Podcasts about now joseph

Genesis 44:1-45:15 - “I AM JOSEPH!” Gen 44:1– 13 - Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack. 2 Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said. 3 As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. 4 They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? 5 Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.’” 6 When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. 7 But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! 8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? 9 If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.” 10 “Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.” 11 Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. 12 Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.   They’re sure of their innocence… If you find it you can take that person’s life and the rest of us will be slaves… Then the Palace Mgr. finds the Silver Cup in Benjamin’s sack and THEY WERE STUNNED, SHOCKED. It says they tore, ripped their clothes in despair as if it was actually in their sack! Joseph knowing their envy, jealousy and hatred for him provides the perfect opportunity for them to abandon Benjamin.   Have they changed?   They loaded their donkeys again and returned to the city.  They went back with Benjamin. This is a radical change from the men who sold Joseph into slavery!   Gen. 44:14-16 14 Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What is this you have done? Don’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?”  16 “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.” We can’t say anything to defend this.  We are guilty, but it’s not because of this Silver cup.  In Judah’s mind they’re still paying the price for their sin against Joseph.  We are all your slaves and we all will pay the price for this sin.  17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.” Joseph gives them one more opportunity to save themselves and leave Benjamin behind Egypt. 18 Then Judah went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 20 And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’ 21 “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’ 22 And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’ 23 But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you...

We are in a series on the life of Joseph. But actually, it’s kind of misleading to say that. It’s not less than that. But it’s definitely more than that. Yes, Genesis 37-50 is the story of Joseph but it’s also the story of Reuben and Gad and Asher and Naphtali and Rachel and Leah and Jacob and Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife, and Pharaoh. Whenever God is doing one thing, he’s doing 1,000 things. There are so many threads at work in the narrative. We know about some more than others, but God is working in all of them.Last week we looked at that salvation moment of bankruptcy in the lives of two of the characters in the narrative. We looked at the surrender of Jacob and Joseph. Now today we get to tell the story of Judah. Now if you remember back several weeks we skipped Genesis 38 which was the story of Judah and Tamar. And I said we would return to it. Today’s that day. The story is all at once disturbing, amazing, fascinating, and exhilarating!The story of Judah begins with the unloved Leah giving birth to four boys. Her last son was named Judah whose name in Hebrew means praised. Well, Judah grows up in the rabble of that love-starved home, the fourth-born, forgotten-in-the-middle, eclipsed son. That’s how Judah grows up.The next reference to Judah is when he is in his early 20s. The dreamer Joseph comes out to meet his brothers, they strip him of his coat, and plot to murder him. And you will remember, it’s Judah who speaks up when Joseph is in the pit. He says, “Guys, why are we planning on killing Joseph? If we kill him we get nothing. Here are some Ishmaelite traders. If we sell him, we still get rid of him but we can walk away with cash.”Now why he does this we don’t know. Is it compassion on Joseph? Unlikely. Is it crass materialism? Probably.So chapter 37 ends with Joseph bound and off to Egypt. Chapter 39 picks up the narrative of what happens to Joseph when he enters Egypt. But artfully sandwiched in between these two chapters is chapter 38, this flash-forward, a scene from the life of Judah.Now I’m just going to tell the story of chapter 38 as set up for where we are today. Chapter 38 takes place sometime after Joseph has been sold. Judah is now grown, married, and has sons of his own. And we are told that Judah’s oldest son Er marries a woman named Tamar. We know next to nothing about Er except that he was flagrantly wicked and as a result, dies under the hand of God’s judgment. Now that, of course, makes Tamar a widow. A widow would have been one of the most socially and economically vulnerable people in society.Why was she vulnerable? Because she wasn’t likely to be chosen for marriage, and without that, she couldn’t have a family. And without that, she couldn’t be respected. Without respect, it’s hard to get a job, to have meaningful friendships, etc.This would be like a person in our day and age who couldn’t read and write. I mean, you don’t have the basic skills necessary for inclusion in the culture. It would be something like that. Because everybody knew that widows were doomed, there was an important law to protect widows, and this was called the Levirate marriage law.Levirate comes from the Latin word levir which means brother-in-law. And here’s how the law worked. As a father, if one of your married sons died, and if you had other sons, you were to provide one of them in marriage for your widowed daughter-in-law so that she would not be disgraced in society. That was the father’s job. That was his obligation. It was the Law. So we are told that Judah does his job and gives his second son Onan to Tamar. But this dude was just as wicked if not worse. This guy is bad news and so the same thing happens. The judgment of God falls upon him and he too dies. So now poor Tamar is twice widowed.Well, the Levirate marriage law kicks in again and the responsibility falls back on Judah to provide her with another one of his sons. He’s got a younger son named Shelah but he’s too young to marry. So he tells Tamar, “Go home and live in your father’s house and wait for him to grow up and then I’ll give him to you for a husband.” He’s claiming to be her defender and provider. But he was deceiving her. He had no intention of doing this. “Go home to dad and when he’s of age, I’ll let you know. Don’t call me. I’ll call you kind of thing.” Why is he planning to deceive? Because he blames Tamar for the death of his two sons. Tamar is poisoning the soup. She’s bad luck. Something like this.Now I think Judah knows exactly why they died. They were evil in the sight of the Lord. Judah absolutely knows this. But he’s in denial. Judah is blaming her for the death of his sons. There’s something wrong with her. Judah