WEBVTT 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:05.280 Thank you for joining us on the CCW podcast. 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:11.119 Make sure you connect with us on social media to stay up to date on ministries and events happening at CCW. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:15.039 We hope you're encouraged, inspired, and motivated by today's message. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:19.199 To find out how to connect with us, keep listening after the message ends. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:29.760 CCW. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:31.760 Amen. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:34.159 It's good and dry in here. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:36.560 Glad that you're here. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:42.560 I know you've been looking at it all week in the forecast, and I always like this thought. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.640 We know who's in charge of the ring. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:46.399 Yeah, nah. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.679 So, anyhow, thank you for being here. 00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:52.799 If you got your Bible, turn them to Genesis chapter 37. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:57.119 As you're turning, just want to take one more reminder. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:00.399 It's just another little commercial because it's a new year. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:17.439 I won't do this every week, but if you have not gotten involved in a class or a group at CCW, if you're looking for some community, some friendships, some burden bearing, some diving deeper in the Word, uh, please make sure that you do that. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:21.680 And I'm gonna try my best to tell you what those are on Sunday mornings. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:24.879 There's two classes that meet upstairs for adults. 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:28.159 And uh you can jump into one of those classes. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:36.560 On Wednesday night, there is a class uh or two classes, and there's groups all week long in homes. 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:46.560 Um we call those connect groups, and so there's always food involved in those for you real godly folks that take Acts 242. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:49.120 It says, and we broke bread and went from house to house. 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:53.599 And uh there's a Thursday night group with the or class with the picks. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:55.680 So there is plenty of options. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:58.480 Miss Iris is about to start another class. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:05.040 If you're not involved in something, you're not grown with people, please don't stay that way if you can help. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:10.319 I know there's a there's plenty to do around here, and we want to make sure that you knew about those. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:12.159 Genesis chapter 37. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:25.360 We started in the life of Joseph last week and saw that Joseph had dreams, and he was holding that dream line, and then Joseph, we're gonna come up on what happens uh with that dream. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:32.319 But as we jumped there in 1987, some of you were born, and some of you will remember this. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:34.560 I was six years old in 1987. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:41.360 I remember the news just shooting reports in Midland, Texas about baby Jessica. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:43.199 Y'all remember baby Jessica? 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:48.479 For two days, baby Jessica was trapped in a well underground. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:57.039 And as a six-year-old, I remember as my parents were watching uh that coverage that never went off the news feed. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:06.719 I remember at six thinking, how awful for a baby to be trapped in a deep, dark pit for two days. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:08.960 What she must have been going through. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:10.960 Now I remember that feeling. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:13.120 But I think about pits. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:17.360 And people are in all kinds of pits today. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:24.879 Some of you come in today, and you're when you define this, you'll say, Yes, Pastor, I've got something like that going on. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:40.159 There's emotional pits, there's financial pits, there's spiritual pits, there's relational pits, there's comparison pits, there's the I'm fine pits where you haven't figured out that you're not okay pit. 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:43.599 There's the procrastination pit, college students. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:46.560 I've been in pits before. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:50.240 I think some of the pits that I've been in, Satan didn't push me into. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:54.159 I think I tripped over my own feet and was in a pit. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:55.360 But this is the truth. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:00.800 However you got there, and if you're in one, whenever you're in the pit, it still hurts. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:04.319 And the pits are different, but the cries are always the same. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:05.919 We need help. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:08.240 Would you pray with me this morning? 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:20.480 Father, we love you, and God, we call out to the God who's in charge of the rain and the sky and the clouds and the atmosphere that the rain is in. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:24.560 Lord, we are under your voice today. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:30.560 And we ask that your word would speak and get everything else out of the way for just a few moments. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:34.240 God, would you move our hearts to hear, Lord? 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:45.360 We know that life sometimes has these pits, so God, we pray that you would just speak to us and teach us and show us what they mean and how to hold the line in them. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:48.639 Lord, bless us with your word this morning in Jesus' name. 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:49.600 Amen. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:56.319 The first point this morning is this God is omnipotent when you are injured. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:59.199 I want to define these three words today. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:03.680 So if you like uh writing extra in your notes, you may like this. 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:05.439 Omnipotent. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:08.079 Okay, I'm only gonna say this one one time. 