, if just you, if you take time and just look around the background of the text that are uncommon to the text, because we always think that God's gonna speak to the godly before he speaks to the ungodly. He spoke to Pharaoh first, then has Joseph interpreted, and then everything falls from there.

So as we're looking at this text, we share these things because again, we have a bad habit, especially as [00:10:00] believers of thinking that God is gonna speak to the believer first when there's sometimes that God speaks to the ungodly first. Not that they're going to follow, but that they're going to have the information and then when they get the information, basically as in what happened, he gives directive to Joseph.

Joseph makes a suggestion to Pharaoh and says that you should choose, a discerning and wise man to set over the land of Egypt. Now again, God steers this in place to where the ungodly will choose the Godly to make decisions. And so takes action in verse number 34, appoints, commissioners over land.

And then he says something that we're going to, get into shortly, where he, gave a revelation or revealed to me something that I did not see in this text, that we talked about on [00:11:00] last night. So he makes a decree, he makes Joseph, the ruler in the latter parts of the text, of the, distribution in the land of Egypt.

But then Joseph tells him to do something unusual, which we're gonna discuss and y'all can jump in on this too. Lord, you had anything you want to add on that? Not yet. Just, as we go in deeper, it'll be okay, I have to say. But yeah. Okay. On this one, everything is about waiting.

For the believer, we're always waiting. And it seems like God has forgotten about us or he's not paying attention, but is like Joseph, two years. And just like the believer talking about us. It seems like we're always in the wait. Thank you it seems like we're always having to wait.

It just seems like we never get anything when we think we should or we want it. And like Joseph told them, remember me and they didn't. And that's two years. He sat. [00:12:00] Yeah, before that they, before they go, oh my bad. And that's, that's like us we forget.

But his position was still, he still found being faithful while he's waiting. But it is, we say, or for me, I seem to struggle with waiting, but on the other hand I don't because Roz, one of the members came over today to help us straighten up.

Wow. And one of the things that is amazing is, yeah, God has us waiting. But man, waiting really isn't as bad as we think. You learn things. Hey brother C, you learn things while you're waiting because we're coming up on a year from the water leak. It's been a whole year that hit me tonight that it's been a whole year and it doesn't even feel like a year.

No. [00:13:00] It's like this really went by super fast. Faster than I, I was waiting to be 60. 60 is already here and gone. It'll be a whole month tomorrow. And, happy birthday to Melissa. As a matter of fact, she's 42 today. Melissa Oshodi, happy birthday. Mac Reynolds. Melissa's 42. Yeah. And so I told her this morning, I told her happy birthday at midnight.

And this ties in with waiting that I remember waiting for her to be born when I was a freshman at Grambling State University. Wow. My freshman year we had one phone on each dorm floor and I waited and they called me on the one phone to tell me that Melissa had been born. So I'm just saying that, a couple of the notes that I pulled out from 41 is about waiting.

Okay. And so sometimes he tells the nonbeliever because. I think he's testing us or [00:14:00] allowing us to be tested and see how well we wait. If we can wait, how do we act in the waiting? Yeah. Are we faithful in our waiting because he puts it in hands that seen to not benefit or not benefit.

How come, one of the things is it seems that everybody else is being rewarded. The hard work. What are you doing? I've been doing this forever. Hey Maritza, I told my aunt today we were shopping for things for Deacon Washington's family.

Uhhuh, and the thing is, we just don't know when things will happen. No. And they happen quickly and time. You can be here on Monday and then gone on Wednesday. Exactly. So you just have to be careful in that. And so when it comes to the believer, we need to remember that God is working things out in the background, for [00:15:00] us, 

All the time. And so we need to be Hey Felicia, we need to remember that God is working things out even though it doesn't look like it. and I know Joseph was sitting there. 'cause I'm sitting here thinking, okay, you wait on God. You ask God for things and then you're waiting and then all of a sudden it's here.

Like the appreciation, all of a sudden it's here. And now it's getting ready to be over. Exactly. It's now on his final Sunday. So the significance of. Yeah. Mike, this two full years that he waited, emphasizes number one, like you said, a period of waiting period of time and a period of testing.

Yeah. I said this in to see if he's faithful. And I said this in a sermonic presentation at St. Mark. Sometimes or not sometimes most times when we take a test, we think, God, it's disappeared. And usually when taking the test, the teacher makes no statements. He makes no, yeah. I've given you, I've taught you everything that I know, right?[00:16:00] 

And so I'm just gonna give you the test and see if you remember what I taught you. Not only if you remember, but I said this again. I said this Sunday, I said the, we are in violation. Here's our violation. As believers, our violation is we flunk an open book test. Yeah. The test. It is not just remembering.

