SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Sharper Sword, the publication ministry of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.
SPEAKER_00: Lighthouse believes that individuals can reach their potential for the Lord as they grow in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We want to hear our Lord say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: Let's join Pastor Doug Fisher as he preaches another important biblical message from the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Take your Bible today, please, please.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs chapter number three.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs chapter number three, and Genesis chapter number thirty-seven.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs chapter number three, and Genesis chapter number thirseven.
SPEAKER_01: Again, thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_01: Our evening service is tonight at 530.
SPEAKER_01: We look forward to that.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs chapter 3, Genesis chapter 37.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a little new to our church, I noticed we had one announcement that had a little spunk to it.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know what the word spunk means?
SPEAKER_01: It is a word.
SPEAKER_01: S-P-U-N-K.
SPEAKER_01: The word spunk speaks of liveliness, being a little alive.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to tell you this what we don't want is a dead church.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying this in a scolding way, but uh I'm getting a little bit older and grayer, but that doesn't mean I still can't have spunk.
SPEAKER_01: And as our church ages a little bit, we still need the spunky ones.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a little spunk, you don't attract those that want to do something and be alive.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, are you still with me or not?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I'm glad we have different announcers that come up, and there's just a little bit of liveliness to it.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, I understand the sanctuary and everything, but part of being a Christian church is to attract all ages and have different things going on that keeps the spunk in there a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna preach on that upcoming, believe me, you'll hear about it more.
SPEAKER_01: But I just appreciate that we have that here.
SPEAKER_01: And uh while they're going to play some volleyball and everything, I'll be looking forward to my black chair at home.
SPEAKER_01: Praying for their spunk.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs chapter number three.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs chapter three, a scripture that many of you may have memorized, but I want to really ask you to study it with me today and bear this out just a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: So Proverbs chapter three, and don't turn off now when you see the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse five.
SPEAKER_01: Verse number five.
SPEAKER_01: It says this trust in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: If you have your own Bible, underline the word trust with all thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not unto thine own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Underline trust, underline lean not.
SPEAKER_01: In all thy ways, acknowledge him.
SPEAKER_01: Underline, acknowledge, and he shall direct thy paths, the direction of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So trust, lean not, acknowledge, and direct.
SPEAKER_01: We want our Lord to direct our path in life.
SPEAKER_01: I want to make this clear to you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the sooner that we turn our path over to him, the better.
SPEAKER_01: The sooner we turn our pilgrimage over to him, our journey over to him.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, statement though, journey doesn't mean always changing locations, although it might.
SPEAKER_01: Part of our journey may be God changing the location of where we're at.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, though, God leaves someone in the same place, but they're still on a journey.
SPEAKER_01: Even though they may not geographically move, they're still on a spiritual journey for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to look, if you would, in Genesis chapter 37 and watch very carefully a journey.
SPEAKER_01: That's very, very important because sometimes the journey is a little difficult and hard to understand.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, trust in the Lord, lean not to thine own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: You're in Genesis 37.
SPEAKER_01: In all thy ways, acknowledge him, talk about him, and then he directs the path.
SPEAKER_01: In Genesis 37, uh, Joseph was going to go on a journey that would require him not to lean to his own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: In Genesis chapter number 37, stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Notice verse number three.
SPEAKER_01: Israel loved Joseph more than all his children.
SPEAKER_01: And you may say, well, there's a problem there.
SPEAKER_01: Just read what it says, please.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, because he was the son of his old age.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to go into this very much, but I want to tell you, uh, I have eight children.
SPEAKER_01: My old, my, my youngest ones benefit from my old age.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, when we had multiple children, and I have some in here today that first and second and thirdborn, uh, we barely made it, and we didn't have quite as much.
SPEAKER_01: For the younger children, we have a little bit more, and and I can't help the stacking of the old old older, the older, but I want to say as I get a little older, I'm able to do just a little bit more for my younger.
SPEAKER_01: Are you still with me or not?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying I have favorites, but there's no doubt it says that uh Joseph, if he was, was one of Israel's favorite, more than his other children because he was the son of his old age.
SPEAKER_01: Even though you don't think that's fair, just study the Bible with me.
SPEAKER_01: And notice it says, and he made him a coat of many colors.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't just the fact that Joseph was in Israel's older age, but Joseph was born and his mother was Rachel.
SPEAKER_01: And Rachel was greatly loved by Dad.
SPEAKER_01: Dad had a couple different wives, Rachel, Leah, and then some of the handmaids.
SPEAKER_01: But one of the ones, I guess you would say, that Joseph loved uh in a special way was Rachel, and Rachel gave birth to Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Please listen.
SPEAKER_01: And so Israel made him a coat of many colors.
