WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:00.959 What's up, everybody? 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:02.080 Welcome to One Church. 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:03.200 Thank you for being here. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.160 I hope that you were greeted well when you came in. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:10.640 If you're an introvert, I hope you were lovingly neglected and don't take it personally. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:18.079 Please just know that we're trying to read signals and uh we want you to have a great experience and uh hopefully come back and bring somebody with you. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:26.320 If you're watching online, if at any point this is a blessing to you, you think it could help somebody, feel free to share it, or you can copy the link and send it to a friend. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:33.759 We get stories all the time of the way that God is taking uh the gospel and the message is going forward and blessing people in all kinds of ways. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:35.439 We just all want to play our part in that. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:36.240 So thank you. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:37.039 Thanks for being here. 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:38.079 I'm gonna open up in prayer. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:38.719 We'll jump in. 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:43.200 God, we thank you for the opportunity to be in your house, to be in your presence. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:48.000 Uh, Lord, we thank you for the way that you show up in moments like this and you speak to people like us. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:52.399 And so we prepare the soil of our heart to be receptive to the seed of your word. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:56.159 Uh Lord, I pray that every open mind, open heart would hear from you. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:01.679 Speak to us collectively, because I know you want to do something in us as a body, but also individually. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:06.879 Lord, I pray today would feel as if you're speaking right to us as individuals. 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:12.719 Search our hearts and give us the courage, Lord, to uh be doers of your word and not just hearers of your word. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:15.359 In Jesus' name, all God's people said, Amen? 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:16.239 Amen. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:16.879 Amen. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:23.519 Um, do you generally expect things to go right or do you generally expect things to go wrong? 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.319 All right, what what is kind of the way you look at the world? 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:31.359 Like, do you do are you a would you consider yourself an optimist or a pessimist? 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:32.879 Uh, how does that work for you? 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:39.200 I I have a friend, um, he and I see the world very differently, and over the years we've gotten into a bunch of petty fights. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:44.640 Nothing like majorly bad, but you know, we kind of pick at each other because we see the world differently. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:49.200 And I'll give you one example, but it's sort of a microcosm of all of our arguments. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:54.400 Uh it's like this somebody will say, Hey, how long does it take to get to the cheesecake factory? 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:57.359 And he would say, 25 minutes. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:00.159 And I'm like, 25 minutes? 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:04.159 I'm like, it takes 15 minutes tops to get to the cheesecake factory. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:05.200 He's like, no, no. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:07.120 He's like, I was there the other day. 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:11.360 He's like, I left from this spot right here, and it took me 25 minutes to get there. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:16.080 I'm like, my man, I was two minutes that way, and I got there in 15 minutes the other day. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:19.680 I'm telling now, the the difference is the way we look at the world, okay? 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:24.479 So, so my friend, he um uh he expects the weather's gonna be bad. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:28.319 There's probably gonna be precipitation, which is going to affect the pavement. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:30.719 Uh, he's sure there's gonna be a lot of traffic. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:32.240 It's probably like a lot of traffic. 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:37.360 They they probably started a new construction project that wasn't there the last time that he went. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:40.719 He also coincidentally drives the speed limit. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:49.599 Um he's expecting to get to Easton, and by the way, now that I'm there doesn't mean I'm there because I have to find a parking spot and doggone it. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.400 It's Easton, okay, so it's gonna take a minute to get there. 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:55.520 And so he factors in 25 minutes. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:59.039 Now, the way I look at the world, I'm expecting it to be a sunny day. 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.039 All right, it's gonna be nice out. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:04.319 Um, I'm expecting there to be barely any traffic. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:08.240 I know I might have the wind at my back a little bit when I go there. 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:13.599 I I'm expecting that the favor of God is on my life, so there will be a parking space in Jesus' name. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:14.960 It's gonna be a great one. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:18.639 I'm I expect, I don't even care if it says lot full. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.840 I pull in because I'm expecting someone's gonna pull out right when I pull in. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:26.240 Like the timing is just God works things together for good, okay? 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:29.680 And so, like, in general, I just think things are gonna go right. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.800 We're in a planning session, people are like, well, this could go wrong, this could go wrong. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:34.240 I'm like, come on. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:36.879 Like, we yeah, okay, the sky could fall in. 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:38.240 Yeah, I guess it could happen. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:39.439 You know, it's called faith. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:40.240 Ever heard of it? 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:44.639 It's the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:46.719 He has not failed us yet, he won't. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:48.560 All right, did you did you hear what you just said? 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:56.400 So I sort of live in this optimism, you know, but I think over time you got to kind of decide, like, what is my frame of mind? 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:07.840 Because I know I've already upset some people today, because you get annoyed with people like me because let's be honest, um, my friend with his 25-minute commute, he enjoys his commute better than I do. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:09.199 I'll tell you that for sure. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:11.039 Like, he planned 25 minutes. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:20.160 If he does hit happen to hit all the lights green, and he does happen to get a parking spot, he just saunters in to the cheesecake factory a few minutes early, no stress. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:23.040 You know how many times I've cursed the traffic? 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:24.079 I'm shocked. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:25.920 I'm like, well, how's their traffic? 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:27.120 You know, it's five o'clock. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:28.560 Who saw it coming? 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:31.680 Like, you know how many times I've cursed the darkness? 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:35.600 Do you know how many times I've played chicken with somebody over a parking space? 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:37.040 You know, I live paranoid. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:37.839 I'm a pastor of a church. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:39.519 I'm like, I hope they don't go to our church. 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:47.279 And I just go, so, so like I end up stressed out because I'm running late. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:50.000 You know how many times I've come rolling in five minutes late? 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:54.000 You know, going, oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, apologizing, I'm embarrassed. 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:58.959 I got an ulcer by the time I get to the cheesecake factory, I don't even want cheesecake at this point. 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:01.920 And and so you gotta go, okay, what is the mentality? 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:04.319 What is how should I be looking at life? 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:06.639 What is a mature way to look at it? 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:14.160 Because I think sometimes in church, there's all of this positivity and there's all of this optimism, and it's always good, and it's always sunshine. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.959 And yet in the real world, you realize it's not. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:21.600 This is the this isn't a fantasy, uh, this isn't a fairy tale. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:28.879 Um, there's actually gonna be some things go wrong in life, and and and how do I get to a place emotionally in the right mindset? 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:35.759 Because if you do one or the other, if you have your head in the clouds and just all this optimism, you're always shocked when things go bad. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:42.079 But if you're always expecting everything to go bad all the time, you end up not ever pushing the chips in. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:44.800 You end up not not ever shooting your shot, not going for it. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:48.319 Well, I know the relationship, they're probably gonna lead me, so I'm not even gonna try. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:51.839 You know, I know that the business deal is probably not gonna, I'm not even gonna try. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:56.879 So, so you end up playing it so safe throughout life, you don't embrace life to its fullest. 00:05:57.199 --> 00:05:59.279 What is the right way to do this? 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:05.120 We we've been in um uh the book of basically Genesis, chapter 37 through 50. 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:18.399 We have this guy by the name of Joseph, been looking at his life, series called Lemonade, talking about, look, you don't have control over the lemons that come at you, but you you can control what you do with these things, and how do we give them to God in the right way? 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:31.439 And and from the story of Joseph, I would encourage you, like if you're getting a little stale in your Bible reading, Bible study, go go slow read Genesis 37 through 50 and let God read you as you read it. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:36.639 The story of Joseph is a beautiful narrative, there's a lot of dimensions to it, but I'm gonna wrap it up today. 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:46.399 And what I want to do is I want to kind of meander through the story of Joseph, looking specifically at the dimensions of development that happened in Joseph's life. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:50.000 Uh Joseph grew up in a dysfunctional family. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:07:01.439 His father was a deeply flawed person, he uh had a bunch of kids by four different women, and it announces early in the text that Joseph was preferred. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:02.879 He was his favorite. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:07.759 And and it says that uh, you know, his dad gave him gifts, he gave him a coat of many colors. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:11.199 It was basically a symbol of his approval. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:19.759 And yet, because of his father's uh lack of unconditional love to all of his children, it created a horribly dysfunctional, unstable environment. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:26.079 You would think from Joseph, when you first read, oh, he was the preferred one, that that would sort of be an advantage, but it really wasn't. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:29.519 It caused him to be in so much tension with his siblings. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:33.279 Um, there was all this rivalry, they despised him, they hated him. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:39.439 So his home was a war zone, and Joseph felt alone in his own family. 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:51.600 Also, like if you really just we pause to think about the dynamics of when there is an unjust environment, even when you're getting the good end of the deal, you still feel the instability of the entire environment. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:53.120 Um, it just is what it is. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:56.000 Like, you know, why did why was Joseph preferred? 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:58.800 Well, it wasn't because of anything having to do with Joseph. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:04.480 The Bible says the reason his father preferred him was because Joseph was born to him in his old age. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:07.199 So really it was it was about his father. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.199 You know, his father's like, yeah, I still got it. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:11.839 And Joseph is proof, you know, look at that. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:24.639 And and and he um, you know, he loved Joseph's mom, or thought he did, love Joseph's mom more than the other, his other kids' moms, be because she was really, if you really look at the story, she was kind of his greatest conquest. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:32.240 He had worked really hard to get her, and so so because of that, again, it was really more about him than Joseph, and Joseph had to kind of know that. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:43.039 So, so there's an undertone of selfishness from his father, and and when I've been giving something that's really unjust, it's not unconditional love, how easily could it be taken away? 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:44.879 It creates an unstable environment. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:49.360 So you have to think Joseph from an early age really didn't even know what love is, right? 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:54.559 I mean, we've been designed to want to give and receive love, but what in the world is love? 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:58.080 And you grow up in a family that is with all of that condition and stuff. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:08:58.960 He's got nothing. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:04.159 All of the foundational relationships that were supposed to demonstrate love didn't. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:07.279 So for the first 17 years, that was his deal. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:11.600 Now he has this vision from God of its grand dream. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:13.679 Sun, moon, and stars are bowing down to him. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:19.120 So essentially he's like, Man, I think God's created me to do something important, something big. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:23.279 But from that point on, the dream isn't a fairy tale. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:26.080 It goes bad immediately for 14 years. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:28.559 His brothers sell him into slavery. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:32.399 Uh, some of his brothers were violent, wanted to kill him, and then others were industrious. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:33.440 They're like, Well, just sell him. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.279 So they sell him to these Ishmaelite traders who take him to Egypt. 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:43.919 So he's now in a foreign land, and he lands in the home of the head of the palace guard, the secret service, call it. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:48.320 He's a report directly to a Pharaoh, a guy by the name of Potiphar, who is wealthy. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:53.440 He has a big estate, he's got a lot of businesses and things going on, and Joseph ends up in his home. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:10:02.480 Look what it says here in Genesis 39, one, uh actually starting in verse 2, says, The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:06.240 I'm gonna keep reading in a moment, but I want to pause there for a second. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:24.960 Because I think often we concentrate our hope in our current life situation, whatever your life situation is, if if it's your version of Potiphar's house in Egypt, you've been taken out of your environment against your will, you didn't get a choice, something, the rug's been jerked out from underneath you. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:29.759 Often our hope, we tend to focus our hope on God changing our situation. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:35.120 But what we learn from this is that Joseph remained in Potiphar's house. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:39.600 He remained in this foreign country, and yet God did a work in Joseph. 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:49.840 Hope is not necessarily found in God changing our circumstances, it's often God changing us despite our circumstances. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:51.679 So God left him in Egypt. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:52.799 Now here's the reality. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:54.159 Here's the reality. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:57.360 Joseph needed to get out of his hometown. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:04.240 He needed to get out, he needed to be away from his family, he didn't need to be around his brothers, he didn't need to be around his father. 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:15.440 And the the truth is, most of the time, left up to ourselves, we tend to stay in environments that we know are toxic, we know that aren't the best for us, yet they're familiar to us. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:18.399 There's something about that familiarity that keeps me there. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:21.519 His brothers stayed there over the long haul. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:29.120 Joseph probably would have stayed there had it not been for something outside of his control that expelled him from his environment. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:37.519 And here's what I want to tell you there are some of you that don't like how you got to where you are, but God can use even an ugly transition. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:42.879 God can use even an ugly expulsion for you to get to a better place. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:45.919 So don't get so caught up in how I got to where I am. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:47.600 Just focus on where you are. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:51.759 He's in Potiphar, and Potiphar was a better leader than his dad. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:58.559 Potiphar was in a uh his house was a better environment for him to thrive in, although it was something he would have never picked for himself. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:05.279 Joseph would have never gone to Egypt, knocked on Potiphar's door, and applied for the job, but yet he ended up there. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:13.440 And so it's said God blessed him by not extracting him from that situation, leaving him in there, and then working in his heart while he was there. 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:34.639 And so uh it says that uh he he he succeeded in everything he did and he served in the home of his Egyptian master, and Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, so Joseph stuck out and he gave him success and everything he did, and and this pleased Potiphar so soon he puts him in a high position, makes him his personal attendant, and puts him in charge of the entire household and everything he owned. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:38.399 Um I want to say this real quick to you as well. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:51.440 I I think sometimes when we are in unpleasant environments or places that is sort of outside of what we planned, sometimes the tendency is to try to power through a season by dulling your senses. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:56.559 You know, just okay, I just I don't like where I'm at, uh, but I'm gonna have to endure this. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:58.799 I don't know how long I'm gonna be in this environment. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:05.440 And so part of the survival is to just dull, to dull your senses, to, to, to just like you know, put your head down. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:06.399 It's almost like that movie. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:27.279 You remember that Adam Sandler movie, Click, you know, where he's like fast-forwarding, you know, he gets this magic remote control, and he's just fast-forward, like his wife's yelling at him, he's just like you know, and and then he's you know, he doesn't like his boss, so he fast forwards his boss, and his kids are acting crazy, so he fast forwards them acting crazy, and he's got a project that's overwhelming him, so he just fast-forwards through a project. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:30.399 Next thing he knows, he looks up, he's fast-forwarded through life. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:35.679 You know, we have a tendency sometimes, you get taken from Israel to Egypt, you end up in this potifer place. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:44.960 I didn't ask for this, and because of that, we just numb our senses, we dull ourselves, and and we just kind of put our head down and try to survive our way through it. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:55.519 And yet, Joseph, even as a young man, had the presence of mind to not dull his senses, but to get his head up and to look around and go, you know, I have an opportunity here. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:58.159 I have an opportunity here to maximize this. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:00.399 Look what it says in verse 5 and 6. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:03.519 It says, all of the household affairs ran smoothly. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:07.120 So, so Joseph's been put in charge of Potiphar's entire house. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:11.039 It said everything ran smoothly from the crops to the livestock, it all flourished. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:14.320 So Potiphar, look at this, look at this, look at this specific language. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:22.080 Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:27.679 And with Joseph there, he didn't worry about a thing except what kind of food to eat. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:33.440 All right, Joseph's got this thing clicking on all cylinders, and Potiphar's like, you know, I'm kind of stressed out today. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:33.840 I don't know. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:35.519 Do I want to go chicken or beef? 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:36.720 You know, I just don't know. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:40.480 And Joseph's out here making, hey, now think about this. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:42.320 We know the end of the story. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:46.720 This is the beautiful thing about looking at the scripture and being able to see the entire picture. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:54.000 We know that Joseph is about to have an assignment in a few years to be the prime minister of Egypt. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:15:01.279 God is going to give him foresight to see a 14-year critical period where they had seven years of abundance. 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:12.399 He was gonna have to stack crops, he was gonna have to organize grain, he was gonna have to Microsoft Excel, and he was gonna have to build big barns, and he was gonna have to mobilize teams, and he was gonna have to problem solve. 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:18.080 He was gonna have to work seven years to have enough food for the next seven years, which was a famine, there would be no crops. 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:22.320 So we have to do 14 years worth of work in seven years. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:25.440 We have to be unbelievably efficient. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:28.639 We we have to work 48 hours a day. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:31.200 Okay, we we're gonna have to get this done. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:36.399 So he he has this in his this is ultimately where he's going to get. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:47.759 But Joseph doesn't necessarily know that the administrative hard skills that he would draw on as prime minister were going to be developed as a slave in the home of Potiphar. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:52.080 And so you can you can trust that God's got something for you. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:54.399 I'm going to dig in while I'm here. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:58.159 Because there's plenty of things to distract you, like this. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:05.200 Potiphar is is is chilling, trying to decide, do I want to go rare, medium, rare today? 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:07.759 It's just, oh I mean, it's Tuesday, I don't even know. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.480 And and and Joseph's over here, like, you know, are you serious, man? 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:11.440 I'm doing all the work. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:12.480 I'm doing all the work. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:13.279 Like, you got me. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:15.039 Buy one, get two free. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:17.600 You know, I'm underpaid, okay? 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:18.799 I'm underappreciated. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:19.919 I'm doing all of this stuff. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:26.559 So he can either get focused on how much he doesn't like his boss, or the fact that I didn't get to pick this job and nobody asked me what I want. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:29.120 Okay, and the fact that I actually can't leave if I want to. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.240 You know, all of the factors he doesn't like, or he can go, you know what? 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:35.120 I have complete administrative control of this place. 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:36.639 This might as well be my house. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:38.879 This might as well all be mine. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:39.759 Here I am. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.000 You know, God caused me to land on my feet. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:44.080 My brother did the brothers did these things. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:45.200 It could have been a lot worse. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:50.320 I'm gonna get here and I'm gonna treat this house like it's a whole nation, is what I'm gonna do. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:57.120 I'm gonna get myself ready with both the soft skills and the hard skills for whatever God has next. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:04.400 And so I want to encourage you, like what whatever season you're in, okay, you you might be in a that type of environment. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:06.720 Go ahead and embrace it fully. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:12.480 Um, okay, so it goes bad from there. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:16.160 He's there for 11 years, toward the end of 11 years. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:21.119 Potiphar's wife, you know, takes a look at Joseph. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:27.359 The Bible says he was handsome and well built and all this stuff, and she's looking, I mean, it does say that it wasn't me, it was Moses. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:32.480 Um it says he was handsome and well built, and so so Potiphar's wife's like, okay, okay. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:35.200 And and uh she comes on to him, right? 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:39.839 She throws herself at him, and Joseph um doesn't take the bait, right? 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:41.839 Joseph says, no, no, thank you. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:49.039 And he says, um, you know, essentially, I'm not gonna do that to Potiphar, and I'm not going to do that to God. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:53.279 Even if I can get away with it, and Potiphar never finds out, God will know. 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:56.640 And so I am have created a habit of doing the right thing. 00:17:56.799 --> 00:17:59.599 I've created a habit of not compromising. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:02.000 Sometimes there's gray areas, you're like, what do I do? 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:02.640 What do I do? 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:03.440 How do I do that? 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:05.519 And then sometimes it's black and white. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:11.839 But but here's the here's the reality, and this gets back to the optimism-pessimism balancing act we have to do. 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:19.039 You would like to think that when you do the right thing, things go right, but often when you do the right thing, things go wrong. 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:20.720 That happens. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:32.240 You do the right thing, you say the right thing, you stand for the right thing, you don't compromise, and it still goes wrong, especially in the short term. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:38.480 And there will always be some sort of compromise excuse sitting there for you. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:41.359 Let's just get in Joseph's head for a minute. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:48.240 Joseph could have absolutely come up with a good reason as to why he should be able to self-indulge. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:49.200 Okay? 00:18:49.759 --> 00:19:06.960 I don't know what the sexual options for a Hebrew slave in Egypt were, but I'm guessing Potiphar's wife looked like a snack based on what his normal options were. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:16.720 There's probably a little part of him going, you know, old Potiphar's had a pretty good 11 years of it, okay? 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:20.079 11 years he's been waking up going, chicken or beef, okay? 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:21.839 He's been waiting, what am I gonna eat today? 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:24.319 And I've been the one doing all of this. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:28.000 I didn't come on to her, she came on to me. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:30.640 Hey, I didn't send myself to Egypt. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:32.400 My nasty brothers threw me here. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:34.000 I've had a lot of things go bad. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:36.480 I should be able to treat myself today. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:39.119 You'll always have some kind of excuse. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:42.720 You know, this has gone bad, so I'm gonna go ahead and just indulge. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:44.079 I'm gonna compromise. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:48.720 There will always be something, you'll be able to soothe yourself on a compromise. 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:54.319 To be honest with you, things probably would have gone better for him, especially in the short term by doing that. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:59.759 Even if he didn't want her, even if it wasn't about the sex, it made sense diplomatically. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.319 This woman's in a power position. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:05.920 This woman's in a position, if I anger her, I could end up in prison. 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:09.519 Her husband is in charge of the palace guard. 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:11.039 She can lie about me. 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:12.559 There's nothing I can do about it. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:14.160 I'm a Hebrew slave. 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:15.440 They don't like me. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:17.440 Okay, they're ready to believe her. 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:21.359 So if I upset her, I gotta appease her, I've got to keep her happy. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:26.400 And frankly, if he had just done what she wanted, more than likely she would have shut up. 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:27.839 They would have kept it between them. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:29.039 He could have kept his job. 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:33.519 You can see how Joseph would go, you know, I got lucky to get this job. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:36.400 You know, I I was sold into slavery and I end up here. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:38.640 I'm basically VP of the operation. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:40.240 I don't want to lose this job. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:41.759 I don't want to anger this woman. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:43.759 You start to think and play out the narrative. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:45.839 Well, if I do this, I might end up in prison. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:48.319 So I'm gonna go from bad to worse. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:51.440 I'm in a low position, I'm gonna go to a lower position. 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:55.039 And you start to think in human terms of how this thing will play out. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:56.720 Listen, I know they're gray areas. 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:00.000 I'm not talking about gray areas, I'm talking about black and white. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.839 And when you know it's wrong, you gotta do what's right. 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:07.119 Do what's right, do the right thing. 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:08.880 I don't know how it'll play out. 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:10.480 Though they may lie on me. 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:13.119 Do the right thing. 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:19.680 Joseph decided I'm going to make a habit, I'm going to make a habit of doing the right thing. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:21.920 I'm not going to violate my conscience. 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:23.599 I'm not going to do him wrong. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:25.279 I'm not going to do him wrong. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:26.720 But get guess what happened? 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:29.119 She lies about him, and everyone believes her. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:38.079 And sometimes you're in a position, you do the right thing, things go wrong, and you have to come to peace with the fact God and I know the truth. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:41.599 Do I prefer everyone to know? 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:42.720 A hundred percent. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:45.200 Doesn't it feel good when people get you? 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:46.720 Oh, it feels good, doesn't it? 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:48.400 Doesn't it feel good when people believe you? 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:50.559 Oh, it feels wonderful to be believed. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:53.759 It feels wonderful for people to understand you. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:54.720 But you know what? 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:56.000 Sometimes they don't. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:02.240 And if it's if you're the only soul on earth, you and God are the only ones that Know the truth, but you stuck to it. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:04.400 You you didn't violate your conscience. 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:05.680 You did the right thing. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:07.920 At some point, that's gotta be good enough. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:10.160 Let that put steel in your spine. 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:12.000 I don't know where this is gonna end up. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:13.599 I just know I'm gonna do the right thing. 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:16.160 I don't have control over what Potiphar's wife says. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:17.359 I'm gonna do the right thing. 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:23.119 I don't know who's gonna believe her, who's gonna believe me, who's not even gonna give me a chance to explain myself. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:27.839 Uh rooms that I went in, that I was once accepted, I'm now radioactive. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:31.039 People I used to call comrades now have turned on me. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:33.200 I can't even go to those places anymore. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:35.200 Things I care about have been taken away. 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:36.720 My future's uncertain. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:43.599 I don't love it in my flesh, but I'm choosing it because I'm going to do the right thing. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:55.200 So he decides I'm going, I'm gonna do what's right, and he does, and and it upsets her, and she feels spurned and she throws him to the wolves, and he ends up in prison. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:56.799 Here's what's interesting. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:06.640 If you play the story out and you think about the fact, if he just compromises, if he just compromises, he probably gets to keep his job. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:09.599 If he just compromises, he probably gets to stay there. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:15.519 But what we know with the full story is the pathway to the palace went through prison. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.480 He had to go into prison so he could go through prison. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:23.119 It was on their way, it was in prison that he's he's interpreting dreams. 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:27.200 It was those dreams he interpreted that made their way to Pharaoh, who said, I have a dream too. 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:29.839 They came to him and said, Hey, well, here's what your dream means. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:35.519 Fourteen years of foresight, fourteen years of a plan that he said, You're the guy to do it. 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:36.720 None of that happens. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:45.759 If Joseph compromises with Potiphar's wife because it makes sense uh diplomatically, or because he just wants to indulge, because I, you know, I guess I deserve it. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:58.160 Okay, if he does that, he probably dies in Potiphar's house as a bunch of other people, and the purpose of his life, the thing God had been preparing him for in these 11 years, doesn't come to fruition. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:10.079 Listen, I know it feels like you're going from here to here to do the right thing, that you're gonna have to, it's gonna have to regress, or someone's gonna drag you down, or someone's gonna pull the rug out, or a scary person could do something dangerous. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:12.160 Why don't you just trust God a little bit more? 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:13.759 I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do what's right. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:19.920 I believe he's omnipotent, I believe he's omniscient, I believe that God can take me in and through prison. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:21.759 And and so if that's my path, I do it. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:24.559 I'll say this and then I'll move on because you guys look like you're ready. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:25.920 But I got one more thing on it. 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:27.519 Is I'm gonna say this. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:36.000 I think sometimes in church we use buzzwords like faith and obedience, and and I think we get it kind of right but kind of wrong. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:43.200 Where I think we get it wrong is this uh we we think that faith and obedience is a means to an end. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:48.880 Faith, trusting God, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:53.920 I I trust, um, you know, I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:56.480 So without it says without faith, it's impossible to please God. 00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:57.759 It says in Hebrews 11. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:24:59.920 Without faith, it's impossible to please God. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:01.359 So we go, okay, cool. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:05.119 God clearly wants faith, so I'm gonna give him what he wants, faith. 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:09.839 And then obedience, I'm gonna walk in obedience to his word, to his will, to his spirit. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:16.400 So I'm gonna if if I'm if I trust him and I'm obedient to him, then he'll give me the result I want. 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:21.039 But what we have to understand is faith and obedience are not the means to an end. 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:23.359 Faith and obedience are the end. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:31.200 Whatever result comes out of a life of faith and obedience, I'm willing to pay that price. 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:42.240 And if it means a demotion, if it means the court of public opinion isn't what I wish it was, if it means I upset a powerful person in the process, I will take what comes with that. 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:44.880 Faith and obedience are not the means to an end. 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:47.039 They are the end. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:49.519 So he goes to prison. 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:57.519 And prison, I think, in terms of the dimensions of his development, you know, he's developed his hard skills of administration, he's learning how to bounce back. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:02.240 But I think prison, what it represents is like when the hits just keep on coming. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:08.160 Like, like I talk to people every once in a while who have had like they've stacked events, like bad events. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:09.119 You know what I'm saying? 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:09.599 A lot of things. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:12.240 They're like, dude, I think I'm hitting my pain threshold. 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:16.559 I'm starting to do the math, and I'm not sure how much more I got in me. 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:27.759 Like, like, like it was this, and then it was that, and then it was that, and it was my personal life, and it was my professional life, and it was my family, and then it was a death, and then it was a diagnosis, and then it was a bankruptcy, and then I lost this, and I love it. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:32.319 And it's like, you know, I've been making lemonade, you know, but I'm sort of sick of lemonade. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:35.519 Like at this point, I just want some water, you know. 00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:40.480 It's something else, like, I don't know how much more lemonade I got in me, dude. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:41.119 It's like so many. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:44.559 And so you have Joseph, it's like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:49.839 And now it's like he does the right thing and it goes wrong, and his fortitude is tested. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.480 He doesn't know this, he's right on the verge of this breakthrough, but yet he's in that spot. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:59.680 And I know I'm talking to somebody today that you're going, I I feel like I'm at my pain threshold. 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:02.240 Listen, don't grow weary in well-doing. 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:05.839 In good in due time, you reap a harvest if you faint not. 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:10.319 There are some seasons that you you're not going up into the right, you're not in a dead sprint. 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:12.400 You're you're just creeping your way through it. 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:15.200 Somebody's just, I got up out of bed today and I kept moving. 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:16.720 I put one foot in front of the other. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:17.200 All right. 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:19.359 I I didn't take the bait of bitterness. 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:21.440 I didn't take the bait of jealousy. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:25.519 I I didn't I didn't stab that person in the back who stabbed me in the back. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:26.640 I I didn't go there. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:28.799