But if we study to show ourselves approved we won't flunk the test. The reason why we flunk is because we lean to our own understanding instead of giving in to what God leads us or tells us to do through the word. But if we're not reading the word, if we're not praying, if we're not following him, then we cannot be tune to what the next move is.

And again, the number two in biblical numerology, often signifies either division. Or Difference. And so it wasn't a division that was happening. It's [00:17:00] a difference that Joseph had to make. And so whenever you see, if you waiting is it's, and the number is two, that's what you're looking at it.

are we dividing ourselves into two separate camps? Or are we now making a difference? In, being effective in what God has called us to do? This one says at the end of two full years, Jesus was in prison, forgotten by Pharaoh's butler. For two full years.

There was difficulty and discouragement, and I see you, Felicia. There was difficulty and discouragement in those years for Joseph. But we assume he trusted God. Nonetheless. Many lessons come from this, and this is why I was just saying I had thought of this and then I saw, we use this for confirmation. So one, it says, sometimes the good done by God's people seems unrewarded. Okay. Number two, waiting is a common theme in the Christian life. You can go all the way back to Abraham on that one. Waiting is a common theme, right?

[00:18:00] Yep. Three, God often appoints the believer to wait much longer than they would like. And then going back to that, when we wait, sometimes we wanna jump ahead. I was talking to one of the sisters about jumping ahead, Uhhuh, don't jump ahead of God because usually you mess up the process because the next thing says God appoints both the starts and stops of his people.

But this is the kicker. God's hand was in this when the time was right. And that's usually for us who wait. When the time is right, the butler knew exactly where to find Joseph. If he had been released earlier this might not have been the case. So just, let's just think had he gotten released earlier, joseph wouldn't have been able, the butler would've remembered. Oh yeah. There was this guy in jail who's no longer in jail because he's been released. So part of the waiting was also for Joseph to be in the right [00:19:00] place at the right time to be found.

he have to be falsely accused. If he's not falsely accused, he's in Potiphar's house and neither one, and they don't hear about the Pharaoh's dream. Exactly. And then there's nothing to recall. So every, again, the psalm says, A good man steps are ordered by the Lord.

So it, there's no such thing as luck. Yeah. Is God's divine order for your life. And so let's look at some of the comments. Cherri says he tried to move faster than God. His assignment was already set. Yes. Joseph's assignment was already set. So he is remember me, right? Y'all get out, tell him what I did.

And if they, again, they remember too early, the dream has not happened. They remember too late. The dream has already passed. So the dream, everything sat in right on time. The sequence was just the way it was supposed to be. That's like even for tomorrow.

I'm just aggravated about things. [00:20:00] There's times and Aunt Josie needs help with. I'm just saying how life application goes Right into the study. Now I couldn't take her because I'd be at the TV studio Uhhuh tomorrow. Uhhuh, guess what? Sharon has eye surgery. Can't be at the, so there's no, there's nothing tomorrow.

So I can, go with her to take this to, to breed what family supposed to, and I can do what I do here at my own house with Ross. What you're supposed to do. Yeah. But it just seems like this lesson. Is poignant for wait on God. Trust on trusting God and wait on God releasing to his timeframe.

Wait on God. I get it. Apparently yesterday, even with Brother Kawell just in everything and just where is you'll have to read what Michael Star said and everything. I'm clicking on everything. I didn't wanna block him out and everything.

That's what we have to wait on, for a long time we were in Trusting the Lord. Trust in the Lord. And so now it's Wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. So trust in the [00:21:00] Lord. Wait on the Lord, be patient with the Lord. Because there's a process.

the Psalm says, and if we say we're a believer patiently on him, I waited patiently. You have to wait patiently. Because usually, his way, like Isaiah said, is not our way. Is that Isaiah? That was it. It's in Isaiah, right where he says, our ways. His ways are not our ways. was that Jeremiah? it's in. Okay. But just know that we need to wait on God, period. and Mike makes the, like the quote out of Isaiah, they that weigh upon Lord, he shall renew their strength. It will mine up with wings of eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint.

And not faint. We even get impatient with each other especially with workers if they're not moving fast enough. I'm hungry now. What's wrong with waiting? Yeah.

what's The benefit of waiting. We act like children. All of us act like children. I've sat talking with some of my team members. Our problem [00:22:00] is we don't wanna wait. I am this person and I'm supposed to get this. And God, we talked about that lesson yesterday.

God had checked me on that. I'm this and I'm supposed to do this. God said, no. What you supposed to do is serve. That was last week too. Oh. From Clyde and Sonya, when they were talking about us on Sunday. Yeah. Sometimes we forget you and I both about being servant leaders.