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:10.399 Omni is the word all. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:13.839 Okay, three words today we're gonna go over that have omni. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.360 So omnipotent potentia is power. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:18.720 All power. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:24.800 It's been said that God has all power of all things at all times, in all ways. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:27.680 God is omnipotent when you're injured. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:31.920 And I want you to look there at Genesis 37, verse 18 through 20. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:33.120 Why is that important? 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:41.600 Now, when the brothers remember the dream, and remember Joseph was sent to Shechem to find out about his brothers, and he went extra into Dothan to find him. 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:42.480 He found them there. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:52.639 And in verse 18, when they, his brothers, saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:57.199 Then they said to one another, Look, this dreamer is coming. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:05.600 Come, therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit, and we shall say, Some wild beast has devoured him. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:09.759 We shall see what will become of his dreams. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:14.000 Letter A, this morning is this the brothers' plot at the pit. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:25.199 This conversation that these brothers are having is shocking, and the sense of shock should not escape you because you've heard the story before. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:30.480 They didn't conspire to beat up their brother or tease their brother or bully their brother. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:37.920 They were conspiring together with their flesh and blood to kill and murder their brother. 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:40.240 It should be shocking. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:44.000 And when he was afar off, they saw him. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:47.040 This is the antithesis of Luke chapter 15. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:52.000 You've heard and read and heard this story preached of the prodigal son. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:58.800 And the prodigal son took to riotous live and took all of his inheritance, squandered it, and went away from the home. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:09.199 But it says in that story that the father, when he was just afar off, saw his boy who had returned, who came to his senses, and he was coming back home. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:15.120 And when he was just a far ways off, he saw me and he took a robe, and his robe was ran to me. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:17.360 He took a ring and ran it to me. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:19.839 He said, My son's coming home, let's celebrate. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:21.759 He said, Let's have a feast. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:30.879 As Joseph was a far way off, they saw him, and they conspired to take his life. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:37.120 And when he got closer, as the store of the prodigal, he was brought a robe. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:39.279 As he got closer, they stripped his robe. 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:44.720 As he got closer, they cast him in a pit and they mocked Joseph. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:46.560 The dreamer comes. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:52.160 And they conspired on how to present his death that they were talking about to their father. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:54.959 This was different than an accidental thing. 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:56.480 This was different than a trip-up. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:58.879 This was different than a struggle or a slip. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:00.959 This was premeditated. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:05.600 The Bible calls that in several places willful sin. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:09.199 You can have as a human a slip-up. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:10.959 We all slip up. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.680 We are human and we fail and we mess up. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:19.439 We have some sin struggles, things that we know are wrong, but we struggle. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:25.600 We have that flesh side, and sometimes the flesh fails, and sometimes the spirit keeps us from doing it. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:34.240 So there's some struggle sins, but willful sin is a conscious, planned decision to break God's law. 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:35.360 Now hear me. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:38.159 1 Corinthians 10, 13 gives us this promise. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:45.200 There hath no zero, not one temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.639 God will provide always a way of escape. 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:57.039 So these brothers had, if I believe the Bible is true, a way to move around that temptation. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:06.159 People have mistakenly said that God, I've heard this my whole life, I think it was kind of like a buzzword, a cliche thing. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:07.759 God doesn't judge sin. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:10.159 God just hates sin. 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:21.919 While I agree that God does hate sin, Scripture says a couple of different things that would make me think that God looks at sin a little differently than that cliche. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:24.000 John 19, 11 is one. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:28.720 It says, He who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:37.200 And Proverbs 6 lists a line of sins, and it says, and these are an abomination unto God. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:44.720 Two of those sins include this: Hearts that devise wicked plans. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:46.879 What Joseph brothers were doing. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:53.279 Hearts that devise wicked plans, and another one are hands that shed innocent blood. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:55.840 Make no mistake, church. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:05.360 This was a premeditated plot by Joseph's brothers to injure, possibly kill their sibling. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:07.679 And so we see the brothers' plot. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:12.240 I'm just gonna say it because I know y'all are thinking the Lord has let it come down. 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:19.600 And if I sound loud, it's not because I'm trying to be loud, I'm fighting with the sound. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:22.399 If I'm too loud, I'll tell you, my wife will give me a look. 