does not want to admit what a mess they were. Judah does not want to admit their corruption and brokenness. He does not want to admit what a mess of a father he must have been. He doesn’t want to admit it.Instead, what he wants to say is, “This woman somehow is bad news. If she marries my third son, he’ll probably die too. She’s the problem. Okay, maybe she’s not poisoning them, but somehow she’s corrupting them. I just know it.”So he sends her away to her father with the hope that she is never heard from again; maybe she’ll get eaten by a wild beast along the way.Now Tamar is no dummy. She is counting down the days and she starts figuring it out. She does the math and realizes that Shelah had grown up. She’s leaving voicemails without a response. She’s getting ghosted in her texts. And the reality begins to settle on her. Judah has no intention of protecting and providing for her, so she goes into action.When she hears her father-in-law is on his way to her neck of the woods she executes this bold plan. It says, “She took off her widow’s clothes. She covered herself with a veil to disguise herself as a prostitute.” And her plan is to seduce Judah. Now this says something about the character of Judah. She’s counting on the fact that he’s going to fall for it. She knew his character. This was his settled pattern of behavior.So Judah passes by and is captured by the eyes of the woman through the veil, but doesn’t realize it’s his daughter-in-law. And he has sex with her. And of course, prostitution has a fee and in those days you pay with goods but he doesn’t have any. He promises a goat and as collateral, he leaves behind his seal, cord, and staff. In the Ancient Near East, a person’s seal, cord, and staff would be like your credit card, your driver’s license, and the keys to your car. I mean, a guy needs these things. So he knows that if he wants them back he’s going to have to go back and pay the fee. When he goes back to pay the fee she’s nowhere to be found. And he’s got to be thinking to himself, “That little punk. What in the world?” So he’s got to cancel the credit card, go to the DMV, and get new keys made. It’s a tremendous hassle but life goes on.Well, that encounter gets Tamar pregnant. And when Judah finds out that his daughter-in-law got pregnant outside of marriage he makes a big stink about it. He gets the town together and makes this big charade about how unfaithful she is, how terrible her character is, and he calls to have her executed, but not just any old execution. He called for her to be burned to death. What? If you heard that someone was sentenced to capital punishment through lethal injection, you’d say, “Okay, that’s unfortunate but that’s what we do in these situations.” But if you heard someone was burned to death, you’d say, “Really? What? Why?” It was not different then. This seems like an overreaction. Why is Judah reacting like this?Now think carefully here. The reason is that he knew that in not giving her his son, he was sentencing a woman to social death and absolute impoverishment. He knew that what he did was totally and completely unjust. So to assuage that guilty conscience, he needed to believe bad things about her in order to justify his course of action. “She’s been poisoning the soup. She’s the reason. She influenced them in some way. She coerced and harassed them into it, or she brought it on somehow.” This is his way of silencing the voices of guilt, of justifying himself, of shielding himself. He knew his sons deserved the judgment of God and that Tamar had nothing to do with it. You see, he’s been telling himself a story all these years without any evidence whatsoever and then when he finally gets the evidence, bam, we see this over-the-top reaction, take her out, and burn her.He’s probably grinning ear to ear because now finally he has the confirmation he needed all these years. “I just knew it!” he’s saying, “Burn her. She’s a whore. I knew it all along.”So here he is, about to take a girl who had no part in the death of his sons, and he is about to torture her and kill her. He’s ready to feast his eyes on the burning body of a young girl to further the false narrative he’s created in his mind.The Dramatic PauseNow just stop right now. How dark is this? Do you see how lost Judah is? Do you see what kind of place he is in? If God allows him to go through with this, think about what the rest of his life is going to look like. He is going to have to spend the rest of his life trying to strengthen a narrative that has no evidence to support it, trying to convince himself just how wicked she was, over and over and over again, just so he can stay completely convinced that burning her at the stake was the right call. His conscience is going to try to condemn him, which means he’s going to have to continually lie to himself and lie to himself and that lying to himself will twist his heart and twist his heart until he is a twisted and broken, shelled out lost person. Do you see how Judah is just teetering on the brink of disaster?But this is a story of God’s sovereign redemption. God is redeeming all through this narrative. And he is redeeming Judah. Judah at this moment is absolutely imprisoned by selfishness. He’s imprisoned in shame. He’s imprisoned in denial. He’s imprisoned in guilt. And he’s just fueling that guilt and denial by telling himself stories. Like the coils of an anaconda, with every lie he tells himself it’s just tightening around him further and further and further.Look at the unlikely way in which Judah is saved. Now the story continues. She’s drug by her hair out into the public square to be burned. But before they light the fire she yells out in dramatic fashion, “Wait, I have a package.” And she pulls it out and sends it to her father-in-law, and there’s a message that goes along with that package. “Shouldn’t the guy who did this to me burn as well?” And he opens the package and you could imagine a note attached, “The man who impregnated me who, by law, ought to burn with me - these are his. Do you recognize these?” And there in the package is Judah’s cord and seal and staff. “Do you recognize them?”And it’s brilliant literature at this point. Not just, “Do you recognize to whom these things belong?” but “Do you recognize yourself for who you are? Do you see what you’ve become? Do recognize the hypocrisy in yourself?”Do you remember last week we talked about the salvation moment of bankruptcy? Oh, Judah was so proud. He was in charge. He was a powerful man. The fact that he even had a seal meant he was a powerful leader in his community. When he ordered Tamar to be burned, he was functioning as a community patriarch, the whole community danced to his tune.But God brought him to his knees. He humbled him. He absolutely stripped him publicly naked. He’s publicly being shamed here in a way that he will never recover from. He’s being taken out by both knees with a steel pipe. And you think this a bad thing? You are wrong. This is a gift of