I told Aunt Josie today. We have done this so long that it just has become part of our narrative structure. Until when Mike got up the other two Sundays ago, I had forgotten all that he said. And not that it was all about that, but I thought, oh. We did do this for the Lord.

'Cause you're just doing things you don't even think of it. I had forgotten some of those things. Rose says, aren't we supposed to be working, learning and listening? Supposed to be. Supposed to be. But what we do is we [00:23:00] revert to our habits. I didn't get it.

They didn't hear it. I want it now, so I'm gonna throw my marbles and go home. Yeah. So I'm just forget it. That's not a Christian attitude. It is not. But yet we, that's what we bow down to. And a lot of believers, that's what we do. And then we say under the guise of we are disrespected.

we forget that is our job to be servants. Jesus served And we get beside ourselves and we also get into our own feelings and our own titles. We do that and then God has to whisper in our ear child, you better go somewhere and sit down. 'cause I'm God. and you're my child.

And again, he works under strenuous conditions because He knew they wanted to kill him. But yet he gave time out to talk, to save the life of the woman who was caught in the [00:24:00] very adultery. He does this in front of church folks. 

Last week in the sermon outta Corinth, the church of this modern day church is much like the church of Corinth because we have all of the makings. Of a godly church, but we also are worldly and have divisions among US, divisions, among us. 

Divisions among us. How about divisions within our ourselves. Division within ourselves. And so not just among us. It's the division is in you. Yeah. Division of ourselves. We fight ourselves, we fight each other. We fight denominationally. All these factions. And God says there, there's no factions.

There's one Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God that is in us all. And through us all. Knowing that then why are we acting like we're individuals in the kingdom? Okay. That goes back to whatever. What's the book that we talked about? Rugged [00:25:00] Individualism. Yeah. Rugged Individual Prayer Shield.

Peter c. Wagon. We. I think we forget, and me included, I think we forget, we figure, okay, God's been doing it for us and we've been walking with him all this time. And then we forget. Or we think that we're better than the younger saint, right? and we have no patience with the younger Saint.

But we used to be that person and we used to be that. Yes, Felicia says, the losses that we've had since we've been on this Bible study has had me speechless. One Wednesday here, next one not. Yep. Correct. Ms. Priscilla. Ms. Priscilla was on one week. And then Charles Beavers. Charles Beavers. Les Washington.

Deacon Washington. Caldwell. Just like that. We've walked this. Yeah, we have walked this, we have walked this. And yet God tells us, the teammates, Hey, we gotta pick it up. And so again that's our encouragement today is no matter how long you wait, and Ms. [00:26:00] Audrey said it best, waiting, prepares you for what's to come.

And builds character. Yeah. That's an amen. Amen. It builds character. It builds. 'cause as you wait, what happens? what happens as you wait? Just for, just, does anybody type that in? What happens when you wait, when you think about it? Even with us, with the water leak, waiting to go on vacation waiting In general, what happens when we wait or we have to wait. What happens? How are you acting miss Audrey and Mike Starr, are saying it. How do we act in the midst of our waiting? Normally you get a, you get an aha moment like you did yesterday, right?

And both of us, I am so grateful that we are not idiotic on the same day or at the same time. Somebody has to be thinking and listening to, like Ms. Rose said, [00:27:00] working, learning, and listening to God. Yeah. we cannot be that impatient. Mike says, we always want things to happen right now, but when we wait on God, God has a timing that you just won't believe how wonderful things will work out just by him.

right now, his way Always works out. Now it's his way. his process does it. Every time his process makes sense, and then we're like, oh, now we see why he waited. Or he had us wait, so two years he sits to be able to deliver this message.

Two years he sits in jail to deliver this message. and that's us We talk about this in prayer, right? sometimes it doesn't take two years, but even when our friends, our brothers and sisters in Christ ask us to pray for them, right? And as a newer pastor's wife, at the beginning, I didn't. Now [00:28:00] I just pray for that person right then. That way I don't forget. and I'm not a liar. but we're supposed to be tabernacle and with each other until they go through it. But we don't, that's the part that we haven't matured in yet.

We haven't, is I'll pray for you right now. While you in this moment once we get out. I've forgotten. You have forgotten. Nobody's praying or No, the person hasn't forgotten. The person is in the trenches and we've forgotten. We've forgotten. And look, and they have forgotten because they're, they get frustrated.

They get caught up and we forget to just say, Hey, God, I gotta continue praying. We gotta be like the woman that worried the judge to death. the judge. Yeah. Until she and Luke 18. To just say, Hey, I need this. And it is not a now. God knows there's a right now moment in your life.