SPEAKER_01: It was a special coat.
SPEAKER_01: He only made one of those, and Joseph had that coat, and there's spiritual implications to that.
SPEAKER_01: And you may say that's just wrong, but may I say to you, it's Bible.
SPEAKER_01: God decided to record that.
SPEAKER_01: God decided to show us something about a life, if you would, and there's a lot of implications to it.
SPEAKER_01: So he made this uh bright, beautiful coat for Joseph, and you could tell when Joseph was coming.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph wore it out of honoring his father.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, may I say to you, please listen.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph didn't decide who he was born by.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph didn't decide that he was born in his father's older age, and Joseph didn't decide to wear the coat he was told to wear the coat.
SPEAKER_01: What am I saying?
SPEAKER_01: This was not an arrogant Joseph, this was an obedient Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: But it made his brothers, his other ten brothers, you say, but there were twelve.
SPEAKER_01: No, there were ten, because Rachel would have one more boy at her death named Benjamin.
SPEAKER_01: So the other ten brothers didn't like Joseph at all.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: He had this coat.
SPEAKER_01: May I remind you though, these other brothers had different mothers.
SPEAKER_01: And Rachel and Leah had a rivalry, and so there was a rivalry amongst the brothers to Joseph, and they did not like Joseph at all.
SPEAKER_01: May I say to you that they envied him, which means this.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: Verse number 11.
SPEAKER_01: And his brother envied him.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Envy is a word that speaks about grudge or holding a grudge towards, or looking to them like there's an excellence and they feel a little inferior and they have a grudge about that.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph had some dreams, two of them, that God gave him.
SPEAKER_01: The dreams would talk about what would come in the future, but may I say Joseph's dreams told him that one day he would be a little bit more superior to them and be in charge of them.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't Joseph deciding that, it was God deciding that.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph knew a little bit about the big picture, but he did not know about the segments of the journey along the way.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes God reveals to us the possibility of a big picture in the future.
SPEAKER_01: Something that God shows you that might come about in our life.
SPEAKER_01: But he doesn't give us the specifics of getting there.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the journey has segments to it that don't make any sense, and we cannot lean to our own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make sense that this all works together for good, what we're going through at the time.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph had this big picture.
SPEAKER_01: He knew what the dreams were.
SPEAKER_01: His father knew what the dreams were, and may I say his brother knew a little bit about the dreams and they didn't believe him and they grudged him because?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because he had the dreams, because he had the coat of many colors on, because his father preferred him, and because he was the son of Rachel, whom their mother and some of their handmaids hated.
SPEAKER_01: What am I saying?
SPEAKER_01: There was certainly some dysfunctionality in the home.
SPEAKER_01: But it's recorded by God.
SPEAKER_01: And so Dad sends Joseph to check, go out and check on the brothers.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 18, stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 18.
SPEAKER_01: And when they saw him afar off, they could see him coming because of that coat.
SPEAKER_01: And when they saw him afar off, even when he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't like him, and they decided they were going to do away with him.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
SPEAKER_01: If you would, verse number 19, that's sarcasm.
SPEAKER_01: Here comes the dreamer.
SPEAKER_01: Here come Dad's favorite.
SPEAKER_01: Here comes the son of Rachel.
SPEAKER_01: Here comes the one who thinks he's somebody.
SPEAKER_01: May I say to you, that was their interpretation, not Joseph's, and not God's.
SPEAKER_01: God was going to be with Joseph throughout the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20, stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Come now, therefore, let us slay him, cast him into some pit, and we will say some evil beast has devoured him.
SPEAKER_01: And what shall, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
SPEAKER_01: Notice the sarcasm in there.
SPEAKER_01: We'll kill him, we'll throw him in a pit, and then we'll see what happens of his dreams.
SPEAKER_01: Reuben, one of the eldest, heard that, and please take note of what Reuben says.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: Let's not kill him.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to shed his blood.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to kill him.
SPEAKER_01: So, verse 24, they took him, cast him into a pit, verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: The pit was empty, there was no water, and there he is in that pit.
SPEAKER_01: Please listen perfectly in God's will.
SPEAKER_01: What am I saying?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't it something that God can use somebody's envy to get Joseph the direction he needs to go?
SPEAKER_01: You may have somebody begrudging you.
SPEAKER_01: I may have somebody after me, but chances are God perfectly knows what's going on and it's leading us towards something.
SPEAKER_01: It may not be a geographical change, but it might be a spiritual growth thing.
SPEAKER_01: I remember many, many, many, many, many, many years ago here at our church, there was a person that was really at me.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody would know who that person is.