God. This is grace. You see, Judah was blind to his self-deception. He was so blind to his hypocrisy. He couldn’t see it which is why it has so much power over him. It was strangling him to death. He really was on his way to being lost. But God humiliated him. In God’s grace, he stripped him naked.This is what we learned last week. You cannot possibly see God without a stripping down of all self-deception like this. You cannot possibly be saved without some grace intervening from the outside to strip you down to who you really are so that you cry out and say, “I am such a sinner. I am such a hypocrite. I am so judgmental. I am the one who needs to be burned. I am no better than the people I used to despise.”It is often the awful, painful things that God will use to wake you up, to see who we really are. That is why we need the initiating grace from God, often in the form of deep trials, the Tamars and Nathans of the world who point their finger at us and say, “You are the man. You are the woman.”Now I believe it was this moment that began an incredible transformation that we see unfold in the life of Judah. Chapter 38 ends with the confession of Judah.Judah saw himself and cried out for mercy. It was that cry for mercy and the receiving of mercy that began to change him. Now we don’t see that change worked out until several chapters later.Back to JosephChapter 38 closes and chapter 39 opens and Judah disappears from the narrative and we are thrust back into the Joseph story. Here is the thirty-second reminder of what happened. We see Potiphar, the jail, the dreams of the cupbearer and baker, the two full years of prison being forgotten, the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream, the seven years of plenty, the years of famine have begun. You have the first visit of the brothers. And last week we looked at the second visit.You will remember from last week that Joseph had invited the brothers into the house to dine with them. He was overcome with emotion when he saw Benjamin. The floodgates open and he excuses himself while he lets out great sobs. He recomposes himself. He seats them all in order. He gives Benjamin 5 times the portion of anyone else. And chapter 43 ends with them eating, drinking, and happy. Now everybody goes to bed with full stomachs a sensation they certainly were not used to and they mentally prepare for the trip home. Even though they are well-fed, their thoughts turn back home to their starving families. You know that feeling when vacation is over and you have to gear up for real life. They make plans for the following day and the long journey that awaits and they head to bed. But things do not go according to plan. Look now what happens next:Joseph is conducting another test. Now why he does this we do not know for certain. It could be that something in the conversation that night made him suspicious. It could be he wanted to be doubly sure because the first test wasn’t conclusive in his mind. But I think we can do better. Obviously, he’s setting up another test and we can deduce his intentions by looking at the test itself. Every good test is designed to provoke a particular weakness. A grade school multiplication quiz might have 100 problems and every one of them has a 12 in it, you can deduce that the teacher is testing to see if the student knows his 12s.What is Joseph testing for? Let’s think about the elements in this test. Clearly, Joseph has by now discovered that Benjamin has replaced him as the favorite son. It was the envy of that favoritism that caused his brothers to so despise him, throw him in a pit, and sell him off into Egypt. That envy was at the root of their previous murderous intent. Previously the brothers said in their hearts, “We can’t be happy till Joseph is miserable.” That’s what ENVY does to a person.Have they changed? Can they now say, “When you are happy, I am happy. When you win, I win. Can they find their joy in the exaltation of another?” And so Joseph sets up the test. Clearly, Benjamin is already highly favored by their father. “What if I pour fuel on that? What if I favor Benjamin by giving him five times the amount of everyone else, and really dote and spoil him, will that create jealousy in his brothers, the kind of jealousy which would cause them to betray Benjamin if given the right opportunity?”On their first journey, their greed was tested. Now they level up. It’s a test of greed and envy combined. So here it goes.Now Judah reenters the picture. And folks, I want you to notice the change. It’s so dramatic. If you ever hear someone say, “Man, people are basically who they are. People don’t change.” If you ever hear that, they don’t know the God of the Bible. No Christian can say that. Look at what God does with Judah. Look at this man. We can’t even recognize him. It’s incredible.Now do not get too hung up on this whole idea of a cup of divination. There’s a myriad of explanations of what’s going on here. Just let common sense put you at ease. Joseph can’t be into sorcery and be a worshiper of YHWH. Something else is going on. He’s probably trying to reinforce the image they already have of Joseph. The brothers know the Egyptian religious structure. They know Joseph is viewed as a god. Joseph is playing the part. “Don’t you know I am a god and can see all things?” He’s striking fear into their hearts according to their understanding of who they believe Joseph to be. Joseph launches the accusation. Look at Judah’s response.What is Judah doing? Judah is taking the fall. Judah is taking the blame. Judah is willing to absorb the injustice of the accusation. Now Joseph really wants to put a sharp point on the test here. He’s totally setting them up. If they have any inclination to betray their brother, if they have even the slightest temptation to sell him off for 20 shekels of silver, it’s all going to be revealed here. Joseph smiles, reassures, puts on a great show of warmth and compassion.“Oh, I would never do something so unjust as to imprison all of you!” Do you see what Joseph is doing? “Oh no. You guys are all good. You can all go. And keep the money in the sacks. I like you chaps. It’s just this Benjamin rascal. I’m throwing him in prison.”You could not engineer a situation more exactly to test if envy or greed were resident motives in the heart of the brothers. It’s genius. Joseph is doing everything he can to ferret out the heart that once betrayed for a fistful of cash. What happens next is this beautiful outpouring of Judah’s love for his father and his youngest brother. You can just see it ooze out of the text.We are on the absolute cusp of the great reveal of Joseph. In one more verse, Joseph is going to break. But that’s for next week. You are going to have to come back. I just want to stop right here and marvel at what we see in Judah. Do you see the transformation that has taken place? Judah was a lying, greedy, brother-selling, prostitute-loving, widow-burning, terrible father who had zero hope of changing. But God intervened.You can watch this transformation take place if you trace the word ‘recognize’ through the narrative. What happens is that Judah recognizes the grace of God. We as readers recognize that God is doing something in Judah and we can also recognize that God is doing something way, way beyond Judah.When we first meet Judah, he’s the one who suggested that he sell Joseph into slavery and he stripped Joseph of his coat. They put the blood of a sacrificial animal on it, and they brought it to their father, Jacob, and they said, “Father, do you recognize this?” Jacob says, “Yes. I recognize it. It’s Joseph’s coat. He’s dead! He’s dead!” In presenting that false evidence, Judah would have been lost had not God helped Judah to recognize himself.Alfreid Edersheim who’s a Jewish scholar especially knowledgeable in Jewish literature references a middle-age Jewish commentary on Genesis which says, “You deceived your father with a goat? Tamar will deceive you with a goat. You said to your father, ‘Do you recognize this?’ By your life, Tamar will say to you, ‘Do you recognize this?’”It’s a beautiful play on words. It was through deception that Judah would obscure the truth about his brother. “Father, do you recognize this?” And years later it would be through deception that Judah would see the truth about himself. “Judah do you recognize this?”Judah recognized his cord, staff, and seal. But more than that. He recognized himself for who he was. He recognized his absolute hypocrisy. He recognized his arrogance and bankruptcy. And now Judah bows before Joseph with his bald spot totally recognizing his guilt of the injustice done to Tamar. He totally recognizes his guilt in selling off his brother for a handful of silver. He recognizes that he needs to pay for his sins. But he does not yet recognize Joseph. He does not recognize that the judge before whom he is bowing is the one he has sinned against. He doesn’t yet recognize that the benevolence he receives, comes from the hand he has pierced. That recognition comes next week.But you see, this is such a beautiful picture of where this is all headed. Because we now can recognize something that Judah and Joseph and Jacob could have never, namely that this illegitimate union between Judah and Tamar would produce a son named Perez whose name means breakthrough. Perez would break through all this mess.Perez would have a son named Hezron, and he would father Ram, and Ram would father Amminadab, and Amminadab would father Nahshon, and Nahshon would father Salmon, and Salmon would father Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.And David the King would have a promise made to him that out of his loins would come the Messiah and the genealogy in Matthew 1 concludes.Nobody could have recognized this. We now recognize that this was all pointing to Christ, the ultimate Joseph. Jesus too was stripped of his coat. His blood was sacrificed and his stained robe was presented to the father, God, “Father, do you recognize this?” Yes, this is the blood of my son. This the blood of my one and only precious son. I recognize in this blood the atonement of all your sins. I recognize the debt has been paid. I recognize perfect innocence sacrificed.The sacrifice is complete. The payment satisfied the debt. And like Judah who absorbed and volunteered to absorb the penalty in himself, like Judah who offered himself as a substitute, Jesus too would offer himself as a substitute for us on the cross. He took our place, bore in his body our sins, and shed his blood for us. And God the father recognizes this sacrifice for us. It counts. The debt has been paid. Folks is this not a marvelous story? Is this not just glorious? Let’s sing!Who alone can save themselves?Their own souls could heal? The answer is nobody. Our shame was deeper than the sea. That’s where Judah found himself. Totally broken. Totally at the bottom. He reached that salvation moment of bankruptcy and then the gospel: Your grace is deeper still.

Well, I’m so excited to be back in the narrative this morning and to introduce the main point, I want to read the opening line from Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina. It begins this way:By that, Tolstoy meant that for a family to be happy, it had to succeed in several key aspects. And for that reason, every happy marriage looks similar. They communicate well, they work out conflict, and they are self-sacrificing. All good families share these traits. Bad families will be bad in a million different ways. There are endless ways to be selfish. Only creativity limits the way you can be hard-hearted.Now, we could adapt this observation theologically. We could say, “All salvation stories are alike. Every unsaved man is unsaved in his own way.” And by that, we would mean that every saved person goes through that exact same narrow gate where they abandon all their props, all their idols, all other means by which they hope to save themselves and turn to Jesus Christ. Because that gate is narrow we must first be stripped of all these attachments and barnacles so that we can fit. That stripping process is often very painful. God in some way brings us to that absolute end of ourselves. He takes us all the way down until we are at the rock bottom of our ability. We experience that salvation moment of bankruptcy where we abandon all the things we once loved that we thought would bring us happiness. This stripping of attachments is common to every saved person. Every salvation story is the same in this way. Now today we are going to see this salvation moment of bankruptcy illustrated in Jacob’s life and Joseph’s life in different ways.ReviewThis year our theme is “Change What You Love.” Jacob, like many of us, had a love problem. He loved the wrong things. Or, more accurately, he loved good things too much. He loved the right things in the wrong order. He needed to change what he loved.In Jacob’s case, he loved his son Joseph in a warped and unhealthy way. He made Joseph into a hub around which he ordered his life. And because God loved Jacob, he wouldn’t allow him to continue in that disordered love. So God began the stripping process. He takes away his precious. He takes away his favorite son Joseph. Joseph is sold to some Ishmaelite traders and when the brothers come home from their dirty deed of betrayal, they tell their dad that Joseph was destroyed by a wild animal and present to him the evidence in the form of a blood-stained coat.Now when Jacob hears the news, he gives us the undeniable evidence of a man whose been involuntarily stripped of his precious. He just weeps and writhes bitterly. He refuses to be comforted. He clenches his jaw, pities himself, and wallows in his misery. And that’s it. Jacob just kind of drops out of the scene for a couple of chapters.The story cuts to Joseph. Joseph rises to the most powerful post in the Ancient Near East second only to Pharaoh himself and he does this totally unbeknownst to his entire family. As far as his brothers