But it's not a right now moment in your life. Does that make sense? Because he knows the right, right now moment. He knows the right, right [00:29:00] now. Hi there, cam. But look what okay, so now, okay. Read Brother cls. Okay. Now, brother cl I'm gonna disagree with you on this one. Okay? He says it's best to stay busy when we are not when you are not.

Impatience has a tendency of getting in, and thus we miss out on God's blessing for us. Now sometimes I don't think we should be busy all the time. Martha proves that point. Jesus' ministry and Martha gets caught up in work and that's us. We get caught up in busy work. 

Like for those who've been asking me about lattes, it had gotten to a point where that was just busy work to me. You've got to hear from God and do what God wants you to do. And not just, It's a platform. And you've got to hear from God and you just can't be busy.

So that's what I'm talking about brother You just can't be busy. [00:30:00] sometimes God is sit down. Exactly. And let me talk to you Exactly. Because what you're doing. is not from me. Exactly. And so that's why I'm saying that brother sometimes God is Martha, you need to be sitting under my feet.

Busy work is not always God's work. Busy work is just that busy work. Okay. But if the goal is to do God's will Instead of busy work. Most of us that come in are in violation. We're in violation of everything God tells us to do.

When we come into worship. We really don't worship. Number one, because he says, enter his gates. With Thanksgiving, some of us don't speak to nobody his court with praise. some of us don't talk to nobody. He said, I was glad when they said unto me, some of us are not glad to be in the fellowship that we're in.

We are in violation. He said, let everything that has breath through what? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. We don't even raise our hand. We don't say, man, we don't witness to [00:31:00] the word. We don't pray for nobody. We just go to church to go through motions. Yep. and that becomes 

Busy work. And it Misses the mark. It misses the mark. Okay. Even when we're waiting, there's probably more stuff that God wants us to do while we wait. That's from John. John is saying that while you wait. 

Yeah. That's true. he may want you to improve on what you're doing. He may want you to improve in waiting. A lot of us don't know how to wait. I'm one. I do not wait. Until he's you're gonna wait. I've been waiting on this particular job for a long time, and I haven't heard anything back and oh I haven't heard anything and so I'm just going to keep on praying, keep on waiting and see what God's will is and what he wants now understand to have fan in my life.

Okay, now let's go back to the text. Understand your position. Understand my position. y'all go with me. Okay. What did I say earlier [00:32:00] in the text? That there's been two famines in Egypt, right? What runs through Egypt, Nile. Nile runs and is a lifeblood of Egypt, and it's crucial for their agriculture, their transportation, and their sustenance, which means it didn't say that the, Nile dried up.

So it's for the crops and everything, right? Yeah. So what it does tell us is even when things don't shift That when famine comes God's got us. It didn't say that the Nile dried up. It did not say that, but it did say that the famine would affect both Egypt and the surrounding areas and as we're gonna read further down.

It does talk about, and it got worse, everywhere. it got worse. Now let's put this in perspective to what we're dealing with now in these United States of America. Everything has not dried up. Nile is still flowing. All the flows are [00:33:00] flowing the way they flow.

But it still affects everyone involved. Because of the fact God is in control. He says, I'm gonna show you who I am. he says that we shouldn't faint. He says, let us not be weary and do well, because we will reap if we faint. Not 

If we don't get weary and we'll do if we don't get caught up. Don't get weary. Keep attending, keep showing up. Keep praising God. Keep making God the source. The source is not what we have. The source is God. And when we understand that, he sustains us.

Yep. And when we understand that we know no matter what it may look like in our bank account, no matter what it says, God is gonna be the sustenance. He's gonna be the sustainer. He's gonna allow it to flow from somebody or through us while we're giving. That's why God challenges us to give, even when [00:34:00] we're in a position that we can't.

And he does it every time. We gave the other, what was it yesterday? At this point we give our tides no matter what, and then just, it's just it's every time we do that the next day. He's a sustainer. He's a sustainer. He is faithful. He is faithful.

He is full of grace. He is full of mercy. He is compassionate. He has so much compassion and love Grace Mercy. But he's faithful. He's faithful. He's faithful. But how come we're not faithful to him? Because we lean unto what we know as Norm. Mike says, in, in waiting, God should be fixing our hearts.

And our minds. So we'll see Whatever he has for us, he should be, if he and he does. If we're willing to then get what he's fixing it for, because sometimes he fixes it for things that we don't necessarily wanna do. Yep. And we don't like [00:35:00] it. We don't like that this person gets to rise above. And every now and then. There's a twinge. Y'all can lie to yourselves if you want to. I had to admit, I had to admit on yesterday, I was feeling some type of way. I'm like, I'm really feeling some type of way. And God says, yeah, but calm down.

