With God There’s Always A Meanwhile (Lysa TerKeurst)

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:04.080 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:06.560 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:09.879 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:11.959 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:13.560 see God as moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.560 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:22.280 Our key passage today is going to be Genesis fifty twenty. 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:27.800 Genesis fifty twenty says this you intended to harm me, 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:36.120 but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.720 now being done, the saving of many lives. 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:42.480 Thank you Lord for this word. 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.080 Thank you that it can get down inside of us, 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:49.479 rearrange some thoughts that we have, motivate us to trust 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.279 you more. God, you are faithful, You are good. In 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:57.680 your Holy name. We pray and everyone said Amen. When 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:04.280 I read this verse, I am absolutely struck by this reality, 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:08.440 this person, this group, this entity. 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:11.600 You intended to harm me. 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:17.399 At the same time, God also has an intention. 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:20.119 And God's intention is. 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:24.800 To take whatever has happened and to use it for good, 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:30.000 for the saving of many lives. You see, with God, 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:35.440 there's always two things happening at the same time. There 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:39.160 is the physical reality of what we see, and there 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:43.600 is the certainty of the good that God is eventually 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.319 going to do no matter what we walk through. 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:49.160 Amen. Amen, you guys can have a seat. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.600 I thought I would start off today by showing you 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:56.480 some pictures of my family. My family has changed quite 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.040 a bit, grown quite a bit, and so since you 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.840 guys are such an important part, I wanted to go 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:07.000 ahead and throw up some pictures here. Okay, So this 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.680 picture is my whole family. And many of you know 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:16.639 my story. I walked through a really, really devastating divorce 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:24.400 many years ago, and in God's goodness and to my amazement, 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:27.600 I learned. 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.000 To trust again. And that was really hard. 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.480 But God brought an incredible man into my life. And 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.840 so in January of last year, we got married. And 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.760 so there's my family. I know. Now I want to 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:46.480 tell you something really fun. So this is my husband, Chaz. 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.919 He's right here on the front row. Hey, babe. So 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:55.320 when Chaz and I were getting together and learning about 0:02:55.320 --> 0:03:00.080 one another, I quickly learned he has two children. We 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.280 have five children. Okay, So I just want you to 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.440 help me do the math here. No, I have five children. 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.000 His two children are younger than mine, and so at 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:12.880 this point, it's just two children. I have five children 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:15.480 who are a little bit older. Four of my five 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:17.960 kids are married, one has a significant girlfriend. So when 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:19.560 you add all of that up, now I'm bringing ten 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.480 people to the table, right. I also had three grandkids 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.440 at the time, so now I'm bringing how many thirteen 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:26.320 people to the table? 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:27.799 Okay. 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:33.240 And then in twenty twenty four, after we were married, 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:38.040 but very shortly something miraculous and beautiful, beautiful. 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:38.560 Started to happening. 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:43.960 I had five grandchildren born last year alone. 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.000 Okay, So now I'm bringing how. 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:50.240 Many people to the table? Eighteen and et rings two, 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:52.920 so between the two of us we have twenty people. Okay, great, 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:55.560 all right, I want to show you a couple other 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:56.760 pictures really quickly. 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.000 Okay. So these are my three. 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:03.839 Grandchildren I started off with at our wedding, and that's 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:09.240 Susie Selena Unriiser precious, amazing gifts from God. And then 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:14.560 my son had twins born in February. That's legend in 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.960 London and today is their birthday, first birthday. Have your 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:22.159 birthday legend London, okay. And then my daughter had sweet 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:24.880 little windsor l who is in the middle. We call 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:30.320 her Winnie and then my youngest or my oldest daughter 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:34.560 and my middle daughter had little boys in November, and 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:36.360 their names are River and Percy. 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:39.360 So that's my clan, right. 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:47.040 So it's very, very easy though to look at those 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.640 pictures of us all smiling and just go, Wow, what 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.120 a neat family, right, And I am so blessed. I 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.120 think I do have a really neat family. But make 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:01.560 no mistake, my family's been through a lot, a lot. 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.160 I don't have to tell you that because I would 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:08.080 imagine in your own way and different circumstances that have happened, 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.359 your family has been through a lot too, because there's 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.120 really no one that gets. 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:14.839 Through this life unscathed, right. 