know, he’s lubricating stones with his blood and sweat as a slave in Egypt. As far as his father knows, he’s dead.But in a matter of fact, he’s been providentially promoted beyond anyone’s wildest imagination to steward the resources of the land. The seven years of plenty predicted in Pharoah’s dream are realized. And under the careful and astute management of Joseph, the crop abundance created this incredible surplus which is squirreled away in anticipation of the coming drought.Now that drought comes. Like the sucking sound at the bottom of a great milkshake, those years of plenty come to an end. The famine that ravishes the land is severe. And it’s the famine that causes Jacob to surface in the narrative again. Our last mental picture of him pinned to the walls of our mind was him grieving because of the loss of his son, Joseph. Now we see Jacob again and he is getting very old and he’s starving to death.He says, “Sons, this famine is severe. Go buy us grain, lest we die.” And when we hear Jacob’s voice in the text we excitedly wonder, “How has the refinement process been going?” God stripped poor Jacob of his idol, his son Joseph, those 25 years ago. Did this painful stripping have the intended effect of refinement?And to our horror, we discover that Jacob has not surrendered his idolatry. He has simply replaced Joseph with Benjamin. Now Benjamin is the new center. Benjamin is the new favorite idol of the family. Jacob has not yet experienced that salvation moment of bankruptcy. God has more stripping work to do in the life of Jacob.So again we watch favoritism play out. Jacob sends everyone, except his youngest son Benjamin. So they set off on the 150-mile journey to buy grain. When Jacob’s sons return from Egypt with grain but without Simeon, his countenance turns stormy. You can imagine his face. “What? Where is Simeon?”“Well Dad, Simeon was imprisoned. And unfortunately - I really hate to say this - he is to remain imprisoned until Benjamin is presented to the man in charge.” Wince!!!Everyone knows that a nerve has just been hit. God is stripping away the idol. These unhealthy barnacle attachments must be stripped away. He’s being asked by God to go through that narrow gate. But he’s not going to go without a fight. Let’s pick up the narrative at the end of chapter 42. We are going to read the end of 42 and we’ll work all the way through chapter 43 today so settle to enjoy the text. Jacob gets the news that Simeon has been imprisoned as collateral for Benjamin.“How dare you suggest to take my son Benjamin down to Egypt? That’s not happening.” Jacob swore it. Jacob was:When we have idols in our hearts and those idols are threatened, we begin lashing out. We begin blaming. We swear oaths to threaten those around us and warn them to back off. One of the initial feelings that surfaces is blame. Jacob’s idol is being threatened. God is asking him to surrender. And instead of confessing that it’s a problem, he blames. “No. Absolutely not. My idol is not the problem. My sons are the problem.”From a rational point of view, his sons have nothing to do with this. They just went down to Egypt to buy grain and all this happened to them but that doesn’t stop the blame!When someone is in blame mode, they are locked down. They aren’t ready to surrender their idol. I’m not the problem, you are the problem. “You have bereaved me of my children.” How often it is, when our sin is confronted, we disregard the legitimacy and just go into blame mode. “You never put away your dishes. Well, if you wouldn’t let this place get so dirty then I’d have the incentive to keep it clean. Your diet is terrible. Well, if you would buy better food, maybe I wouldn’t eat so terribly. You are on your phone too much. Well, if you would pay attention to me instead of playing on your phone, maybe I wouldn’t have to bury myself in my device.”You see when the idol is threatened, the blame starts erupting out of the heart. It’s a self-defense mechanism, “I don’t have an idolatry problem. The problem is not me. The problem is you. The problem is her. The problem is him.”That’s what Jacob is doing here. You guys are such cruel sons to ask me to give up my precious. The answer is no. An emphatic no! My precious. That’s how chapter 42 ends.So some time has transpired between chapters 42 and 43. Maybe six months. Maybe a year. Maybe two years. It’s enough time for all the grain they had acquired on their previous journey to run out and now they are starving once again.At first, God asks Jacob to surrender his idol. What’s Jacob’s response? Over my dead body. Very well. It actually will be over your dead body. Either he dies of starvation or he sends Benjamin down. That moment of salvation bankruptcy is coming. Jacob is being forced through that narrow gate.Imagine growing your tomato plant and normally you get 50 tomatoes per plant. And this year 90 percent of your plants die and the ones that survive only yield 4-5 bug-infested tomatoes that you have to share with dozens of starving people. Oh, this is such a terrible feeling.So Jacob commands his sons to go down to Egypt, but notice that he conveniently ignores what he knows is the prerequisite for going down. “Why don’t you just go down and try to get food… and you know, just for kicks, let’s just have Benjamin stay with me.”Jacob is caged. God has given him two and only two options. Die or send Benjamin so that you can buy grain and live. Jacob is being forced into a refinement situation. At first, it was a question, “Jacob, will you give up your idol?” Now it’s not an option. God is prying it out of his grip. And the response is severe.Jacob is like a caged animal in a corner with wild darting eyes, hissing, claws extended. “Why did you treat me so badly and tell the man of Egypt that you had another brother?”It had to have been so obvious to the brothers at this point that dad was irrational. Dad was just white-knuckling his idol. He wouldn’t let go. He wouldn’t open his hand. It’s almost embarrassing. Of course, it all felt perfectly normal for Dad. But so painful to watch for the brothers. Dad’s twisted love is distorting his decision making. He’s sick in his thinking.Now it looks terrible, but something good is happening. God is stripping those attachments. Those barnacles that once looked so secure are beginning to show signs of losing their grip. That salvation moment of bankruptcy is near. And then finally it comes.And then he says the words they never thought they’d hear. He humbles himself and gives up the one thing he swore he would never give up. The barnacle breaks free. That attachment releases.What we finally see here is open-handed surrender to God. The white flag is run up.He had to surrender his idol. There was an abandonment of that thing that he demanded to be the center of his world. He had to finally give it up and trust the almighty. It’s impossible to know for sure, but when Jacob finally breaks here, it appears to be a change different from the other times he was bereaved. When Joseph was taken from him:You can hear in this verse the gross self-pity. When he was told that Simeon was taken from him and that Benjamin too was being required he said, “I can’t do it. If harm comes to him, my gray hair would be taken down to Sheol in sorrow.” You can hear in this the self-centered nature of his concern. Self-centered, self-pity.But when he finally breaks it appears the focus changes. “May God Almighty grant you mercy. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” It is up to God.He was stripped of his attachments, no food, weak, he’s lost two maybe three of his children and that beautiful, beautiful salvation moment of bankruptcy has come upon him. It’s through that narrow gate he squeezes. That beautiful salvation moment of bankruptcy where it felt like all was lost. That decision to give up his most precious will ultimately save his life. He had to lose his life to save it.JosephSo we looked at the process of surrender in Jacob’s life. In Jacob’s case, it was the surrender of a disordered love of his family.Joseph too is being asked to surrender. Joseph is being asked to forgive his brothers and in order to do that, he is going to have to surrender hate. He is going to have to release the grudge and the bitterness that he feels. But unlike his father, he’s not going to blame and fight. He’s going to engage and bless. But it’s still going to be a process.Joseph is being asked to forgive his enemies. And the opportunity presents itself. The brothers pack their camels.So they make the journey and ring the doorbell of the palace and present themselves to the king. Now apparently Joseph saw them coming while they were a way off and gives his palace attendant some instructions.So you can imagine the brothers saying, “Um, we are here to see Joseph.” “Ah yes, he’s been expecting you. He’d like to dine with you at lunch.” What? That’s about the last thing in the world you’d expect. Now remember, the last memory Joseph’s brothers had of Joseph was harsh words and false accusations. “Now he wants us over for lunch? That’s not good. He’s setting us up for something. It must be the money in the sacks. Well if we volunteer it, it will go better for us. Let’s just immediately confess everything.”Now, this is the first real act of grace they have received. This is the first reveal of Joseph’s intent toward them. You will recall that this is the resolution to a test that Joseph set up. He commanded that the put the money back in their sacks. Now why did he do this? Why this test? I think Joseph is doing something really significant here. He’s recreating at this moment the scenario of his betrayal. All the elements are present: his brother Simeon is in a pit, is in prison, and they have all been given money in their sacks. Will they return as honest men, give the money back, and try to free their brother from the pit? Or, will they leave Simeon in prison and take the money and run? Will they abandon their brother for a fist-full of cash? Will they, so-to-speak, sell off Simeon to some foreigners for 20 pieces of silver?Joseph is testing to see if they have experienced that salvation moment of bankruptcy. Have they gone through that very narrow gate where they abandoned all their props, all their idols, all other means by which they hope to save themselves and they cried out for God to save them? Now, the test has been run. They return with the money in the sacks! Do you see? They passed the test. Kind of. Because it’s been many, many months, perhaps even years. We know that they have been holding out as long as they possibly could.So Joseph legitimately asks, “Did they just return with the money because they were starving to death or because they were truly honest men as they claimed?” Joseph has been hurt and now he has to decide if he’s going to re-engage. There is some evidence that perhaps they’ve changed, but it’s not conclusive. What do you do in situations like this? This is not irregular. This is how forgiveness always works! I’m not sure they have changed. Do I want to open up and risk being hurt again?You see a lot of people, out of self-protection and fear of being re-wounded, won’t ever let someone change. They harbor that bitterness. They always see a bad motive no matter how long things continue in a positive direction. No matter how much a person has actually changed, suspicion just follows them around like a dark cloud. And that suspicion and hurt can eventually prevent the person from ever wanting to try. “No matter how hard I try I’m always viewed with suspicion so I’ll just stop trying.”Joseph tells the house servant how to respond. “If they have the money in the sacks, if they confess that it was there, give them the benefit of the doubt. And then I want you to go get Simeon.”And now he sees those bald spots again. The dream comes rushing back. Now Joseph is face to face with his tormentors. He’s again face to face with his abusers. You want to talk about being caged. This is being emotionally caged.But Joseph will not allow the pain of the past to dictate the future. He takes Simeon out of prison. He reunites the family. And then he begins to inquire again about their father.You see, he’s open-hearted here. That such a great picture of the posture of forgiveness. Open-hearted. “I open my heart to you. I’m willing to welcome you. I want to inquire about your welfare. I care about your life.” So he’s willing to engage. He’s ready to bless. And then in that process, he breaks.Here, the most feared man of the land, reduced to a puddle of tears. All those years of hurt and anguish. Benjamin would have been just a few years old last time he saw him. And the tears just rush out of him. He probably surprised himself that all that emotion was even in there. Where is all this emotion coming from?He’s giving them clues of his knowledge of them. He’s starting to leak clues. Can you imagine how eerie this would have been for the brothers to see everyone seating in their birth order? I calculated the odds of this happening at random and it’s about 1 chance in 40 million. It’s so unlikely.Your guest is signaling to you. This would be like showing up to a hotel in Hawaii and your hotel room has a complimentary laptop with your Facebook account open and waiting for you, your bank statement printed for you on your bed, and your last year’s tax returns on the TV screen. What’s going on here?The brothers are saying, “How could he possibly know this? It’s an impossible accident.” And why give Benjamin five times? That could not be more strange. He’s the youngest. Joseph is signaling. “I know you. I have a special connection to Benjamin.” Joseph is opening his heart wide. What we see here is the evidence of surrender. This work was done not over minutes, days, or months but years. God had been plowing the soil of Joseph’s heart to prepare him to weep tears of compassion and warmth.If Joseph had been stewing in his mind for all these years, “My brothers, man they took away my