Calm down. Because even though you I'm waiting for this to develop and out of the blue it develops. we look at, it develops, but then we're sitting there talking and I get a call and Pastor, I really need to talk to you. And I'm talking to one of the business partners that I'd been dealing with.

And working to make this deal happen. That was three years ago, And all of a sudden we think, I'm thinking it's dead and buried. And it resurrects itself. To say, Hey, no, we still here, just like Joseph, and We're still interested. Can you do [00:36:00] this? Can we meet tomorrow? And then I'm like, I'm open. I again, I thought it was dead and gone. I said, God, there's another way you want us to go. There's another thing you want us to do. There's another piece you want us to hold onto. And again, when we start to to develop that, and I'm gonna show you this other piece and then we'll move on so we can so get through.

Okay. Okay. So you've said you can head on because read more. Okay. Because you've already you've got, look how God elevates Joseph. He elevates immediately. He goes in this way. So Joseph is telling them what God has shared with him, in this way, these men will collect all the food during the seven good years stored in the cities.

So it's needed. Pharaoh, this food will be under your control. He's telling Pharaoh it's under your control. Okay. Okay. Let you, okay. You jump forward. Let's jump back because one of the principles that I said this to you, I said this to you three weeks ago when I started looking at this text.

Verse [00:37:00] 34 is a principle that I believe if we get it, it will unlock. A lot of things that we deal with. Okay? Look at verse 34. It says, then you should choose other men to collect food from the people. He doesn't promote himself. He says, mine says, let Pharaoh take action and appoint commissioners right over the land.

Now get to the next part. So the next part says, during the seven good years, this is Joseph telling him, this is from God During the seven good years, the people must give them one fifth of all the food they grow. Who's he talking to? He's talking to the Egyptians.

are Egyptians believers? No. do They believe in God? They believe in a God or several Gods? No. But they believe in Joseph's God. No. Have they been taught to tithe? no, none of that. Look what he says to them. One fifth of all the food they grow, get [00:38:00] commissioners to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years Of abundance. the instructions to the Egyptians were to take a fifth, what does the fifth equal to 20%? Take 20% of the harvest indicates a significant but manageable portion. Ensuring that the people could still sustain themselves while preparing for the future famine.

And that's what 35 says before you, because you can still stay on it but 35 says in this way, these men will collect all the food during that one fifth, during the seven good years. stored in the cities. Until it is needed. So God says to me, stored till it's needed.

And then Pharaoh, this food will be under your [00:39:00] control. Then, I'm gonna ask this question again. Y'all, Come go with me. I want you to put your theological thinking caps on. who's he talking to? He's talking to the Egyptians. Are they the believers?

No, they're not. They're not the promise. so let me read 36. And then you put it all together. So why does he tell them to do this Because then during the seven years of hunger, this is put it 

To everybody. Then during the seven years of hunger, there will be food for the country of Egypt. And Egypt will not be destroyed by the family. 'cause look, I feel somebody looking at me with their eyes crossed, what's he mean? He says, practice in the good months, practice in the good times.

Saving. 5% of your earning. Which equals up to 20% of your budget. He says check me out because we're working on it and [00:40:00] doing it in our household. If you do one, fifth of your earnings, Weekly. That's 20%. If I take that 20%, it's fifth. Save it. the fifth is not so big It's little bite size. Saving it. Look at the tax. A fifth, save it. 20% of your budget, 20%. Pull it back. One fifth. You can do it weekly.

You can do 5% monthly. Which still ends up if you do it monthly and you do it in there's four quarters in a year. Every three months, 5% of our earning, our totality of our earning. Pull it back. So you have save it. You have January, February, March. Boom. 5%. 

Save it. Of everything you made in those three months. Go again to the second quarter. Save it. Go again to the third quarter, save it. Go again to the fourth quarter end of the year. Save it. Have that savings. If there's been nothing that causes emergency, when emergency comes, you have money.

Money saved. [00:41:00] You have it. Notice brothers and sisters believers that this has nothing to do for the believers with the tithe. So what he's saying to you is, if you save you, you don't have to be a believer. Take the biblical principle of mathematics. Pull back Three months. Three months. For us it's three months. 'cause there's four quarters in a year. So 12 and 12 months in year. Yeah. Four times three is 12. Okay. Yeah. So we pull back three months. 5%. Three months. 5%. Three months, 5%. In December we have saved 20%.

Yeah. 'cause 5, 10, 15, 20, 20%, that's what we would've saved. That. Now what does the 20 pastor Woods, you want us to do 20% shop with it? No. No. He said save it. So save it. So when the famine comes, yeah. When the lean times comes. So save it for lean time. You have something [00:42:00] Listen to me. That blew my mind.