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:26.240 If y'all ever didn't know, Heather gives me looks and that tells me something. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:30.320 So letter B is this. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:34.000 We see that plot that's unfolding, but letter B is betrayal. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:37.919 A betrayal party at the pit. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:44.000 I'm gonna read 23 through 25 again, and I want you to notice something. 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:53.919 So it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:11:03.440 Then they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty, there was no water in it, and they sat down to eat a meal. 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:10.000 And they sat down to have a snack. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:12.720 Can you imagine? 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:14.639 They've plotted this. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:23.200 Think about the conscience it takes to have a conversation of getting rid of your brother, and then you pass the popcorn. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:31.440 Heather was out of town, and I invited five or six teenage boys to come over to our house. 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:33.360 This is when we lived in Indiana. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:43.679 And I stayed up with them, you know, I partied with them, we played games, and about midnight I thought, I'm gonna go to bed. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:48.320 And I left them with this try not to wreck the place, it'll get me in trouble. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:49.440 Okay? 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:57.039 I woke up the next morning, folks, and it looked like a snack pocalypse had occurred. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:01.279 There were 20 at least empty bags of chips. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:10.720 There were three empty bags or empty boxes of pizza just strewn, and I left them with a couple of cases of Mountain Dew. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:14.240 There wasn't a can of Mountain Dew not drank. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:16.960 There was crushed cans in corners of my house. 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:21.440 There was clothes over here, there were mattresses strewn through the living room. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:28.559 And I came in here and looked at all that, and I thought, I guess this is how Christian teenagers get high. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.600 I don't know what has happened. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:37.279 But think about those brothers. 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:47.360 As they pass around some food, comfort can make compassion fade. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:54.799 I don't know who you need to help, but if you feel you should make a call, don't keep scrolling. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:13:00.960 If you feel you should make a visit, don't put off one more thing for convenience. 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:07.440 If you think you need to do something, life is too short to let comfort rob you of compassion. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:09.519 Make that call. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:11.200 Make that visit. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:16.320 Here's the thing: Joseph's father said, go to Dothan. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.440 And Joseph went the extra mile to, or he said, go to Shechem. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:25.360 He went the extra mile to check on his brothers to make sure he laid eyes on them in Dothan. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:32.159 And they went the extra mile to make sure that he was not okay. 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:35.440 Life sometimes, church, is a pit. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:40.159 Verse 24 has this little phrase in it that could be the chapter heading. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:43.679 If it was a movie, it'd be the title chapter of the DVD. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:46.320 And this is what the phrase says in verse 24. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:50.240 It says, And the pit was empty. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:53.759 The pit was empty. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:58.159 Have you ever been in a pit of life? 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:00.080 I know that you have. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:05.919 We say this often, like there was something in the pit of my stomach. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:09.200 I just had this feeling. 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:10.559 I mean, how many of you? 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:19.039 There's been people, I'm sure, this week, 1 or 2 a.m., you were up and you couldn't go to sleep because emptiness was hurting you in a way. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:19.840 Right? 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:22.080 Some of you, listen, you've been dumped before? 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:23.120 Anybody had that? 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:23.519 Right? 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:25.919 You stayed awake and you were like longing. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:29.279 The empty feeling, that pit feeling. 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.320 Joseph was in the pit and it was empty. 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:34.559 The pit was empty, says a lot. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:37.360 You've been sleepless, you've been hurt. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:39.919 I want you to consider this word for a second. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:43.039 You heard it and you can let it kind of become elevator noise. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:49.759 But the word betrayal, think about the word for a moment. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:55.200 The word betrayal can only happen in proximity. 00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:58.720 It can only happen in closeness. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:01.360 The word betrayal. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:06.159 His brothers betrayed him. 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:09.120 Betrayal happens from an ally. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:11.840 You don't feel betrayed by an enemy. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.159 An enemy is supposed to be against you. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:21.039 Betrayal is happening, and they're partying over the conversation of how they're going to rid the brother. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:22.559 This betrayal. 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:31.200 Heather likes uh to watch movies or have movies on the background while she's cooking, and she loves movies with music. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:35.200 And so the other day I come in and Braveheart is on. 