life. I’m so bitter toward them. What did I ever do to them? If I ever see them again, I’ll tear them limb from limb. I’ll show them what it’s like to rot in prison. I’ll show them what it’s like to not see the light of the sun for years.” If that is what Joseph had been doing in his mind for 25 years, then that’s exactly what he would have done. But he had been doing something very different. He turned it over to God. God had brought Joseph through that salvation moment of bankruptcy and he surrendered it to God. No God, I trust you. I will not be bitter. I will love them like you loved me.CommunionNow we are about to take communion here and there’s something significant to notice in the process of surrender. God brings every one of the characters in this narrative through pivotal salvation moments of bankruptcy. He did it to Joseph. He did it to Jacob. We are going to trace it in Judah next week. And guess what? He’s doing it to you and me right now. God loves us too much to leave us unrefined and loving idols. He loves us too much to see our affections unordered. He really does.We clutch and cling to our idols and we do not want to let them go. We have created centers around which our life must revolve and those centers. It could be your career. It could be your family. It could be church ministry. It could be money. It could be an unforgiving spirit. But it’s an idol. It has ahold of your affections. You aren’t free. And God loves you too much to keep it there. So he begins the stripping process. He wants us to confess.When that thing is threatened, at first we blame. Then when it’s forcibly taken from us, we fight. “The problem is not me it’s you.” We make excuses. “If it wasn’t for this situation, I wouldn’t have done it.” But God keeps working on us. And soon we break.And you know what that breaking is? It’s the moment we realize that our sin of attachments and idolatry is a sin against the God who saved us. When we break, it is that moment where we realize that our sin was not against other people. Our sin was against God himself.“Please forgive me for ever trusting anything other than you. That’s me laughing at you and throwing you in the pit. Forgive me for trusting in my money. That’s me selling you off as a slave to Egypt. Forgive me for trusting in my reputation. That’s me selling you for 30 pieces of silver.”Jesus is ready to forgive. Jesus as the greater Joseph, seats us in order at his table, revealing that he knows all about us. He knows our sin in advance of our confession. He’s just sitting there totally and completely ready to forgive. He’s already absorbed all the hurt. He’s already been taken down into the pit. He’s already suffered the rejection. He’s suffered the hurt of betrayal. His body has already been broken. His blood-stained coat is evidence of blood that has already been spilled. And he’s sitting you down at the table ready to bless. Do you see the spread of blessing before you? It’s so wonderful.And here we are wringing our hands. Does he know about us selling off our brother? Does he know about the 20 shekels? Does he know about the hidden treasure in the sacks? Does he know about the lies we told to father?And so in those moments of incredible insecurity, we try to project images of ourselves that we are worthy folks. We are honest men. We have never been spies. But do you not see? He knows everything. Our deeds are laid bare before him.And we are all worked up in our hearts thinking that our confession is going to disqualify us from the approval and love of the sovereign. Oh church, do you see how it is exactly the opposite? It is the act of confession that qualifies us to receive the grace and mercy already purchased for us! Jesus as the greater Joseph knows it all and is ready with open arms to forgive. Do you see that he is waiting and wanting to give that to you right now? Jesus is the ultimate Joseph who seats you at his table and is ready to bless.

Genesis 42:1-28 - Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt.  It’s Payback! Gen 42:1-2 - When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” 2 He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.” Jacob’s Hangry!  He’s hungry, he’s angry, he’s out of patience.  They’ve all got families, kids, grandkids and they’re all Hangry… starving to death!  Why are you all just sitting around looking at each other!  Do something!  I’ve heard there’s grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some before we lose everything we have and die! Gen. 42:3-9A - 3 Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. 5 So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also. 6 Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. 7 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied, “to buy food.” 8 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. With all these people in the surrounding countries coming to Egypt to buy grain you have to wonder if Joseph ever thought he would see his Father and family? Joseph’s brothers had no idea Joseph was still alive, and they certainly didn’t think he would be the Prime Minister of Egypt! NOTE: We think it’s frustrating to run out of Striking Paper, Sanitizer and Lysol spray because of a Virus?  Imagine a famine so bad you run out of food. You’ve had one biscuit to last you all week this last week and you ate the last bite of it on Saturday.  There’s no food!  People are traveling from all over the world to Egypt to buy grain just to stay alive.     So here his brothers are standing before Joseph to purchase grain.  They don’t recognize him but he recognizes them!  (Joseph is in his late 30’s clean shaven, Egyptian Headdress, speaks through a translator) and all they see is this powerful Egyptian Official. Gen. 42:9-13 - 9 Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”  10 “No, my lord,” they answered. “Your servants have come to buy food.  11 We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.” 12 “No!” he said to them. “You have come to see where our land is unprotected.” 13 But they replied, “Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.” Joseph has a flashback to his dreams of 20 years ago...  when Joseph shared his dreams with his family. Gen. 37:7 -  “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”   Gen. 37: 9 - “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!”   Don’t you know that it was so tempting for Joseph to reveal himself and say “I told you so!”  Talk about an opportunity for Payback!  Joseph, doesn’t do that, he doesn’t reveal himself.  He buys a little time, acts suspicious of them and accuses them of being spies. Joseph’s brothers are freaking out.  Wait a minute, we’re not spies.  We’ve just come to buy food, and they reveal to Joseph that his Father Jacob and his brother Benjamin are still alive. When they spoke of their family they didn’t even mention Joseph by name… they just said “one who is no more.”   As far as his brothers are concerned Joseph no longer existed.  That had to hurt! Gen.