Yeah. That principle blew my mind. Because had I saved, yeah. 20% of everything I've earned since I've been earning. Yeah. I don't struggle because anytime I, there's a struggle or a need, I have a savings. We don't do that and we don't teach that. Then on top of that, now believer you have an addition.

Your addition is 10% of tithe or 10% part of some say we under grace and I'm not trying to get in all that we're under grace, so we don't have to do that no more. I don't believe that because he said I came to fulfill the law, not destroy the law, which means the concepts and precepts are still holding true.

Okay, so Look what I'm saying to you, whether you do it weekly, 5%. Biweekly, 5%, [00:43:00] monthly, 5%, quarterly, 5%. When you add that up, that's still money that you can have to where you can do what you wanna do when time calls for it.

When I start looking at that, I'm like, God I apologize because it's in, he gave this to Joseph, and Joseph gave it to Pharaoh, and now we're gonna see the results of what it does, and he tells him. That way, when you come into lean times, you can still sustain yourself. You're not bawling, you're not using credit because you have put it away for lean times.

Okay. If my car breaks down, that's a lean time. If I saved it, I have it for the lean time. Yeah. It has nothing to do with my tithe. Now, he already says, I'll open up the windows. Pray out a [00:44:00] blessing if you do the 10. So let's take the 20 plus. The 10 makes 30%. So if we save 20% of our earnings and give the tithe, which is 10%, 30% of our overall earnings, and learn how to survive off The 70. Then we will be in position for lean times when they come. And we won't have to borrow or credit card it because of the fact we've been disciplined enough to hold it back. Look, I'm just telling you what he told. He dropped that on me. And when he dropped it on me, y'all see it in black and white? It says it. The people must give them one fifth of all the food they grow. So there is no such thing as being a part of anything and you don't give to it because everybody benefits. Okay.

now I'm gonna tell you [00:45:00] the other platform the Holy Spirit was talking to me and so I said, okay, starting January we're gonna open up a family bank account and in the family bank account, all of my kids are gonna contribute their 5% to the family bank account. What is the family bank account for?

I'm glad you asked. The family bank account gives us the ability to build wealth as a family. we will build it faster when we all work together. Now, somebody's saying to me, okay, but I don't have no family. You have church family, you have folks that you have gone to school with that are part of your family.

You have best friends that are family. Here's what we do. We set up, and again, we gotta be practical and legal about [00:46:00] it. we call it a cohort or co-op. We co-opt together, we can take what we have saved and then go buy land or buy homes or buy assets that don't depreciate, and then build generational wealth as a people, as a church, as believers, as cots.

This is what Egypt did. This is what Egypt is doing in this text. Look what he says in verse number 36 to make sure that I'm not off in what I'm saying. He says, for this food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine to come upon. The land of Egypt, So he says we gonna have a famine.

But during the famine, we gonna have some money, we gonna have some grain. We are gonna have some things to negotiate with. We're gonna [00:47:00] have A system that in the last part of verse 36, he says, then the country will not perish in this famine. Look at the promise. 

Based on the savings. Easy read says then during the seven years of hunger there will be food for the country of Egypt. And Egypt will not be destroyed by the famine. Here it go. as the songwriter said, woo. There it is right there. If we, that one basic principle, you can do it. 

Here's the bananas part about it. All we have to do is trust God and trust each other. Family business, family savings. But the enemy will tell us, oh, we can't do that. Black folk can't, we can't get along. Everybody else is doing it except for us.

Everybody else builds generational wealth and buys homes. [00:48:00] Not that it's about buying things, but we buy depreciating assets. You do know that the black dollar was worth at least 3 billion That we spend. Imagine if that's what we saved, if that's what we saved.

We ain't gotta talk about when Black Wall Street was available. We are Black Wall Street. So again, I want to encourage you, even as an individual, I'm gonna put back 5% because I need reserve. Reserve. I need reserve for emergency. That didn't come from no book. I didn't sell it to you.

I didn't, you didn't have to buy it from me. You got it for free. It's in the word of God. You got it for free in verse 34. Man, that blew me away when God revealed [00:49:00] that to me. Okay. Now verse 37, This seemed like a very good idea to Pharaoh and all his officials agreed. okay, y'all, let's just be honest. Let's be honest. What type of people. In Egypt.

Answer, Laura. I was like, no, I was looking to see what they typed in. But what type of people? Who's in Egypt? Oh, People of color. Not You Brenner, not Charleston. Heston. When we went, they looked like me and their hair was like mine.

somehow you just, like with black people, period. Some hair is one way and other, another way. Let's stop that myth so we can get along. Yeah. Look who's building the Tower of Babel? Yeah. We can get along. We can get along. We just choose not to get along. We can support businesses.