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:20.880 And part of a big part of my story was 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:26.200 that I'd had my trust so broken, so shattered, that 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:30.320 I started transferring the trust issues I had with another 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:34.000 person and even other people. I started transferring those trust 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:40.640 issues into my relationship with God. Trust is the oxygen 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.960 of all human relationships. You starve a relationship of trust, 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:47.479 and you starve at a vibrancy, You possibly even starve 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:53.240 it to death. And what can so easily happen when 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:58.600 we are struggling in trust with another human is it 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.440 can start to feel like, God, if you are really good, 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.320 why aren't you fixing that situation? Why aren't you showing 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.280 that person that they shouldn't be doing this? Why why 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.840 aren't you taking care of things that you could prevent? 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:15.120 And I don't understand why you didn't prevent it, and 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.320 it can really start to mess you up. You see, 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:21.880 our brain is wired for the confidence of knowing. Our 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:26.960 brain is always scanning what we see, and we are 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:29.360 depending on our brain to say you're safe or you're 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:34.560 not safe. Right, And so as my brain sometimes scans 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:39.240 what I'm seeing, if I don't remember that what I'm 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.599 seeing is not the full story, then I can start 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:46.200 to judge whether or not God is faithful based on 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.160 the circumstances that are right in front of me. Right, 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.800 that's right. So we've got to find a different way 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.880 to look at what we're facing. I want to know 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.040 what's going to happen. I want to know how it's 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:02.719 going to turn out, and I want to know that 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.240 it will eventually be really good. God just wants me 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:11.080 to know him. God wants me to know Him and 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:15.360 his faithfulness and his goodness. Part of my morning prayer 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:17.840 that I pray every morning. You've probably heard me say 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:22.880 this before I intentionally verbalize out loud. God you are good. 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.720 God you are good to me, and God you are 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:31.640 good at being God. Even if people aren't good, circumstances 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:36.400 aren't good, finances aren't good, situations aren't good. But God, 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:40.160 I've got to approach every day, and I've got to 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:42.920 make the lens through which I look at my day 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:46.440 and all that i'll face today. God, you are good, 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.520 You are good to me, and you are good at 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:53.120 being God. But sometimes, right that's all true. We can 0:07:53.160 --> 0:08:01.800 celebrate that, yes, absolutely, but sometimes it's really really hard 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.360 to trust that God really does have it all under 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:12.760 control when suddenly situations go from hard to more hard, 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.040 to even harder to more hard, to more heart to 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.800 more hard. And I don't know if any of you 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.120 guys have been in that place, or if you're in 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:23.680 that place today, but I pray that this is a 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:28.840 word for you. You see this verse Genesis fifty twenty. 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:35.760 It's not where Joseph's life starts. Joseph is saying these 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.480 words to his brother, but this is toward the very 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.559 end of his story, or to a place of this 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.720 story where things were more resolved than they are when 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:50.280 we begin. And so Joseph has gone through a lot, 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:56.560 and going through a lot has built a resilience in 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:01.440 Joseph that has enabled him to say these words with 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:06.520 absolute confidence. You intended to harm me, brothers, but God 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:10.320 intends it for good, for the saving of many lives, 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:12.920 to accomplish a purpose that is now being done. 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:14.439 So let's turn back to. 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:18.840 Earlier in Joseph's story, because I think when we turn 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.360 back earlier in Joseph's story, we're going to get a 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:25.479 better understanding of all that Joseph had to go through before. 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:27.800 He said those amazing words. 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.760 We go back to Genesis thirty seven, and in Genesis 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.440 thirty seven, verse two, it says this, this is the 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:39.400 account of Jacob's family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:42.720 was tending his flocks with his brothers, the sons of 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.560 hard Word and the sons of another hard word, his 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:52.800 father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:59.600 about them. Now, Israel, this is the father. Israel loved 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.480 Joe Joseph more than any of his other sons because 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:05.440 he'd been born to him in his old age, and 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:09.240 he made an ornate robe for him. And when his 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.920 brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than any 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:18.000 of them, they hated him and could not speak a 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:22.840 kind word to him. Now, let me explain something here 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.800 about this robe. This was not just a lavish gift. 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:32.080 It was also an outward sign that Joseph was not 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.920 going to have to work hard or as hard like 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.920 his other brothers, because you don't put on an ornate 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.000 robe and go out into the fields and do the 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:42.400 kind of work that all of his brothers were doing. 