SPEAKER_01: That person oppressed me for about a year and a half and stood up one time in the congregation and tried to kind of say some things about me, and it was just one of those deals.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, What did you do wrong?
SPEAKER_01: She had a situation in her past that had to do with a pastor, and I was a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say it again.
SPEAKER_01: She had a situation in her past that had to do with a pastor, and I was a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours with her.
SPEAKER_01: But she uh found things and wanted to say things even publicly about me.
SPEAKER_01: Please listen.
SPEAKER_01: It oppressed me.
SPEAKER_01: I went away at night and it really got to me.
SPEAKER_01: I thank God for her now.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: She taught me so much about the Proverbs.
SPEAKER_01: Huh?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I've learned so many proverbs because of her.
SPEAKER_01: I believe she'll be going to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: If God gives me a little time to remember who she is in heaven, I will thank her.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not planning on doing that because I don't think I'll we'll be even remembering all that.
SPEAKER_01: But what I'm saying is, sometimes the negative teaches us so much.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we learn so much, but not at the time.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't start that way.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I want to show you something.
SPEAKER_01: Please stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Hold your place there in Genesis 37 and look over at Genesis 50.
SPEAKER_01: You're doing great.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not into thine own understanding in all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Genesis 50.
SPEAKER_01: We're holding our place in Genesis 37.
SPEAKER_01: In Genesis 50, Joseph says something that's very important.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: You're doing great.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: He says, He's talking to his brothers, and he says, But as for you, his brothers, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive.
SPEAKER_01: I want to I want to please ask you to look up here just for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Here's Joseph farther down the line, and he's talking to his brothers now.
SPEAKER_01: Now that Joseph understands so much, and he says to his brothers, You all meant it for evil.
SPEAKER_01: But God had a purpose in it, and he meant it for good.
SPEAKER_01: That was way out here in his life.
SPEAKER_01: Please listen.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go back to where he was in the pit.
SPEAKER_01: He was not thinking that.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: He was not thinking, well, they meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you're in it, you don't think that way.
SPEAKER_01: When you're in what?
SPEAKER_01: In the pit.
SPEAKER_01: You say, what's the pit?
SPEAKER_01: You know the pit.
SPEAKER_01: What pit?
SPEAKER_01: The pit of somebody envying you, the pit of somebody after you, the pit of somebody saying things, the pit of someone that intended evil.
SPEAKER_01: The pit that was perfectly in God's will, but it just doesn't look like it.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, are you still with me?
SPEAKER_01: Now look, I'd like to have in the pit, I'd like to have the attitude, God meant it for good.
SPEAKER_01: It's all gonna be good, it's all gonna work out.
SPEAKER_01: I read the Bible, it happened for Joseph, it happened for Moses, it happened for David.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes in the pit it's like, what's going on?
SPEAKER_01: But back way over there, Joseph is gonna say, Yes, you meant it for evil, but God had a plan in it.
SPEAKER_01: But when you're in the pit, getting ready to be sold and moved away from your family and moved away from your father, it doesn't look that great.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the current situation, it's hard to trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: And lean not to thine own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Because Joseph didn't put himself in the pit.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: The idea was that the brothers put him in the pit.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord knew what he was doing.
SPEAKER_01: Later he would say, God meant it for good.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to go back just for a moment to the pit.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Genesis 37.
SPEAKER_01: You're doing well.
SPEAKER_01: Stay right with me today.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: And they took him and cast him into a pit.
SPEAKER_01: The pit was empty.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the next thing that happens, look at verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: Then they're passed by Midianites' merchantmen.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean, merchantmen?
SPEAKER_01: Well, they were traders, they were buyers, they were sellers, but not just goods, they were buyers and sellers of people.
SPEAKER_01: So they decided to sell Joseph to the merchantmen.
SPEAKER_01: And the Midianites' merchantmen they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver.
SPEAKER_01: Please listen, it's a type of Christ being sold.
SPEAKER_01: Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER_01: But the idea is they sold him for 20 pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: To them, Joseph was only worth 20 pieces of silver.
SPEAKER_01: But may I say to you, we need to study just for a moment because Joseph's brought up out of the pit.
SPEAKER_01: He has no choice.
SPEAKER_01: The Midianites buy him.
SPEAKER_01: And please look at Psalms 105.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Psalms 105.
SPEAKER_01: And it tells us something about the journey at this time.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not in all thy lean not to thy understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Psalms 105.
SPEAKER_01: Psalms 105, I'll let you turn there.
SPEAKER_01: And watch what God says about the selling of Joseph from the pit to the Ishmaelites.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: He sent a man before them.
SPEAKER_01: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_01: Stop there for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: He sent a man before them.