We can support black businesses. we can do this together. [00:50:00] together. Can expand ministry. We can. I'm gonna say it, but we gotta get outta the habit of being selfish. And we are selfish. and also we have the tendency, yeah. Again, just put this down.

We need to invest in things that will build wealth instead of things that are devalued. Once we buy 'em and depreciate. I'm talking to me too. Clothes. Once you buy 'em, they're not worth nothing. you can't, once I soil it and once I use it, it's worth that to me, but I sure look good in't it.

Okay. You look good for that time being. I'm shocked. Lemme see if I ask, would you look better if you had a million dollars in the bank? Oh yeah. Okay. That's why I kept saying, will you look better if you're buying versus renting, would you look better if you were saving and not just spending at all?

Would you look better if we're not borrowing from lenders to pay our kids college tuition. [00:51:00] Yeah. All this stuff. And I'm sitting there going, God, I'm old, but thank you for sharing that with me. Yep. I'm old still. I've read this story time and time again, and he says, here is the saving principle that you don't understand.

If you save it and then you invest it. You keep building and you can give to your children's children. Yep. Okay. I'm off the soapbox. Okay. So then let's go 'cause we're not gonna finish if we don't. Yeah. So this seemed like a very good idea to Farrell and all his officials agreed 

So then Pharaoh told them, I don't think we can find anyone better than Joseph to take this job. God's spirit is in him making him very wise. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, verse 39, God showed these things to you. So you must be the wisest man. I [00:52:00] Pharaoh will put you in charge of my country and the people will obey all your commands.

This is a Hebrew dude, right now over the country of Egypt. And this, a believer telling. I will be the only one more powerful than you. Wow. Zero to 100. He went from the bottom to the top. Sorry. From the bottom we hear at the top.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, I now make you governor over all of Egypt. Then Pharaoh gave his special ring to Joseph The royal seal was on this ring. Pharaoh also gave Joseph a fine linen robe. And put a gold chain around his neck. A fine linen robe.

He's gone from multicolor to a fine linen robe. Then he told Joseph to ride in his second chariot. 'cause he's number two man. Pharaoh's officials said, let him be the [00:53:00] governor over the whole land of Egypt. So are all the officials now on board with Pharaoh? Yes. So then Pharaoh said, I am Pharaoh the king over everyone in Egypt, but no one else in Egypt can lift a hand or move a foot unless you say he can.

Then Pharaoh gave Joseph another name. I practiced this name. It was Z Panaya. He also gave Joseph a wife named ov. She was the daughter of Port of Farah, a priest in the city of own. So Joseph became the governor over the whole country of Egypt. Now, here's the part that I love, 46.

Joseph was 30 years old. When he began serving the king of Egypt, Uhhuh, he traveled throughout the country of Egypt. 30 years old. Who else was 30 when they started? Jesus. Who else was 30 when they started? Jesus is [00:54:00] the tip. But I'm also saying David, 30 seems to be the number of when you when you should, for lack of a word that you get crowned or anointed.

Even though, David was anointed when he was a boy. 17, but 30. How old were you when you first became a pastor? 30. 30. And that to me, I was like, wow, God. That seems to be the number when he's oh, my dudes are coming into their realization of who I am and what their purpose is.

Yeah. And when we mature into. What we are and again, supposed to be doing it's, yeah, it's 30 years to ma to mature into now. God, I get it. 30 years. I don't have to be this person or that be I'm just who I am 30 years and I'm comfortable in the skin. I'm in 30 years okay. Yeah. Joseph was 30 years old when he began serving the king of Egypt.

He traveled throughout the country of Egypt. During the seven good [00:55:00] years, the crops in Egypt grew very well. Joseph saved the food in Egypt during those seven years. He saved and stored. Not saved and spent. He saved and stored 

Joseph stored so much grain. Joseph saved the food in Egypt during. Those seven years and stored the food in the cities in every city. He stored grain that grew in the fields around the city. Joseph stored so much grain that it was like the sands of the sea, it became abundant He stored so much grain that it could not be measured. Joseph was smart. God was with him. I was with him. Joseph wife Asne was the daughter of Port De Farah, the priest in the city of Before the first year of hunger came, Joseph and had two sons. Joseph named the first son, He was given this name because Joseph said, God made me forget all my hard work and everything back home in my [00:56:00] father's house. Joseph named the second son, Ephraim. Joseph gave him this name because he said, I had great troubles, but God has made me successful in everything. 