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.040 So when job would put on, when Joseph would put 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:51.359 on this fancy robe, how do you think the brothers 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:53.840 felt day after. 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:54.480 Day after day. 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:56.840 It wasn't just that they hated him the day that 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.320 he got the gift. It's that they hated him every 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.600 other day that they had to go out into the fields. 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:07.199 And Joe Joseph is sitting at home just chilling in 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:12.000 he fancy wrote right now. The other dynamic that's happening 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.959 here is that the father, when he would send his 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.880 sons out to work, sometimes he would send Joseph out 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:21.640 to go and spy on the brothers. And so what's 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:26.720 happened here is that he is going out and he 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.959 is spying on their brothers, and he brings the father 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:35.440 back a bad report, and so they hated him and 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:40.600 literally could not speak a kind word to him. Now, 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.840 the next thing we see here is that Joseph starts 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.680 to have a dream, and basically he has two dreams, 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.040 and these dreams that he has basically is kind of 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.800 showing the brothers that Joseph believes the interpretation of this 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:56.760 dream is that one day he's going to rise up 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:58.520 and be their leader and they're all going to bow 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:02.400 down to him. He's saying this to brothers who already 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.760 hate him. So how do you think the brothers feel 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:08.520 when Joseph says, eventually, I'm about to be the boss 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.360 of all you people, right, they. 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:15.360 Hate him even more. Then there comes a day that. 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.080 The father sends the brothers out to go and work 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.640 and again says to Joseph, go out and check on 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.760 your brothers. So I just wants you to remember this 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.520 is a human dynamic happening in a very divine story. 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:32.360 Okay, these people. 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.839 Have real feelings, they have real anks, they have real 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:39.080 stuff that's happening all around them. So the brothers go 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:41.760 out and they're out in the field working and from 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:44.640 a distance they see Joseph coming. 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.800 Wherein he fancy Rowe. I don't know what he'd been 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:49.440 doing at home. 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:52.920 Maybe he was playing Nintendo, eating cheetohs, looking his cheesy fingers. 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:54.959 I don't know. But what I do know is the 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.840 brothers were not doing that. The brothers were out there 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:02.440 working and from a distance Genesis thirty seven eighteen. The 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.920 brothers see Joseph, it says, but they saw him in 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.000 the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:14.040 kill him. There's never just a little bit of anger. 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.360 There's never just a little bit of hatred. There's never 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:20.000 just a little bit of bitterness. You see, Bitterness gets 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:21.760 down inside of this and it doesn't want to just 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.360 be a feeling. It wants to be our consuming feeling. 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.760 Here comes that dreamer. They said to each other, Come now, 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.160 let's kill him and throw him into one of these 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.160 cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:37.200 we'll see what comes of his dreams. And then one 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.080 of the other brothers speaks up and says, actually, what 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.360 will it profit us if we kill him? 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.600 Why don't we sell him and at least we'll get 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:45.679 money and. 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.680 So their plan was to throw Joseph in the cistern, 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:53.600 which that absolutely happens, and then wait for the merchants 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:55.360 to come by, and then they pull him out of 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:59.200 the cistern. They sell him to merchants headed toward Egypt. 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:01.960 And they go home and they. 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:07.040 Tell their father that a ferocious animal has killed Joseph. 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.440 They take that fancy robe they stripped off of Joseph 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.560 before they sold him. They tear it into shreds, dip 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:15.480 it in animal's blood, give it to the father. So 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:20.720 the father has no clue that Joseph is still alive. 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:25.120 So I want you to vert just a minute, put 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:32.960 yourself in Joseph's shoes. When his brothers betray him in 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:38.000 such a horrific way, This isn't just an event in 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:42.280 his life. This is the event of his life that 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:46.520 will change everything for Joseph. 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.240 So here's Joseph. He's been sold. 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.960 And I don't know the condition of these merchants, with 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:55.360 the condition they put Joseph in. I don't know if 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:57.040 his hands are bound. I don't know if there's a 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.680 bag of her said, I don't know, But what I 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:03.080 do know is that Joseph had to be terrified. 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:05.440 Joseph had to be terrified. 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:10.520 And also Joseph had to be thinking about those dreams 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:12.840 that he had that he truly felt like were visions 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:14.800 from God that one day he was going to rise 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:16.120 up and be a leader. 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.840 But now now. 