SPEAKER_01: He sent Joseph before his brothers, who was sold for a servant.
SPEAKER_01: So God is sending him, whose feet they hurt with fetters, fetters, leg irons, chains.
SPEAKER_01: He was laid in iron.
SPEAKER_01: I want to go into detail, but putting the leg irons on, putting the chains on, him having to walk, it rubbed, it soared, it infected, it hurt painful until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him.
SPEAKER_01: The word of the Lord tried him.
SPEAKER_01: He had a dream, he had an overall vision.
SPEAKER_01: They put him in a pit out of jealous, envy, grudge.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they didn't like him.
SPEAKER_01: They sold him to the Ishmaelites.
SPEAKER_01: Please listen.
SPEAKER_01: He went away in fetters, leg irons, chains.
SPEAKER_01: They watched him walk away, and there is a little statement in Genesis about what Joseph's attitude was.
SPEAKER_01: Look in Genesis if you would.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis.
SPEAKER_01: And notice this very carefully.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Genesis chapter number 30.
SPEAKER_01: Let me get it.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis chapter number 39.
SPEAKER_01: 39.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, I don't want 39.
SPEAKER_01: I want 40.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Genesis 42.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis 42.
SPEAKER_01: Stay right with me.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis 42.
SPEAKER_01: Watch what Joseph says when he walks away.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody still with me?
SPEAKER_01: Please.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis chapter 42.
SPEAKER_01: And remember, he's on God's journey.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Genesis 42.
SPEAKER_01: Notice verse number 21.
SPEAKER_01: Verse number 21.
SPEAKER_01: When he's talking to his brothers, they don't know it's him, and he said that they said this we are verily, truly, we are verily, truly guilty concerning our brother.
SPEAKER_01: In that ye saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, we would not hear.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, is this distress come upon us?
SPEAKER_01: We saw the anguish of his soul when they sold him to the Midianites.
SPEAKER_01: The Midianites put him in leg irons.
SPEAKER_01: Evidently, Joseph, in the anguish of his soul, besought them, asked them, like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: Why are you doing to this?
SPEAKER_01: And they wouldn't listen.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, he's in God's perfect will.
SPEAKER_01: You have to lean not, we have to lean not to our unknown understanding once in a while.
SPEAKER_01: Because when God brings about a journey, a pilgrimage, a destination, either geographically or locally, of growth, sometimes we do not understand it.
SPEAKER_01: God can stir up adversaries for a purpose and a reason of teaching us something.
SPEAKER_01: Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER_01: So he's crying out in the anguish of his soul.
SPEAKER_01: He's beseeching them, he's asking them, and notice verse 22 Reuben answered them.
SPEAKER_01: He says to the to the brothers, Spake I not again unto you?
SPEAKER_01: Didn't I tell you years ago?
SPEAKER_01: Didn't I tell you, do not sin against the child?
SPEAKER_01: And you would not hear.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph was understanding what they were saying.
SPEAKER_01: But Reuben was the one who said, Don't do this.
SPEAKER_01: Don't do this.
SPEAKER_01: Don't kill him.
SPEAKER_01: Reuben was the one who didn't want his blood shed.
SPEAKER_01: It was Judah who said, Let's just sell him.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, we won't be able to be a blood guilt.
SPEAKER_01: But may I say to you, something was going on in Joseph's life that at that time did not make sense to Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: He knew the dream, he knew the overall, but he didn't know how he was going to get there, and it was out of his control.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes things in our lives are out of our control.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes people's attitudes towards us are out of our control.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes people's actions towards us are out of our control, but God meant it for good.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, are you still with me?
SPEAKER_01: They meant it for evil, but God had a plan for our life and meant it for good.
SPEAKER_01: You say, this is just Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: It happened to Moses.
SPEAKER_01: It happened to David.
SPEAKER_01: It happened to Naomi and Ruth.
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying over and over again in the Bible, sometimes the journey God has us on has some evil intentions from people in there, and God allows it.
SPEAKER_01: Say amen right there.
SPEAKER_01: You say, how can a loving God allow that?
SPEAKER_01: To get us where he's going, to teach us along the way, to worship him, to trust and obey him, to thank him in the good times and in the bad times.
SPEAKER_01: To be able to say, when we get way out here in our lives somewhere, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I can look back now and see God was in that.
SPEAKER_01: God had a plan for that.
SPEAKER_01: God allowed that evil to come upon me, but I gotta tell you, at the time it hurt, it was painful, there was anguish.
SPEAKER_01: I cried out, you didn't hear me, you sold me, you betrayed me.
SPEAKER_01: I know I wasn't of your mother.
SPEAKER_01: I know I had the coat on.