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:42.720 And uh I come in and I have, I don't know, 10 years, I don't know how long it's been, but Braveheart's on, and all of a sudden I'm in. 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:45.840 And before I know it, I have cried three times. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:47.440 I'm like, what is wrong with me? 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:50.000 I didn't even mean to be watching this movie. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:16:02.639 And I'm into it, and what happens is there's this battle that breaks out, and Wallace is fighting, and there's mud, and there's horses, and there's blood, and there's chaos. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:14.960 And in the midst of this scene, he believes that the Scottish nobles have joined forces with him and his militia so that they can see the end of this tyranny. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:22.720 And all of a sudden, in this battle, he is fighting with everything, and he finds a knight who has fallen, and he pulls the helmet off the knight. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:24.720 And it got me, church. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:25.840 I wasn't ready. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:29.200 He pulled the helmet off, and it was Robert the Bruce. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:33.519 Supposed to be a Scottish uh ally. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:35.919 And I'm fighting back tears. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.519 I'm like, not Robert. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:43.600 A brother, not an enemy. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:47.440 Sometimes church life is a pin. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:51.360 It's empty, it hurts, it burns. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:59.200 But I want to tell you, Scripture says, in our weakness, he is made strong. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:03.440 What injured Joseph did not imprison his God. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:04.400 Not ever. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:11.519 And not only was God there, but God was omnipotent when Joseph was injured. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:21.519 Not only omnipotent, but the second point this morning: God is omniscient when you're inadequate. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:27.759 Omniscient means all, and the second word is scientia, knowledge. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:33.039 God knows all things at all times in all places. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:34.799 He is omniscient. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:38.960 Even though there's all this deceit going on, and we'll look at it here. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:41.680 Look again at verse 25, the second part through 28. 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:44.960 Letter A is deceit at the pit. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:59.359 It says, And they sat down to eat a meal, then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh on their way to carry them down to Egypt. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:05.680 So Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:14.640 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh, and his brothers listened. 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:20.640 And the Midianite traders passed by, so the brothers pulled Joseph up, lifted him out of the pit, and sold him. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:23.759 They sold their brother. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:31.039 This word pit is the word bore, B-O-R, and it means a dry well, a pit, a cistern. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:33.440 This is a place that's designed for water. 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:35.920 Interesting, something that gives life. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:38.079 But this pit was empty. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:39.279 It was dry. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:44.160 And can be a picture of the slow despair that Joseph is having. 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:46.160 At the pit for him, it was cold. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:49.440 At the pit for him, it was heartless. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:55.759 And Joseph was going through this discussion, discussion of his demise, his death. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:59.599 And they're mulling this thing over, and one of them says, You know what? 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:01.519 It would be better. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:03.920 We could make money off of him. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:07.680 So they sell him, and then they begin to plot. 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:09.200 This is where the deceit comes in. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:12.160 They begin to plot their lie to their father. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:17.759 And I want to tell you, church, that sin, in order for it to continue, always has to have more. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:21.279 More sin, more deceit, more. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:29.279 And Joseph, this whole time, as this is going on, you can't find anywhere in there where Joseph says a word. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:34.400 A 17-year-old thrown in a pit while his brothers are partying. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:41.519 Surely, as Joseph was in that pit, he had thoughts like, we've had experiences of love. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.720 I thought that our family had a brotherhood. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:47.119 I thought that there was loyalty. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:53.519 Church, you need to know today that the crowd is not always the voice that's right. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.279 There's all these brothers there. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:01.759 Finally, a voice of reason speaks up. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:04.640 But I want you to think about your voice of reason. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:12.960 I believe God has you where you are, at work, at school, and you're there to be a voice. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:16.640 And right is right, no matter what the other ten are saying. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:20.240 Don't be one of the ten that never spoke. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:27.839 When I look at these brothers, I go, surely somebody had an experience with Joseph and would speak up. 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:31.920 And I think for you and for me, God expects you to be the one. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:35.119 God expects for you to be the voice of reason. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:41.200 He expects for you, the Christian, to be the one to hold the line. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:48.240 Verse 21 shares about one of the voices. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:55.680 But Reuben heard it, the eldest, and he delivered him out of their hands, and he said, Let us not kill him. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:02.960 Joseph was not dead in this story, it seems, because of one voice. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:11.039 Now we know that God is sovereign and God is in control of this plan, but it seems like one brother spoke up. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:22.000 And either he cared for Joseph, or he cared for his father, or he cared for his own reputation as being the eldest in the circumstances. 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:23.599 But he speaks up. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:29.519 If you go through verse 26, 27, 32, Judah is another voice, and he's the one that presents the plan. 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:30.720 Let's sell him. 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:38.319 It seems that Reuben has gone away where he is because he comes back later and he he tears his clothes. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:42.240 But Judah speaks up and says, Let's sell him for some shekels of silver. 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:43.680 20 shekels of silver. 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:52.079 In Leviticus 27, 5 church, the standard price for a male slave is 20 shekels of silver. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:52.960 Think about it. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:55.200 Roughly two shekels a brother. 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:57.440 They sold out their brother. 00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:05.839 And they begin their Walk of deceit, trying to think about how they cover this, how they present the plan. 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:12.160 And I want us to be aware that this is how Satan works and operates. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:16.400 John 8 44, it says that Satan is a murderer. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:18.240 It says that he is a liar. 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:21.680 The truth is not in him, and he is the father of lies. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.240 And his lies are always cheap. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:27.599 The pit, think about Satan in the pit. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:30.000 The pit is Satan's tongue, right? 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:32.559 The pit is Satan's native language. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:38.319 Satan understands something about pits, something that thrives in darkness and deception. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:42.160 Let's look at the deceit as it unravels through the chapter. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:45.839 I want you to see verse 32 through 35, and then we'll move on. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:50.640 But the deceit that takes place, they've sold him. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:55.279 Reuben has come back with chapter 29, his brother's not there. 00:22:55.440 --> 00:23:00.400 So verse 31 says, They took Joseph's tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in blood. 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:05.200 Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, We have found this. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:09.119 Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not? 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:12.400 And he recognized and he said, It is my son's tunic. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:14.400 A wild beast has devoured him. 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:16.960 Without doubt, Joseph is torn to pieces. 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:24.400 Then Jacob, his father, tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:26.799 In fact, in verse 35, it ends. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:30.240 It says, For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning. 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:32.880 Thus his father wept so hard for him. 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:41.519 They've done this thing, and now their father is in a brother-imposed pit of his own. 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:42.480 He is depressed. 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:47.920 He says he's mourning to the point that he'd go down to the grave. 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:50.880 Jacob, their father, is hurt. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:52.079 Their brother is hurt. 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:56.880 No doubt they're now carrying around, hopefully, a load of guilt. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:00.400 Deceit that's happened at the pit. 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:05.519 Letter B, I want you to see the desperation of the pit. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:14.160 If you want to take your Bible, I have a complimentary text to look at Jeremiah chapter 38. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:16.480 And you can study this. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:26.640 There's a handful of times in Scripture where people are thrown in a pit, or people are put in a pit, or something that seems like a pit. 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:31.519 Jeremiah chapter 38, verse 6, and then we'll go down to verse 9. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:42.480 It says, So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malachih the king's son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes, and in the dungeon there was no water but mire. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:46.000 So Jeremiah sank in the mire. 00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:47.440 Go down to verse 9. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:48.640 We'll see what happens of him. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:55.839 My Lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:59.920 He's likely going to die from hunger in a place where he is, for there's no more bread. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:08.880 Then the king commanded Ebed Melech, the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you, lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:18.480 So they took the men with him, he went to the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old clothes, old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon of Jeremiah. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:22.240 And verse 12 says, And they lifted him from this pit. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:27.440 The pit is not some new idea from Satan. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:32.240 The pit is a place that Satan's been using for centuries. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:36.880 And for Joseph, this pit maybe it felt like a pit of an abandonment. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:38.640 Consider that. 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:43.680 And you may be here today and you felt in some way abandoned. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:52.880 See, his brothers were still there geographically, but relationally, they were a thousand miles from home. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:55.440 You ever felt like that? 00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:04.720 Maybe you feel stuck right now, maybe you feel trapped in something, and you're trying to figure out how did I get here? 