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:23.720 He's a slave, and he's headed to a foreign land 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:26.560 with foreign people, things that he doesn't know. And if 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:31.840 I were Joseph, I would surely be thinking, God, this 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.120 sure doesn't look like that vision that you gave me 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:38.440 for my life. How could a good God let this happen? 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.600 Like if I were Joseph, I would assume I would 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.840 be sent to some leadership academy, some big training. I 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:49.680 would have had no idea that this awful circumstance would 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.840 eventually prove to be the perfect training. But it doesn't 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:58.320 start out looking that way at all. So there's two 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:03.760 things happening simultaneous, slee right here. God has destined Joseph 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:07.160 to be a leader, But in the circumstances that he 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:09.160 was in with his brother and the hatred that his 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:12.600 brothers had for him, do you think that anytime soon 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.200 in that dynamic, that Joseph could really rise up and 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:21.000 be a leader. Absolutely not. So God is going to 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:26.040 take the rejection of those brothers and actually use it. 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.720 God didn't cause it, but God is going to take it. 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.280 He's going to take the rejection of the brothers and 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.680 actually use it as a protection of the calling that 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:39.640 he is absolutely placed on Joseph's life. But Joseph doesn't 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.440 see that at all. All Joseph sees is what's awful 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:47.080 around him, and of course that's all he sees. So 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:51.600 then Joseph gets to Egypt and he's sold into Potiphar's house, 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:55.000 the captain of the guard. And when he's sold into 0:16:55.040 --> 0:17:00.480 Potiphar's house house, things are not great because joseph life 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:02.640 doesn't look anything like he thought it was going to look. 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:05.440 But things aren't horrible either. If we look at Genesis 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.159 thirty nine, I'll go ahead and read you starting in 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:08.680 verse two. 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:11.040 The Lord was with Joseph so that he. 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:16.280 Prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master, Potiphar. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:18.240 And when his master saw. 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:20.359 That the Lord was with him, and that the Lord 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:24.119 gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:28.080 in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:30.880 in charge of his household and he entrusted to. 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:34.119 His care, everything he owned. 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.359 Is Joseph in the ideal situation that he assumed that 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:40.520 he would be in when God give them the vision 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:41.320 that he would be leader. 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:43.199 Oh no, absolutely not. 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.479 And I would imagine many of us are in this 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:51.879 in between place right now too. It's like we had 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.920 a hope, we had a dream, we have really trusted God. 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:01.840 But then we're sitting there thinking, me, trusting God has 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:05.359 gotten me to this place and I don't understand this place. 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:07.160 But at the. 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.760 Same time, we can see in Joseph's story that God 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:14.119 is with him, that God is prospering him, that God 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:18.000 is helping Potiphar to get a vision for Joseph that 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:20.240 Joseph doesn't even have for himself. 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.120 And so Joseph rises up. 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.800 And now he is a leader, not leading the way 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:27.760 he assumed he would be leading, but he is a 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.680 leader in this small dynamic of Potiphar's house. 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:33.159 Now there is this one. 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.600 Complication that's sort of going to mess everything up for 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:37.800 him in Potiphar's house. 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:40.000 And you're not going to believe me when I say it. 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:42.679 That's why I have my scripture prepared that I'm going 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:44.600 to back it up okay, so are you ready for this? 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:49.880 The complication was that Joseph was hot. I know, I know, 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:52.320 I told you you were not going to believe me. 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:55.000 But I'm going to read it straight from God's words 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.879 Genesis thirty nine, halfway through verse six, and it says, 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.119 now Joseph was well build and handsome. I do not 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.160 have to take it back to the Hebrew to understand 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:07.199 that that means Joseph was in fact, thank you. 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:11.440 Okay, I'm just reading the Bible. Okay. 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:14.040 So Joseph was well build and handsome. And after a 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:19.199 while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:27.000 come to bed with me. I'm sorry, but what like 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:29.600 if I ever had five words in the Bible, which 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:31.800 I won't because God's word is complete. But if I 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:33.560 ever did have five words in the Bible, I just 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:35.679 probably don't ever want it to be those five words. 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:36.600 Right. 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:42.560 So she starts making advances toward Joseph. Now this is 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:48.359 Joseph's boss's wife, right, and she won't stop. Joseph says no, 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.040 and she doesn't take kindly to being told no, and 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:53.440 so she keeps trying and keeps trying, and one day 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:58.040 she literally throws him herself onto Joseph. Joseph turns to 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:02.719 flee away from her. She grabs his cloak, takes it 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:07.040 to Potiphar and says, Joseph has been making advances toward me, 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:08.359 and who is Potiphar going. 