SPEAKER_01: I know you took the coat from me.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't know they took that coat and ripped it and put blood on it and faked the death.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't know that that caused their dad 20 years of blaming himself falsely.
SPEAKER_01: Dad said, I'll go to my grave mourning.
SPEAKER_01: Because dad was the one that sent Joseph, and they kept quiet in a code of dishonor all those years.
SPEAKER_01: It's a type of how they treated Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's a type of him going as a lamb before the slaughter.
SPEAKER_01: They lied about him, they betrayed him.
SPEAKER_01: His own brethren sold him out.
SPEAKER_01: You say who?
SPEAKER_01: The apostles?
SPEAKER_01: Well, one of them did Judas, but his own Jewish brother sold him out.
SPEAKER_01: What are you saying?
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying sometimes in the midst of it, it doesn't look like God's in it.
SPEAKER_01: It just doesn't look because why?
SPEAKER_01: Our understanding can't wrap our minds around how this could be good.
SPEAKER_01: It can't be good.
SPEAKER_01: It's gotta be the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying principalities and powers aren't involved, but God still got the devil under control.
SPEAKER_01: Even in the book of Job, it didn't look good.
SPEAKER_01: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar come at him.
SPEAKER_01: And it didn't look good, but God still had the devil under control.
SPEAKER_01: And even though we might have some things happen to us along the way, we just have to believe in trusting him that he's directing our path.
SPEAKER_01: And what we're required to do is I don't understand it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lean on my understanding.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just supposed to acknowledge him.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just supposed to tell people God's good.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just supposed to tell people about the salvation of God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just supposed to tell people how to worship God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just supposed to keep talking about God.
SPEAKER_01: While I'm in this whole thing, I just gotta keep talking about God.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not to thine own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
SPEAKER_01: Even when we don't understand the direction.
SPEAKER_01: Are you still with me today?
SPEAKER_01: Somebody is in this today.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody is in the midst of this today.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say they saw that anguish, if you would, of the soul there.
SPEAKER_01: Look back at Genesis chapter number 39.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis 39.
SPEAKER_01: We're moving on through Genesis chapter number 39.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say to you, Genesis chapter number 39, he's now sent to Potiphar's house.
SPEAKER_01: He's bought by the Midianites.
SPEAKER_01: He goes to Potiphar's house.
SPEAKER_01: He becomes a servant in Potiphar's house.
SPEAKER_01: And the next thing that happens, Genesis chapter 39, you can read in verse number 17, 18, 19, that he's lied about.
SPEAKER_01: The master's wife says that Joseph tried to seduce her, and that this Jewish young lad, if you would, tried to try to have at her.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not true.
SPEAKER_01: And so she made this thing up.
SPEAKER_01: After her numerous advances, Joseph said no.
SPEAKER_01: And finally, if you would, she too goes after Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: The brothers went after him, and she goes after him in a different way.
SPEAKER_01: Notice verse number 20.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph's master, Potiphar, took him, put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound.
SPEAKER_01: Now, please, that doesn't mean he had special accommodations.
SPEAKER_01: That means he had worse accommodations.
SPEAKER_01: That means he was in the deepest part of the prison where the king's prisoners were bound.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say that means he wasn't treated very well at all, and he was there in prison.
SPEAKER_01: But look at verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, gave him favor.
SPEAKER_01: He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, the prison's keepers committed to Joseph's all the hands of the prisoners.
SPEAKER_01: And hey, Joseph was a leader no matter what.
SPEAKER_01: God had him as leading on no matter what.
SPEAKER_01: Even though now in prison, and this is so easy to remember this way, stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: It's the pit.
SPEAKER_01: Then it's Potiphar's house where the Midianites sold him.
SPEAKER_01: And then Potiphar, because of his wife's false accusation, puts him in the prison.
SPEAKER_01: So you got pit, Potiphar's house, prison, and he's heading towards Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_01: It's all peas, and it's easy to remember.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you remember this?
SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes the Holy Ghost of God may want to say to you, it's all right.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make sense, but it's all right.
SPEAKER_01: Think about the pit.
SPEAKER_01: Think about Potiphar's house.
SPEAKER_01: Think about the prison.
SPEAKER_01: And think about he's heading for Pharaoh towards the dream, towards persevering or persevering, towards pre uh the the prosperity, uh, if you would, taking care of his family.
SPEAKER_01: He sent him before him for a posterity.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is he was preparing to take care of his family.
SPEAKER_01: There was an end result to this that was going to be good.
SPEAKER_01: So you have the pit and you have uh the Potiphar's house and you have the prison, and he's going to Pharaoh, and he's going to preserve a posterity.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a bunch of peas that you can remember.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes the Holy Ghost may say, Here's where you're at.