So the famine begins. Okay, 53 says for seven years people had all the food they needed, but those years ended. Then the seven years of hunger began. Joseph had said no food grew anywhere in any of the countries in that area, but in Egypt, people had plenty to eat because Joseph had stored the grain.

The famine began and the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh said to the Egyptian people. Go ask Joseph what to do. 56 says there was famine everywhere. That's what we were talking about. There was famine everywhere. So Joseph gave the people grain from the warehouses. He sold the stored [00:57:00] grain to the people of Egypt.

The famine was bad in Egypt. 57. The last verse says, but the famine was bad everywhere. So the people from the countries around Egypt had to come to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain. they had to come to Egypt. so they invested in something that was a worthwhile commodity.

That caused them to grow in wealth even more. Just by. 5%. just by collectively. Collectively, if our, the budget will be met, if folks will collectively come together collectively, do the 10%, collectively do the 5% collectively just give period. Give. And what it shall be given unto you.

How? Press down. Shaken together. And Running over. [00:58:00] Shall men. Men, somebody shout Men. Men. It say, shall God, it said, shall men. Yep. Give into your bosom. Yep. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, people in Pets hear the word of the Lord. Start your year. Saying, I'm going to be disciplined.

To be able to share the 5%, save the 5%, give my 10. But that five, the biblical principle of the five. Notice it didn't say it. he didn't say nowhere in the five, I'll open up the windows of heaven, pour you out. Blessing. That's not that five. That's just a mathematical principle. And I told Lord this and I'm telling you this.

Here's two things that won't change. Numbers don't lie. Nope. They're gonna be what they [00:59:00] are. If you earn this much, that's what it's gonna be. What you need to do is learn how to be disciplined. You, me, they, he, them, she it. Whatever we want to say. And discipline is wisdom. 'cause this is the other part. It says let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man.

To this point, Joseph gave Pharaoh knowledge, Telling him what would happen. As revealed in the dreams that were a message from God. Now, Joseph began to apply wisdom to the knowledge. There's a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Whew. There's an important difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Knowledge tells what is going on. Wisdom tells what to do about it. Knowledge is the diagnosis. Wisdom is directed to the cure. Knowledge is good and necessary. It's just not enough. You need wisdom [01:00:00] to apply it. That part we need. So the world has a lot more knowledge than we do wisdom.

And scientists, poets, politicians, we can see what the problems are. But true wisdom sees Jesus as the answer. The wisdom is what's carried us as a people. When you start looking at all the things that were stolen, all the inventions and patents 

That were, we create, it gets stolen, we create, it gets stolen. And yet when our folks, left This earth we had land. We were able to, we were able to support each other. We're able to create, and I'm still saying to you, it's not too late even for you.

I don't care what age you are, if you start the discipline It's not too late. Yeah. It's not too late. Okay. Miss Audrey says back in slavery [01:01:00] times the Slave Masters branded us to show ownership Today. We choose to wear brand names, to make others rich. To make others rich. Yep. That is a fact we wear and we don't even benefit from it outside.

Somebody says, I like that. I like when I pay all my bills. That's what I like. Yeah. And then Ms. Rose said the five is not just for believers, but for everyone. That's the beauty of it. That is the beauty of it as a people, as a nation, as believers, even as non-believers. there's nothing south vi about what we talked about in, as it relates to the principle. That's just a mathematical principle. Yep. That's good. Makes sense. Now just high five. That five benefits, you don't have to make it all up at one time. Inch by [01:02:00] inch. It becomes, and that's why the $5 bill thing works so great. Right now it makes sense.

inch by inch. It makes sense. Okay. Y'all, I pray that you were blessed by chapter 41. We will go into 42, I pray that this message has been one that was well received and that you have learned something new. Let's go the Lord and prayer. God, we thank you for the revelation in this lesson. God, we thank you for every pastor, preacher minister, evangelist that has gathered throughout this year in this Bible study that have lent their thoughts, their mindset, their spirit God, for those that are lay people that have given and made contributions in sharing what the Spirit has said to them. But God, most of all, we pray for wisdom that what we have heard, we will apply. We will be disciplined. To be [01:03:00] able to be givers first and discipline in what we share our offerings and treasures thank you for this year. God is a time that the world celebrates you. Help us to lead somebody to Christ. Help us to be a magnet, to bring somebody into the fold, whether it's online, whether it's in person, God, I pray in Jesus name that will be our utmost and number one thing that we evangelize one person at a time.

God, if we spread the gospel to one at a time, that the church of God will grow. Now, God, I pray that you dismiss us from this place, but never from your presence. That you continue to bless us, that we will grow ever the more and Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Amen. All right, y'all. God bless you, God keep you is our prayer. [01:04:00]