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:10.920 To believe his wife? That's right. 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:15.639 So now Joseph is about to get a promotion, but 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:17.919 it is not going to look like any kind of 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:21.640 promotion Joseph ever thought that he would ever have. He's 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:24.160 about to get promoted to prison. 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:25.000 That's right. 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:30.600 Now, I want you to notice what's happening here. With God, 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:36.960 there's always a meanwhile. With God, there is always a meanwhile. 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:40.000 There is the physical reality of what we see and 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.200 what we're experiencing. And at the same time, there is 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.840 the reality of what God is doing, and God is arranging, 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:53.080 and God is really taking care of what we cannot see. 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:58.160 So it started off the rejection of Joseph's brother actually 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:00.360 proved to be a protection of his calling. He gets 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:03.720 into Potiphar's house and Potiphar promotes him to be a leader. 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:06.560 Now he's leading, he's learning leadership strategies and all of 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:08.480 that not at all the way he thought it would, 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:11.960 but still it was a protection of his calling. Now 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:14.719 Joseph's about to get a promotion to prison, but that 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:17.760 is not what Joseph is seeing at all. Joseph is 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:21.320 seeing an unfair accusation and God is going to use 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:23.360 that unfair accusation to give. 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:25.080 Him a promotion to prison. 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.639 You see, once he gets to prison, the prison guard 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:33.200 takes notice of Joseph, and the lord's favor was on Joseph. 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.760 So now Joseph is in prison and he's in charge 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:40.240 of leading a much larger group of people. He's learning 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:43.720 leadership skills in a much larger way, and he's having 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:47.840 developed systems and strategies and all things that leaders need 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:52.920 to know. But at the same time, he's still going 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:58.320 to bed in a dungeon every night. So what is 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:03.320 Joseph seeing. Joseph is seeing those present circumstances, the hardship, 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:07.199 and how unfair it is that he is there. But 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:14.119 God is seeing a development, a preparation, a vision that 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:15.280 he's going to carry out. 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:16.760 And it's not just. 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:19.600 Going to be for Joseph's good, It's going to be 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:22.920 for the good of so many other people. So now 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:26.399 Joseph is in prison, and while he's in prison, he 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:30.719 meets two other prisoners, the cup Bear and the Baker. 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:34.119 Now the cup Bear and the Baker there in prison. 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:37.720 They used to work for Pharaoh, but something happened, and 0:22:37.760 --> 0:22:42.120 now they're in prison. And these two, the cup Bear 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:44.400 and the Baker, they have a dream. And who can 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:45.360 interpret dreams? 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:46.639 Joseph. 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:51.920 That's right, And so Joseph is able to interpret their dreams. 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:54.320 Now things don't go so well for the Baker. 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:58.040 It's actually kind of gross what happens, and terrible, but 0:22:58.119 --> 0:23:01.280 I'll let you read that on your own time. But 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:04.240 I am going to tell you what happens with the Cupbear. 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:07.359 The cup Bear has a dream, and Joseph interprets the 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:09.520 dream and says, in three days, you're going. 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:10.280 To get out. 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:12.639 And I want you to listen to the words that 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:15.560 Joseph says to the Cupbear, so that you can have 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:20.120 a deep insight of exactly what Joseph was thinking at 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:26.080 this time. Genesis forty, verse fourteen. Joseph says to the cupbear, 0:23:26.160 --> 0:23:28.520 when all goes well with you, remember me and show 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:31.760 me kindness, Mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:34.840 of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:36.879 lands of the Hebrews, and even here, I've done nothing 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:41.720 to deserve being put in a dungeon. This is such 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:45.520 a good snapshot where we can see is Joseph happy 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:47.400 with his current circumstances. 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:48.200 No? 0:23:48.920 --> 0:23:51.879 Is Joseph thinking that his current circumstances are going to 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:57.040 work an eventual good. Probably not right? Is Joseph does 0:23:57.040 --> 0:23:59.560 he have any clue of how God is going to 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:03.880 use a circumstance to do something really good in the future. 0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:08.520 Probably not right, because his circumstances were so hard he 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:12.600 was calling them a dungeon. Get me out of this dungeon. 0:24:13.000 --> 0:24:19.359 Joseph wants relief. Joseph wants relief. How many of you 0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:20.920 in here. You don't have to raise your hand, but 0:24:21.040 --> 0:24:26.359 are you in a season where you just need some relief? 0:24:29.040 --> 0:24:32.399 When I'm in that place, I love to think of 0:24:32.440 --> 0:24:37.480 this story and I literally will say to myself, I 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:41.720 don't know the whole story of my life. That's why 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:44.679 it builds my fate to get into God's word and 0:24:44.800 --> 0:24:48.080 read someone else's story who I can read from beginning 0:24:48.240 --> 0:24:50.439 to end. And I'm telling you, sometimes when I go 0:24:50.520 --> 0:24:53.560 through a hard time, can I just be absolutely human 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:56.960 with you for a minute? Sometimes when I'm going through 0:24:56.960 --> 0:24:59.440 a hard time, the last thing I feel like doing 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:03.359 picking up the Bible. The last thing I feel like 0:25:03.440 --> 0:25:07.480 doing is going to church. I don't know why, but 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:13.200 I just get so physically exhausted that it becomes spiritually discouraged. 