SPEAKER_01: You're not quite yet to the posterity.
SPEAKER_01: You're not kind of yet to where you got a good attitude about this.
SPEAKER_01: You're not yet to where I showed you what I've been doing.
SPEAKER_01: You're not quite there yet.
SPEAKER_01: You see, this is not just for Joseph, this is for Joseph's children and for all his brothers that threw him in the pit.
SPEAKER_01: And for their children.
SPEAKER_01: Are you still with me?
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph is being going on this journey to help his brother's children, his nephews, his nieces.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe the journey we're on is to help our families, uh, to help somebody in our lives, and it's a worthy cause.
SPEAKER_01: Am I getting this through to you?
SPEAKER_01: And the concept is that God was leading him along.
SPEAKER_01: And notice God gave him favor and committed the prisoner's hand.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to see, please don't miss Joseph's attitude while he's in prison.
SPEAKER_01: Look at chapter 40, I'm watching your time.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 40, verse number 15.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what he says in prison.
SPEAKER_01: For indeed I was stolen.
SPEAKER_01: He uses the word stolen.
SPEAKER_01: He was sold.
SPEAKER_01: Stolen speaks about it wasn't fair what they did to me.
SPEAKER_01: For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews.
SPEAKER_01: They stole me from my father.
SPEAKER_01: They sold me to the Midianites.
SPEAKER_01: And what he's inferring is it wasn't fair.
SPEAKER_01: And here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.
SPEAKER_01: He uses the word also.
SPEAKER_01: What he's saying is, I was stolen, I was sold, and I hadn't done anything wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And now I'm in this prison and I haven't done anything wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Do you ever have a situation where you look and you go, I didn't do that?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not guilty of that.
SPEAKER_01: They've judged me wrong.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have that in my heart.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: They've misjudged me.
SPEAKER_01: They've misperceived me.
SPEAKER_01: I may do a lot of things wrong, but I'm not guilty of that.
SPEAKER_01: And what he's saying is, I'm in prison and I was stolen away, and I hadn't done anything to cause that.
SPEAKER_01: And then now I'm here in this prison and I'm not even supposed to be in here because I didn't do anything to that woman.
SPEAKER_01: She made that up.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to say, I don't think Joseph was bitter.
SPEAKER_01: He was frustrated.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to be frustrated once in a while.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to be in God's journey and be frustrated once in a while.
SPEAKER_01: You say, where is he at right now?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't he thinking God meant this for good?
SPEAKER_01: He's not there yet.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean he's not there yet?
SPEAKER_01: He's still thinking, I haven't done anything wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And here I am in prison, and I got sold back there, and probably he's got the scars to prove it, and I didn't do anything wrong back there either.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying he's bitter, but he's a little frustrated.
SPEAKER_01: He's not too God meant it for good yet.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because when you're in the middle of it and you haven't yet got to the Pharaoh's exaltation, you haven't got to the end of it yet, you haven't got to the prosperity yet.
SPEAKER_01: You haven't got to the posterity yet.
SPEAKER_01: You haven't got to the place where you can see it all and look back and go, oh, now I understand.
SPEAKER_01: Well, why don't we understand?
SPEAKER_01: God hasn't given us the understanding to it yet.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not to your own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody that says they have it all figured out is prideful.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone that says, Oh, I yeah, this is what God's doing.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful.
SPEAKER_01: What you're saying is you understand it all.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, Acknowledge him, not your understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not unto your own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: In all thy ways say it, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes he allows us to get in that I don't understand it segment.
SPEAKER_01: That's humble.
SPEAKER_01: How you doing?
SPEAKER_01: Good?
SPEAKER_01: What's going on?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: How you doing with it all?
SPEAKER_01: Trying to trust him?
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing about it?
SPEAKER_01: Acknowledging him.
SPEAKER_01: How do you think it's all gonna work out?
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, good.
SPEAKER_01: Because he's directing my path, I think.
SPEAKER_01: You say you just should be sure about it.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you get deep enough in.
SPEAKER_01: You get into that deep prison.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to know.
SPEAKER_01: Sing this with me.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not unto thine own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: And all thy ways acknowledge him.
SPEAKER_01: He shall direct thy path.
SPEAKER_01: Ready?
SPEAKER_01: Sing it.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not unto thine own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: All thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.
SPEAKER_01: May I say to you, listen to me, may I say to you that sometimes the journey doesn't have understanding with it.
SPEAKER_01: And it's part of humility.