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:12.960 I've been unable to make progress, it seems, in ways, and your feet are just trudging through thick mud. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:15.759 I thought about these pits. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.319 A pit for us reveals our limits. 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:23.680 But church, I want to tell you, a pit never reveals God as having limitations. 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:27.519 A pit is proof that I can't save myself. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:28.160 You know what? 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:30.640 Jeremiah had some ropes thrown down to him. 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:34.480 Joseph's brothers actually pulled him out of a pit. 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:40.799 But even though we can't save ourselves, I think that's sort of the point sometimes in the pit. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:43.359 Do you try so hard? 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:48.079 Do you grind away trying to make it all happen of your own self? 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:53.680 When Jeremiah was thrown into a pit, a rope was thrown to him. 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:57.359 When he was thrown that line, he got out of the pit. 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:01.519 I thought about Joseph's circumstances. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:04.880 God didn't just have the power to get Joseph out of the pit. 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:14.160 He had the omniscience, the all-knowing God to see the pit, its path, and the purpose that the pit could serve. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:17.359 And he does the same for you and me. 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:24.559 Sometimes you're in that place and you're saying, I don't know why I have to be in this. 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:26.960 I don't know why it has to be that way. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:36.480 But I want you to know on the outside of the pit, God was orchestrating a band of Ishmaelites that were heading to Egypt. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:41.839 And that all still sounds bad until you get to the rest of the story. 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:52.000 And when you're in what you're in and you're feeling the weight, you're feeling the pain, and you get another call and you get another health concern, and you say, God, what is this? 00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:56.319 I want you to know that God is omniscient. 00:27:57.599 --> 00:27:59.599 He knows and he cares. 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:03.920 It reminded me of an old hymn. 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:06.400 And here is the lines. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:08.079 I won't sing it to you. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:19.200 But it says, sometimes my path seems drear without a ray of cheer, and then a cloud of doubt may hide the light of day. 00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:24.160 I may have doubts and fears, my eyes be filled with tears. 00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:28.400 But Jesus is a friend who watches day and night. 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:30.000 I go to him in prayer. 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:31.759 He knows my every care. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:35.519 Just a talk with Jesus makes things right. 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:39.839 Says, let us have a little talk with Jesus. 00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:42.880 Let us tell him all about our troubles. 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:48.079 He will hear our faintest cry and he will answer by and by. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.640 I'm gonna stop before I do start singing. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:54.480 When you hear a little prayer wheel, turn it. 00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:59.759 You may feel inadequate today, church, but God is not. 00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:02.480 God is omniscient. 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:07.599 He knows all that you're going through, and he cares about what you're going through. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:10.880 He's not just omniscient, he's not just omnipotent. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:15.039 The third thing, God is omnipresent when you're isolated. 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:19.680 He's omnipresent. 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:23.519 That means all presence. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:28.319 God is everywhere at all times, and God is at work. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:37.519 Look at verse 26 through 28, and we're gonna see that this is divine direction at the pit. 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:43.839 So Judah said to his brothers, What prophet is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:50.319 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh, and his brothers listen. 00:29:50.480 --> 00:29:58.240 Then the Midianite traders passed by, and they pulled him out of the pit, and they sold him, and they took Joseph to Egypt. 00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:00.559 See, there is direction happening. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:04.880 He went from the pit to out of the pit to the Ishmaelites and on to Egypt. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:07.440 There's direction happening, it starts at a pit. 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:22.400 A pit for us can be an underground institute that is taking and shifting and molding our direction, constructing principles that we hadn't had before we were in the pit. 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:31.039 When I went to Tennessee Temple, uh, there's a couple of things that I was thinking back this week that were funny. 00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:33.359 They're all very what I feel like was humbling. 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:35.599 But do y'all remember phone cards? 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:39.839 Like, we didn't have cell phones when I first started college. 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:42.400 I ended with them, but we had phone cards. 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:48.160 We had to pay$50 for 300 minutes, and you would call somebody, right? 00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:54.000 And sometimes I didn't have$50, or you could buy$10, and I think you might get 25 minutes. 00:30:54.079 --> 00:30:59.039 I don't remember how exactly that worked out, but we had phone cards and we would call. 00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:00.079 Can y'all imagine? 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:02.240 No cell phone to call mom and dad. 00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:03.599 You just had to have minutes. 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:06.559 You had to own some minutes and pay for them. 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:08.640 I was thinking about laundry, y'all. 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:10.799 Y'all that are in college for the first time. 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.000