0:25:13.920 --> 0:25:18.639 And if I don't catch it, I'll become spiritually disillusioned. 0:25:20.160 --> 0:25:24.160 When we want to read the Bible the least is 0:25:24.280 --> 0:25:26.640 often when we absolutely need to read it. 0:25:26.600 --> 0:25:35.920 The most right. Amen. So here's what Joseph does. 0:25:36.720 --> 0:25:40.880 He asks the cup bearer to please mention to him 0:25:41.280 --> 0:25:44.560 when you'll get out of this prison, cup bear, and 0:25:44.600 --> 0:25:46.440 you're going to get out soon. When you get out, 0:25:46.640 --> 0:25:50.800 please go mention me to Pharaoh and get me out 0:25:51.040 --> 0:25:51.920 of this prison. 0:25:52.119 --> 0:25:56.200 I should not be here. Give Pharaoh a good word. Now. 0:25:56.240 --> 0:26:00.359 Again, I don't know for sure because I'm not Joseph, 0:26:00.400 --> 0:26:02.440 but I'm just going to tell you something based on 0:26:02.560 --> 0:26:05.600 my own human experience of what can happen to me. 0:26:06.359 --> 0:26:09.400 When I start assuming that I know what a good 0:26:09.480 --> 0:26:14.280 God should do, I start attaching my hope on what 0:26:14.440 --> 0:26:15.800 I assume a. 0:26:15.800 --> 0:26:17.240 Good God should do. 0:26:17.960 --> 0:26:21.520 But then if God does not follow my plan, I 0:26:21.640 --> 0:26:29.359 start to get super agitated, super frustrated, and even sometimes doubtful. 0:26:30.440 --> 0:26:33.920 Why isn't God doing what I assume a good God 0:26:33.960 --> 0:26:34.440 should do. 0:26:34.880 --> 0:26:36.080 I have a plan, and then. 0:26:35.960 --> 0:26:38.280 I'm trying to hold God accountable to the plan of 0:26:38.359 --> 0:26:42.639 my own making. When I get this situation, it is 0:26:42.800 --> 0:26:45.520 just like what Joseph was facing when I get when 0:26:45.520 --> 0:26:47.960 you get out of prison, cut bear, mention me to 0:26:48.000 --> 0:26:50.640 Pharaoh and get me out of prison. So if I'm Joseph, 0:26:50.720 --> 0:26:52.960 I have developed my plan and I just want to 0:26:53.000 --> 0:26:54.640 hold God accountable, like this is the plan. 0:26:54.720 --> 0:26:55.760 This is what the plan should be. 0:26:55.800 --> 0:26:57.840 Don't you see It'll make you look good, God, whole 0:26:57.920 --> 0:27:00.840 nine yards right, because what we we don't trust, we 0:27:00.880 --> 0:27:05.800 will try to control. What we don't trust, we will 0:27:05.840 --> 0:27:08.320 try to control. Surely God, this is the plan. So 0:27:08.400 --> 0:27:12.159 imagine being Joseph. Now Joseph is in prison and the 0:27:12.160 --> 0:27:19.160 cup bear gets out, And if I'm Joseph, I'm like, yes, ma'am, 0:27:19.400 --> 0:27:22.480 sam i am, he is going to get me out 0:27:22.520 --> 0:27:25.520 of this prison. And so the cup bear gets released. 0:27:25.560 --> 0:27:29.000 In day one, Joseph's like, yes, anytime now, Day two, 0:27:29.400 --> 0:27:32.600 day three, Day four, Maybe the paperwork's taken a little while. 0:27:32.800 --> 0:27:34.119 Day five, Day six, Day. 0:27:34.000 --> 0:27:42.240 Seven, Day one hundred, two hundred three hundred, four hundred, 0:27:42.680 --> 0:27:47.520 five hundred, six hundred. What do you think is happening 0:27:48.040 --> 0:27:52.639 inside of a human heart that is attached their outcome 0:27:53.600 --> 0:27:58.080 to something that they suggested to God rather than trusting God. 0:27:59.560 --> 0:28:01.359 What do you think happening in Joseph's heart? If it 0:28:01.400 --> 0:28:01.600 was me? 0:28:02.240 --> 0:28:05.600 If it was me, this is where that discouragement and 0:28:05.640 --> 0:28:07.080 disillusionment starts to happen. 0:28:07.320 --> 0:28:07.920 Right here. 0:28:09.359 --> 0:28:16.400 The scriptures say when two full years had passed Genesis 0:28:16.440 --> 0:28:19.159 forty one, two full years, you'all, two years is a 0:28:19.200 --> 0:28:22.080 really long time. It's a really long time when you're 0:28:22.119 --> 0:28:25.399 looking at your circumstances and your circumstances don't at all 0:28:25.560 --> 0:28:29.040 feel fair. Your circumstances at all don't look good. Your 0:28:29.040 --> 0:28:32.960 circumstances at all don't look like how could anything positive 0:28:33.000 --> 0:28:38.080 ever come out of so much negative? When two full 0:28:38.360 --> 0:28:44.680 years had passed, Pharaoh has a dream and suddenly the 0:28:44.760 --> 0:28:47.720 cup bear is like, should out of E eight? I 0:28:47.760 --> 0:28:50.200 know you young people don't understand that, but I'm just 0:28:50.240 --> 0:28:52.360 telling you if you know, you. 0:28:52.360 --> 0:28:52.880 Know, right? 0:28:53.320 --> 0:28:56.719 Okay, So the cup air is like, oh man, I 0:28:56.760 --> 0:29:01.160 totally forgot, I totally forgo God. There's this Hebrew man 0:29:01.200 --> 0:29:04.120 in prison that can interpret dreams. Nobody else was able 0:29:04.160 --> 0:29:08.480 to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. And so they go and Pharaoh 0:29:08.520 --> 0:29:11.080 calls for Joseph. Look at what it says in Genesis 0:29:11.120 --> 0:29:14.400 forty one fourteen. So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he 0:29:14.640 --> 0:29:18.320 was quickly brought up from that dungeon. Because when it 0:29:18.400 --> 0:29:24.520 is God's time, it's the right time. It becomes quick time, okay, Sophid. 0:29:24.640 --> 0:29:26.880 So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought 0:29:26.920 --> 0:29:29.600 from the dungeon. And when he shaved and changed his 0:29:29.720 --> 0:29:32.920 clothes and hopefully put on some of deodorant, he came 0:29:33.240 --> 0:29:37.680 before Pharaoh. And so here he is, right here, and 0:29:37.760 --> 0:29:41.560 this is his big moment. This is his big moment. 0:29:42.120 --> 0:29:45.400 This is the opportunity that Joseph has been waiting for. 0:29:45.520 --> 0:29:48.640 All he has to say is yes, Pharaoh, I can 0:29:48.720 --> 0:29:52.040 interpret your dreams. And then surely Pharaoh will let him go. 0:29:53.960 --> 0:29:58.000 But this is how I know that all throughout Joseph's story, 0:29:58.160 --> 0:30:03.040 God has been developing his character to match his calling. 0:30:04.120 --> 0:30:07.000 When we first read about Joseph and God gives him 0:30:07.000 --> 0:30:10.040 a vision, he couldn't wait to brag to his brothers. 0:30:10.600 --> 0:30:13.360 But now I want you to see the humility that 0:30:13.440 --> 0:30:17.720 Joseph puts on display. Pharah says to Joseph verse fifteen. 0:30:17.920 --> 0:30:19.840 I had a dream and no one can interpret it. 0:30:19.880 --> 0:30:23.480 But I've heard it said of you that you can 0:30:23.520 --> 0:30:27.920 interpret it, and Joseph says, I cannot do it. 0:30:30.320 --> 0:30:31.000 I cannot do. 0:30:30.960 --> 0:30:35.720 It, Joseph replied to Pharaoh, but God will give Pharaoh 0:30:35.960 --> 0:30:39.920 the answer he desires. I cannot interpret the dream, but 0:30:40.200 --> 0:30:42.160 my God surely can. 0:30:42.600 --> 0:30:42.680 Do. 0:30:42.760 --> 0:30:46.160 You see the difference of how Joseph's character had been 0:30:46.200 --> 0:30:50.640 developed to match his calling, And I'm telling you, God 0:30:50.680 --> 0:30:52.600 has had to do a lot of development in my 0:30:52.720 --> 0:30:56.440 character in order for me to be prepared and not 0:30:56.560 --> 0:31:02.760 be crushed by my calling. So then Joseph interprets the dream, 0:31:02.800 --> 0:31:07.280 and basically what he says to Pharaoh is there's going 0:31:07.360 --> 0:31:09.440 to be seven years of plenty, and during those seven 0:31:09.480 --> 0:31:11.600 years of plenty, you need to store up because behind 0:31:11.640 --> 0:31:13.880 those seven years is going to be seven years of famine. 0:31:13.880 --> 0:31:15.880 And if you don't want your people to starve, you've 0:31:15.920 --> 0:31:18.360 got to get some systems in place to save up 0:31:18.400 --> 0:31:22.560 the food. Farah replies back to Joseph verse thirty nine. 0:31:22.960 --> 0:31:26.600 Pharah says to Joseph, since God has made all this 0:31:26.920 --> 0:31:27.680 known to you. 0:31:28.280 --> 0:31:32.560 There is no one so discerning and wise as you. 0:31:33.080 --> 0:31:37.680 Where did Joseph get that wisdom from God? But also 0:31:37.920 --> 0:31:40.480 how did he develop the discernment to tap into the 0:31:40.480 --> 0:31:44.479 wisdom of God. It was when he had to go 0:31:44.560 --> 0:31:48.040 through the rejection of his brothers, and when he was 0:31:48.040 --> 0:31:52.480 in Potiphar's house and had the accusation of what Potiphar's 0:31:52.520 --> 0:31:54.640 wife accused him of, and when he got his promotion 0:31:54.760 --> 0:31:58.000 to prison. You see, with God, there's always a meanwhile. 