SPEAKER_01: You all meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
SPEAKER_01: I dreamed that dream, but all I knew is that I dreamed that day, dream, and one day I'd be way over there, I guess, somewhere, but he didn't tell me about all the segments along the way.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell me about the pit.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell me about the anguish of my soul.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell me about the fetters.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell me about the scars.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell me about the Potiphar's house.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell me about being lied to.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell me, lied about.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell me about the prison.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell me about the scummy prison, the the sanitary conditions.
SPEAKER_01: I was a leader in there, and you think it was great, but man, when I come out, they had to clean me up before I went in front of Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_01: I stank.
SPEAKER_01: They had to shave me.
SPEAKER_01: They had to bathe me.
SPEAKER_01: They had to give me clothes before I come in front of Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_01: I was a mess.
SPEAKER_01: I looked disheveled.
SPEAKER_01: I looked like I was some kind of, you know, loser.
SPEAKER_01: I was in God's will.
SPEAKER_01: I guess.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we as counselors got to be careful what we tell somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a David.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a Moses.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a Naomi.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's uh maybe it's uh uh Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, maybe it's a Job, maybe it's a Paul.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But what we can say is I'm praying for you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm praying for you that your faith fail not.
SPEAKER_01: For whatever it is you go through.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Genesis 45, and we'll get ready to close.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis chapter 45.
SPEAKER_01: In Genesis chapter 45, we leave this, if you would.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis chapter 45.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, Joseph now has come to realization of the dreams.
SPEAKER_01: He's with Pharaoh now.
SPEAKER_01: They've made so much headway.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph's setting them up, getting ready to take them to the land of Goshem.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Genesis 45 and notice verse number five.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis 45, verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: He says to his brothers, Now therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph's not bitter at them.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be angry with yourselves that you sold me hither.
SPEAKER_01: For God did send me before you to preserve life.
SPEAKER_01: That's the posterity.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 7, and God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth to save your lives by a great deliverance.
SPEAKER_01: So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God.
SPEAKER_01: Statement.
SPEAKER_01: When we're way out here, and we get to the place where we can look back, you can say, You meant it for evil, God meant it for good, and actually, it wasn't you that sold me.
SPEAKER_01: It was God that sent me.
SPEAKER_01: Big difference.
SPEAKER_01: Because you don't die bitter.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't you that sold me, even though you did.
SPEAKER_01: It was God that was sending me.
SPEAKER_01: When we get on the right side of it, that woman that was against me, I think God allowed it.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I can tell you scriptures right now.
SPEAKER_01: But I used to drive up, it's not at this property and not at this Seven-day Adventist property we're at, the property way before that, back in the 1980s.
SPEAKER_01: I'd drive up, and if I saw her waiting for me, I'd drive away.
SPEAKER_01: Don't admit that.
SPEAKER_01: If she was waiting for me, I'd drive away.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: She's gonna let me have it again.
SPEAKER_01: You say, wait, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: She just had some bitterness.
SPEAKER_01: I thanked her later.
SPEAKER_01: About two years later.
SPEAKER_01: She didn't receive the thanks.
SPEAKER_01: But I thanked her.
SPEAKER_01: Saw her on the street one day.
SPEAKER_01: Pulled up beside her, got out of my car and said, I just want to thank you.
SPEAKER_01: You helped me a lot to learn some things.
SPEAKER_01: And she went at me again and I said, No, but I just want to thank you.
SPEAKER_01: And I wasn't trying to do it like being facetious.
SPEAKER_01: I really meant it.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You taught me a lot, and I didn't tell her what she taught me because that would have been terrible.
SPEAKER_01: If I told you right now, you'd go, that's terrible.
SPEAKER_01: You shouldn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: I know, but it's in the it's in the book of Proverbs.
SPEAKER_01: Like what?
SPEAKER_01: Like how to avoid a scorner.
SPEAKER_01: Someone that's scornful.
SPEAKER_01: That you can't teach a scorner anything.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm being I'm showing you the kind scriptures right now.
SPEAKER_01: Are you still with me or not?
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, the journey of our life sometimes is he's leading us to something.
SPEAKER_01: And we say, but this is gonna happen, and what's gonna be wonderful when it happens, but he didn't tell you the segments of the journey.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's God.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Oh God, help me trust in you right now.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not to my own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: If you have children, they're gonna be teenagers and young adults, and sooner or later you're gonna need this message.
SPEAKER_01: You mean for yourself?
SPEAKER_01: No, to help them.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say it again.
SPEAKER_01: You mean like like I need this for me, for because what they're gonna do to me.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: You need it to help them.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord, it's all gonna work out.
SPEAKER_01: I know it doesn't look like it right now.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not to your understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Don't get away from God during this time.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but things aren't working out.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not to your own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Acknowledge him.