0:31:58.880 --> 0:32:02.880 Joseph just sees hard stuff. God is seeing a preparation 0:32:03.200 --> 0:32:07.480 in play, and Pharaoh sees it and calls it out. 0:32:07.520 --> 0:32:09.720 Since God has made all this known to you, there 0:32:09.760 --> 0:32:12.560 is no one so descerning and wise as you. You 0:32:12.720 --> 0:32:15.360 shall be in charge of my palace, and all my 0:32:15.440 --> 0:32:18.440 people are to submit to your orders only with respect 0:32:18.440 --> 0:32:22.000 to the throne. Will I be greater than you been 0:32:22.200 --> 0:32:28.320 an instant, Joseph goes from being a forgotten prisoner going 0:32:28.360 --> 0:32:31.600 to sleep every night in a dungeon, just suddenly becoming 0:32:31.640 --> 0:32:35.360 the second most powerful man in Egypt, possibly all the world. 0:32:35.760 --> 0:32:41.680 But God, with God, there is always a meanwhile. 0:32:42.680 --> 0:32:46.040 There's always a meanwhile. There's a meanwhile in my life. 0:32:46.240 --> 0:32:48.239 There's the physical reality of what I see. And then 0:32:48.280 --> 0:32:52.040 there's simultaneously there is what God is doing in your life. 0:32:52.120 --> 0:32:55.360 There is the physical reality of what you see. Simultaneously 0:32:55.640 --> 0:33:02.160 there's also what God is doing. Now, look what happens, 0:33:03.080 --> 0:33:09.040 exactly as Joseph had interpreted. The famine eventually comes. There 0:33:09.080 --> 0:33:13.640 is seven years of plenty, there is seven years of famine, 0:33:13.800 --> 0:33:18.640 and eventually that famine reaches all the way to where 0:33:18.680 --> 0:33:23.040 the brothers are in their homeland with their father, and 0:33:23.080 --> 0:33:26.000 the father says, hey, here, Egypt has some food, so 0:33:26.360 --> 0:33:28.000 you need to go. So he sends some of the 0:33:28.000 --> 0:33:32.840 brothers to Egypt to get food. Who is in charge 0:33:33.040 --> 0:33:41.880 of the food storage Joseph. Now the brothers don't recognize Joseph. 0:33:41.880 --> 0:33:44.680 How could they? How could they? They could have never 0:33:44.760 --> 0:33:48.160 fathomed where Joseph was today. And at first Joseph doesn't 0:33:48.160 --> 0:33:51.320 recognize them, but eventually Joseph does, and then Joseph has 0:33:51.400 --> 0:33:57.720 to make the excruciating choice to forgive or to not forgive, 0:33:58.400 --> 0:34:01.680 And the story takes twists and turns, but it eventually 0:34:02.120 --> 0:34:07.560 lands at Genesis fifty twenty, where Joseph says to his brothers, 0:34:08.160 --> 0:34:13.360 you intended to harm me, but God intended it for 0:34:13.480 --> 0:34:15.560 good to accomplish what is. 0:34:15.600 --> 0:34:20.359 Now being done, the saving of many lives. Now, let 0:34:20.440 --> 0:34:21.680 me ask you this question. 0:34:24.160 --> 0:34:29.600 If Joseph had gotten out of prison when he begged 0:34:29.640 --> 0:34:33.520 God for relief, because that's what Joseph wanted, Remember the 0:34:33.520 --> 0:34:36.919 cup brier and all this stuff. Right, if God had 0:34:36.960 --> 0:34:40.400 listened to Joseph's plan and let him out of prison, 0:34:41.200 --> 0:34:45.600 he would have never had an audience with Pharaoh. 0:34:45.880 --> 0:34:52.240 But in God's timing, in God's way, eventually. 0:34:51.840 --> 0:34:54.960 Joseph has an audience with Pharaoh. And it was crucial 0:34:55.000 --> 0:34:57.600 for Joseph to have an audience with Pharaoh. Otherwise he 0:34:57.600 --> 0:34:59.239 would have been let out of prison and that would 0:34:59.280 --> 0:35:01.120 have been the end of the story. And think of 0:35:01.160 --> 0:35:06.279 the number of people who would have perished. I don't 0:35:06.400 --> 0:35:10.040 understand the dynamics of exactly how this is going to 0:35:10.080 --> 0:35:13.080 apply to your life, exactly how it applies to my life, 0:35:13.200 --> 0:35:16.920 But I'm telling you I have seen this at play. 0:35:19.239 --> 0:35:22.759 I think some of you probably know that in twenty 0:35:22.840 --> 0:35:30.360 and seventeen that was the first time that I really 0:35:30.400 --> 0:35:33.759 thought there's no way that my marriage at the time 0:35:33.960 --> 0:35:37.480 was going to make it. And we had been in 0:35:37.600 --> 0:35:43.720 counseling for eighteen months, and things were seemingly getting better, 0:35:44.480 --> 0:35:47.120 and I was finally starting to have hope that my 0:35:47.200 --> 0:35:49.719 family is going to be put back together. And then 0:35:49.800 --> 0:35:52.960 after eighteen months of all that work, the rug got 0:35:53.080 --> 0:35:57.400 ripped right out from underneath me, and I realized things 0:35:57.480 --> 0:35:59.319 were not at all like I thought they were. 0:36:00.280 --> 0:36:01.399 I was devastated. 0:36:02.600 --> 0:36:06.760 I was devastated beyond what I could probably even describe 0:36:06.760 --> 0:36:14.920 for you. And I just remember thinking, God, I don't understand. 0:36:16.239 --> 0:36:19.279 I really don't understand how we could be at this place. 0:36:19.320 --> 0:36:21.080 I thought I was at the finish line. I haven't 0:36:21.080 --> 0:36:26.239 even crossed the starting line. So during that summer that 0:36:26.480 --> 0:36:32.680 I took off in twenty seventeen, I couldn't I couldn't work, 0:36:32.719 --> 0:36:35.160 I couldn't do ministry. I was just having a hard 0:36:35.200 --> 0:36:39.160 time doing anything. But I decided to go and make 0:36:39.280 --> 0:36:42.880 all the appointments that I needed to make that normally 0:36:42.920 --> 0:36:45.440 I put off because I'm so busy all the time, 0:36:46.080 --> 0:36:49.160 and so, you know, I did the teeth cleaning thing, 0:36:49.280 --> 0:36:50.640 you know, all those but I. 0:36:50.640 --> 0:36:53.240 Also though it was not time yet. 0:36:53.840 --> 0:36:57.000 I also went ahead and went and had a mammogram done. 0:36:57.440 --> 0:37:03.000 It's not time. I went and they ran that test 0:37:03.040 --> 0:37:06.640 and then some more tests. I was diagnosed with breast cancer, 0:37:09.040 --> 0:37:13.200 and my first thought was, how could a good God 0:37:14.040 --> 0:37:18.400 let this happen to I was at a low place, 0:37:18.520 --> 0:37:18.759 you know. 0:37:21.360 --> 0:37:28.239 But then as the diagnosis unfolded, the doctor told me 0:37:28.360 --> 0:37:32.480 something that arrested my thought spiral. 0:37:33.760 --> 0:37:39.160 God said, or the doctor said, it is it's. 0:37:39.000 --> 0:37:42.040 A miracle that you came in to have this mammogram early, 0:37:42.760 --> 0:37:46.799 because we've caught it early enough to where you can 0:37:46.840 --> 0:37:53.239 have a dullnessectomy and you're going to be okay. 0:37:55.760 --> 0:37:57.160 So let me ask you a question. 0:37:58.960 --> 0:38:02.439 Was my marriage falling part again the absolute worst thing 0:38:02.520 --> 0:38:03.480 that could have happened? 0:38:04.640 --> 0:38:06.359 Or was it the worst. 0:38:06.080 --> 0:38:10.640 Thing but also something God was using to create the 0:38:10.680 --> 0:38:16.160 best thing of saving my life? Right with God, there 0:38:16.280 --> 0:38:19.560 is always a Meanwhile, now let me say this loud 0:38:19.600 --> 0:38:23.880 and clear, especially after the tragedies that we have witnessed 0:38:23.880 --> 0:38:29.160 this week, I cannot wrap my brain around some of that. 0:38:29.840 --> 0:38:33.040 There are going to be some things that never ever 0:38:33.520 --> 0:38:37.319 make sense to us, and that's where we just have 0:38:37.400 --> 0:38:40.000 to leave room for the mystery of God. 0:38:41.200 --> 0:38:42.320 But there are other. 0:38:42.160 --> 0:38:45.960 Things that if we will trust God with the hardship 0:38:46.040 --> 0:38:47.960 we see and feel right. 0:38:47.800 --> 0:38:50.040 Now, over time. 0:38:50.719 --> 0:38:54.120 We will eventually with some things in our life be 0:38:54.200 --> 0:38:59.120 able to look back and say, my God, my God, 0:38:59.280 --> 0:39:00.560 look at what you did. 0:39:01.480 --> 0:39:03.040 I couldn't see it in the moment. 0:39:04.280 --> 0:39:06.520 But that's why God makes a big deal in the 0:39:06.560 --> 0:39:11.239 Bible about the practice of remembrance. Go back when you're 0:39:11.280 --> 0:39:14.280 in a situation right now and you cannot possibly see 0:39:14.280 --> 0:39:16.840 how God is going to work this out, go back 0:39:17.239 --> 0:39:21.239 and start tracing the hand of God's faithfulness in those 0:39:21.320 --> 0:39:24.000 times that you can look back now and you can see. 0:39:24.160 --> 0:39:26.319 I didn't say it at the time, but I see 0:39:26.320 --> 0:39:29.200 it now. I didn't sit it at the time, but 0:39:29.360 --> 0:39:30.320 I see it now. 0:39:30.880 --> 0:39:32.240 I didn't say it at the time. 0:39:32.680 --> 0:39:35.640 I see it now. I didn't sit at this time, 0:39:35.800 --> 0:39:37.280 but I see it now. 0:39:37.320 --> 0:39:44.440 With God, there is always a meanwhile. There is always 0:39:44.520 --> 0:39:44.960 a meanwhile. 0:39:45.080 --> 0:39:47.280 I want to show you one more thing in scripture, 0:39:48.320 --> 0:39:57.399 because wow, this really caught my attention. When God had 0:39:57.520 --> 0:40:03.160 arranged all of this for Joseph and Joseph interprets the 0:40:03.239 --> 0:40:08.680 dream for Fabro, before the years of famine came, scriptures 0:40:08.719 --> 0:40:13.480 say in Genesis forty one, verse fifty, before the years 0:40:13.520 --> 0:40:16.560 of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by 0:40:16.680 --> 0:40:20.600 again hard word, another hard word. The priest of hard word, okay, 0:40:20.640 --> 0:40:24.000 all that stuff, okay. So basically, two sons were born 0:40:24.040 --> 0:40:30.120 to Joseph. Joseph named his first born Manassa, which means 0:40:30.600 --> 0:40:33.520 and he said, it is because God has made me 0:40:33.600 --> 0:40:38.720 forget all my trouble and my father's household. The second 0:40:38.800 --> 0:40:42.279 son he named Ephraim, and he said, it's because God 0:40:42.320 --> 0:40:43.640 made me fruitful in. 0:40:43.640 --> 0:40:44.680 The land of my suffering. 0:40:45.000 --> 0:40:47.240 Now, when I was first reading this, at first glance, 0:40:47.719 --> 0:40:51.400 I said, have mercy. Joseph named his two sons forgetful 0:40:51.400 --> 0:40:53.600 and fruitful. I mean, how'd that work out when they 0:40:53.640 --> 0:40:56.840 went to school? Like, Hi, I'm forgetful? Is my brother fruitful? 0:40:56.960 --> 0:40:58.960 You know, I don't know. This is what. 0:40:58.920 --> 0:41:01.240 Happens to me when I read the book sometimes, y'all. 0:41:01.440 --> 0:41:04.239 I just can't help myself. But as I took a 0:41:04.320 --> 0:41:10.320 step back, I started to realize Joseph wasn't just naming 0:41:10.360 --> 0:41:17.480 his sons. Joseph was making a declaration. A declaration. You 0:41:17.520 --> 0:41:20.640 see that first it says it is because God has 0:41:20.640 --> 0:41:24.040 made me forget my trouble and all my father's household. 0:41:25.000 --> 0:41:28.640 The word forget here is nashaw in the original language. 0:41:28.840 --> 0:41:31.319 That doesn't mean it didn't come to his memory. Like 0:41:31.360 --> 0:41:36.480 forgetting that way Nashaw means to make an intentional choice 0:41:36.960 --> 0:41:41.880 to leave some things behind. That's what he named his 0:41:41.920 --> 0:41:45.280 first son, and then his second son he named Ephroim 0:41:45.320 --> 0:41:48.920 because God has made me fruitful in the land of 0:41:49.000 --> 0:41:54.000 my suffering right here, right now, before I understand everything, 0:41:54.440 --> 0:41:57.200 I'm going to choose to plant my roots, trust my 0:41:57.320 --> 0:42:09.360 God and produce fruit right here. With God, there's truly 0:42:10.280 --> 0:42:14.719 always I. Meanwhile, if you're physically able, I'm going to 0:42:14.800 --> 0:42:19.280 ask you to please stand. I want to read something 0:42:19.360 --> 0:42:23.759 over to you. You know, when I was going through 0:42:23.800 --> 0:42:28.480 those years of having no clue how my future was 0:42:28.520 --> 0:42:31.640 going to work out, and honestly, there's still some things, 0:42:31.680 --> 0:42:34.919 like some things about my life are really awesome. And 0:42:34.960 --> 0:42:37.799 even just this week I got some more hard news that. 0:42:39.360 --> 0:42:42.800 Man, I just thought, am I really going to be 0:42:42.840 --> 0:42:45.680 able to get up and preach that message? 0:42:46.440 --> 0:42:46.520 Like? 0:42:48.239 --> 0:42:52.319 How much do you believe this message? Lise? How much 0:42:52.320 --> 0:42:52.920 do you believe it? 0:42:54.000 --> 0:42:54.200 Right? 0:42:55.960 --> 0:42:58.759 And I wrestled, and I truly. 0:42:58.480 --> 0:43:02.239 Thought about Colin chunks back and just saying like, I 0:43:02.239 --> 0:43:03.279 don't know if I can do this. 0:43:05.760 --> 0:43:07.239 But Jenesip fifty. 0:43:07.040 --> 0:43:13.680 Twenty says you intended to harm me. But God intended 0:43:13.680 --> 0:43:16.840 it for good to accomplish what is now being done, 0:43:17.360 --> 0:43:28.440 the saving of many lives. And if this message was 0:43:28.480 --> 0:43:33.680 for you today, God is already doing that. He's already 0:43:33.719 --> 0:43:38.799 taken what has been so confusing and hard for me 0:43:38.880 --> 0:43:44.560 to process, and he's using it for good right here, 0:43:45.239 --> 0:43:48.600 right now. If only I would choose to leave some 0:43:48.719 --> 0:43:52.080 things behind, I would choose to plant roots in the 0:43:52.160 --> 0:43:55.640 land of my suffering and produce fruit, and come and 0:43:55.719 --> 0:43:58.520 preach this message to you today. God is going to 0:43:58.640 --> 0:44:02.480 use it for good in the savings some lives, right amen. 0:44:10.600 --> 0:44:13.560 One night I was wrestling, and sometimes when I wrestle 0:44:13.640 --> 0:44:16.000 with my thoughts, it's usually at the two am hours, 0:44:16.080 --> 0:44:19.239 such a complicated time of night. Right two am is 0:44:19.280 --> 0:44:21.120 too late to call your late friends, too early to 0:44:21.120 --> 0:44:22.120 call your early friends. 0:44:22.160 --> 0:44:23.399 So what you're supposed to do? 0:44:23.560 --> 0:44:26.319 You know? And the Lord has certainly taught me to 0:44:26.880 --> 0:44:31.680 turn my thoughts to him. But I process life also 0:44:33.040 --> 0:44:37.120 through writing stuff out. So one night I was in 0:44:37.160 --> 0:44:43.040 my bed at two am, confused and hurting, and I 0:44:43.120 --> 0:44:45.920 picked up my journal and I put my pen to 0:44:46.040 --> 0:44:50.719 those pages and I wrote this. I wrote it as 0:44:50.719 --> 0:44:53.520 a declaration over myself at the time, but I pray. 0:44:53.640 --> 0:44:58.840 It's a sweet encouragement for you. Being brave is not 0:44:58.960 --> 0:45:03.799 always something you feel. It's something you do. You do 0:45:03.880 --> 0:45:06.520 it in the face of fear and unknown outcomes and 0:45:06.640 --> 0:45:09.319 risk you really don't want to take. You do it 0:45:09.360 --> 0:45:13.160 when your enemy is staring you down with taunting statements 0:45:13.160 --> 0:45:16.600 of defeat. You do it not to prove there's something 0:45:16.680 --> 0:45:17.960 great inside of you. 0:45:17.960 --> 0:45:19.839 You do it because if you. 0:45:19.960 --> 0:45:26.240 Don't, something will die inside of you. You do brave 0:45:27.360 --> 0:45:32.399 even when you definitely don't feel brave. You do brave 0:45:32.440 --> 0:45:35.120 things because it's time to rise up and speak up 0:45:35.120 --> 0:45:37.400 and let truth find us freedom with your voice. 0:45:37.760 --> 0:45:38.680 What happened was. 0:45:38.680 --> 0:45:43.359 Wrong, acknowledge it, speak it, cry over it, don't die 0:45:43.400 --> 0:45:46.560 over it. You've been hurt, but you don't have to 0:45:46.600 --> 0:45:50.360 live hurt. You do brave things because you were made 0:45:50.360 --> 0:45:53.480 to connect, not with all people, but with the right people. 0:45:53.760 --> 0:45:54.839 Take the right risk. 0:45:55.200 --> 0:45:59.360 Take it slow, but don't stop, don't withdraw, don't disappear. 0:45:59.719 --> 0:46:03.400 You do brave things, Lisa, because you are a woman 0:46:03.760 --> 0:46:06.520 who can kneel humbly and rise intentionally. 0:46:06.960 --> 0:46:07.960 You will find good. 0:46:07.800 --> 0:46:11.479 People, and good people will find you, and you'll do 0:46:11.560 --> 0:46:17.600 brave things until you become brave you'll know laughter again, 0:46:17.800 --> 0:46:20.000 and you'll know deep in your bones that you will 0:46:20.040 --> 0:46:23.080 not waste all that you've learned. Those spilled tears, every 0:46:23.160 --> 0:46:25.399 one of them helped you let go of the pain 0:46:25.480 --> 0:46:27.800 to make room for possibility. 0:46:28.000 --> 0:46:29.719 Your life is not a tragedy. 0:46:30.120 --> 0:46:33.719 It's a testimony that God is your rock and your redeemer. 0:46:34.080 --> 0:46:36.840 And if your hands are shaking, let it be only 0:46:37.160 --> 0:46:39.840 because you're pointing at the devil who picked the wrong 0:46:39.960 --> 0:46:55.359 girl to mess with this time. Don't wait, don't wait 0:46:55.480 --> 0:46:59.360 until you feel brave. Go be brave, because if God 0:46:59.480 --> 0:47:04.680 is with you, nothing, nothing, nothing, can stand against you. 0:47:10.960 --> 0:47:13.520 Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of 0:47:13.560 --> 0:47:16.560 you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of 0:47:16.600 --> 0:47:19.520 you that this ministry is possible. You can click the 0:47:19.560 --> 0:47:23.280 link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch 0:47:23.440 --> 0:47:26.719 dot org slash podcast for more information and if you 0:47:26.800 --> 0:47:30.040 enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it 0:47:30.040 --> 0:47:32.359 with your friends. You can click the share button, take 0:47:32.360 --> 0:47:34.719 a screenshot and share it on your social stories and 0:47:34.760 --> 0:47:37.400 tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. 0:47:37.440 --> 0:47:43.000 God bless you.