SPEAKER_01: He's still directing your paths.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna come out okay, but don't get mad at him and don't get mad at Christians.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say it again.
SPEAKER_01: Don't get mad at Christians.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because Christians sometimes sell you out.
SPEAKER_01: The brethren.
SPEAKER_01: To who?
SPEAKER_01: To anybody that'll buy you.
SPEAKER_01: Or believe them.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody that'll believe them.
SPEAKER_01: Like they'll Facebook you.
SPEAKER_01: Not in a good way, but in a negative way.
SPEAKER_01: And somebody will believe them.
SPEAKER_01: And they sell you out.
SPEAKER_01: And it puts you in prison.
SPEAKER_01: Don't get mad at them.
SPEAKER_01: Charity.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not in thy understanding.
SPEAKER_01: And all thy ways acknowledge him.
SPEAKER_01: He'll direct thy path.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Lord help me not get mad.
SPEAKER_01: This is I hope this is your will.
SPEAKER_01: And then you might get lied about.
SPEAKER_01: Potiphar's wife.
SPEAKER_01: Puts you in prison.
SPEAKER_01: But then the baker and the butler show up.
SPEAKER_01: And you wonder what they're doing there.
SPEAKER_01: And then one goes and tells Pharaoh, there's a guy in prison that can interpret dreams.
SPEAKER_01: He interpreted mine, and Pharaoh says, Go get him.
SPEAKER_01: Clean him up before he comes up.
SPEAKER_01: And he gets before Pharaoh and he tells Pharaoh the dreams.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: He's skilled in interpreting dreams.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: God gave him two.
SPEAKER_01: Back with his father and his brethren.
SPEAKER_01: And then he gave Baker and Butler two more and he interpreted them.
SPEAKER_01: And then Joseph interpreted both of Pharaoh's dreams and said, the two dreams you had are one.
SPEAKER_01: He was an expert in interpreting dreams because God had given it to him.
SPEAKER_01: Part of directing his path.
SPEAKER_01: His father came up who thought he was dead.
SPEAKER_01: His father and him hugged their neck together.
SPEAKER_01: They lived over in the land of Goshen.
SPEAKER_01: In the land of Goshen, it was beautiful for what they did.
SPEAKER_01: As shepherds and animals and husbandry.
SPEAKER_01: They lived, if you would, in a very special way, but Joseph paid a little price for that.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is our Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: He paid the price unfairly.
SPEAKER_01: Lied about?
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
SPEAKER_01: Sold out?
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
SPEAKER_01: Took it and suffered?
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
SPEAKER_01: Did it for our posterity?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_01: For our eternal posterity.
SPEAKER_01: There's a land called Goshen that's heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And he's got something planned for us, and praise the Lord, we're part of his family.
SPEAKER_01: Sing it with me.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not unto thine own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: In all thy ways, acknowledge him.
SPEAKER_01: He shall direct thy paths.
SPEAKER_01: A little more.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: In the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord and he shall direct thy path.
SPEAKER_01: Did you notice I don't sing solos?
SPEAKER_01: There's a reason for that.
SPEAKER_01: Start with me over here.
SPEAKER_01: We'll sing it one time in a round.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: I want you walking out of here with this.
SPEAKER_01: You say, but I don't need this.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe your child does.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe your coworker does.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Start over here.
SPEAKER_01: You know how to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Ready?
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not unto in all thy ways, acknowledge.
SPEAKER_01: Ready?
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not unto thine own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: In all thy ways acknowledge.
SPEAKER_01: He shall direct thy path.
SPEAKER_01: May I say to you, trust.
SPEAKER_01: Lean not.
SPEAKER_01: Acknowledge.
SPEAKER_01: And he'll show us the way of the pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_01: The path.
SPEAKER_01: And the end result will turn out well.
SPEAKER_01: We have a wonderful God that loves us.
SPEAKER_01: You may know everything I already said today.
SPEAKER_01: You may have studied it all with us before, but I want to say sometimes the timing makes a message better than what it would normally be.
SPEAKER_01: If the timing in your right life is right night now, then this will make sense.
SPEAKER_01: I apologize for stumbling around a little bit today.
SPEAKER_01: Not getting the scriptures all perfect and everything.
SPEAKER_01: But I believe God has the message.
SPEAKER_01: I hope you go away singing.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: And then thinking, in all thy ways, acknowledge him.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I need to do.
SPEAKER_01: I need to talk about the Lord more.
SPEAKER_01: I need to tell more people about the Lord and let him direct my pass.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Doug Fisher of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.
SPEAKER_00: To learn more about Lighthouse Baptist Church, visit our website at www.lighthousebaptist.com or call 619 461 5561.