Every time I leave downtown there’s this big billboard that says what the winning lottery prize is: $300 million. And I know I’m not supposed to fantasize about this as a pastor, but I think, what would I do with 300 million dollars? And it’s such an intriguing thing to think about because right now we are all limited by our finances. We want to do things, but we can’t because we don’t have the power to do what we want. Money is just liquid power. You can get a lot done if you have a lot of power. What if all of a sudden you were not limited? What if you had this incredible opportunity to make powerful changes? That kind of money is powerful.Now, this is a surprise to nobody, but according to folks who track this stuff, a third of those who win the lottery end up filing bankruptcy. Roughly the same statistics apply to celebrities or athletes who made their millions in their short bursts of fame and then somehow squander it away. But even more than that, many who are given the gift of this incredible power will say, “Winning the lottery was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I wish it never would have happened.”How can it be that getting more of a powerful resource would represent a bad thing? And here’s the answer: power given to those who lack character will ultimately destroy them.You see, I already know the answer to the question of what I would do with the money. It’s what I do with it right now. What I value is not going to change if I win money. How I care about people now is how I will care about people then. My financial priorities then will be what my financial priorities are now. If I don’t save, serve, and give now, I won’t then.A winning ticket will simply reveal in a more dramatic fashion who I already am. Money is not the problem. Money revealed the problem that was already there. And what we are going to learn today from the story of Joseph is that success, power, influence, and blessing are just as much a test of character as trials, suffering, pain, and hardship. Both failure and success are pressures that reveal either weakness or strength in our character.The sermon today is entitled, “The Greatest Promotion of All Time”, a promotion that will test Joseph far more than any prison cell.In our text today we watch Joseph - in a single day - rise from the lowest position in society with the least amount of power, influence, and purpose (as a prisoner) to the highest position in society with the most amount of power, influence, and purpose (as the second in command in the most powerful nation in the middle east).ReviewNow in order for this promotion to have it’s full and appropriate impact we need to remember the extremes that Joseph experienced. Joseph was the favorite son of a father who suffered from acute favoritism. He was hated by his brothers for that favoritism and consequently thrown into a pit and sold as a slave in Egypt. Now, while in slavery, the rays of God’s providence shine upon him and he begins to prosper. He finds favor in the eyes of his master and is afforded some measure of freedom as a sovereign in the household of Potiphar. In fact, we read that the entire household was entrusted to his care.And then all of a sudden he was hit by a sniper bullet out of nowhere in the form of the advances and proposition of his master’s wife, this artful seductress. Potiphar’s wife had come at him like a lioness with outstretched claws, and he had only managed to escape barely, but it cost him everything, his cloak, his reputation, his freedom. He had previously been dumped like a pile of trash in a cistern by his brothers, and now he has been dumped in a dungeon by his boss. The one who was in charge is now being charged with attempted rape.Now he finds himself in a hole in the ground, full of disease, likely without sun, eating terrible food. You can imagine it. In fact, Psalm 105 gives us some divine insight into his conditions. In the Psalm, David is recounting how God in his loving care was guiding the nation of Israel.So the Psalm gives us some divine insight as to his condition in the pit but also some divine insight as to God’s reason for the pit. Joseph was in the pit. Why? Joseph, I am quite certain, asked the question many times, “God why are you allowing me to suffer?”God was testing him. He was refining his character for significant later use. So we should imagine him enslaved, in irons, around both his ankles and neck. Imagine the neck pain, the rubbing.But then again, the providence of God shines upon Joseph and he finds favor in the eyes of the warden and rises to a position of influence where he is able to interpret the dreams of both the cupbearer and the baker, only to be forgotten again for two full years. And the days, weeks, months go by and Joseph has no idea if he will ever get out.But then it happens. Pharaoh has a dream. He’s troubled. The cupbearer remembers Joseph and he’s brought before the king. And Joseph interprets the kings dream. Today we watch Joseph get promoted, from the pit to the palace. I think this is the greatest promotion that has ever happened in the history of the world. The tides of providence turn Joseph’s life around, almost instantly. In less than 24 hours, Joseph goes from wearing rags to golden garments. He’s riding a chariot. People are bowing down to him. And in all of this Joseph’s goals never changed. Joseph was always asking the question, “How can I be effective for God in my circumstances?”Two weeks ago we talked about how to be effective in the dungeon. Last week we talked about how to be effective in times of change and uncertainty. This week we’ll talk about how to be effective in the palace. How do we serve God when we have been given power, responsibility, oversight, and influence? All of us have been given this to one degree or another. You may be given power to lead your children or your family, to lead a group in your class, to lead a team at your place of work, to lead a ministry. How can we be effective when God sees it fit to give us positions of leadership? Let’s look at the text and find out.We are in chapter 41 and verse 33 and you will remember that Joseph had just finished interpreting Pharaoh’s dream. He said both that the dream was fixed and that it would happen soon. So immediately after interpreting the dream, Joseph speaks.So we are asking the question, how do we serve God when we have been given power, responsibility, oversight, and influence? The first thing we learn from the text is to:Now Joseph has not yet been given a position of power, but he has been given an opportunity to speak to someone of power. He’s given the rare opportunity to influence a powerful political leader. How many minutes do you suppose Joseph had to speak with Pharoah? He doesn’t know. Was this a 5-minute interchange? Was he given 15 minutes?What if you had 5 minutes to speak to the president. What would you say? His time is worth more than a million dollars a minute. You have 5 million dollars of his time. What would you say? Do you feel the pressure?It takes great wisdom to balance all that is at stake in that interaction. It takes great wisdom to talk to a man who does not value what you value but has incredible influence to change what you care about. This is the dilemma of politics is it not? We long for change in our country right now. We long for justice, peace, order, honesty. How do we wisely speak into these situations to people who don’t see the world the way we do?Here Joseph is speaking to a guy that worships the sun god and the fertility god and whose conception of morality would make our heads spin. And he wants to speak God’s truth into this situation. How tricky! Such wisdom would be needed. How does he capture the ear of Pharaoh, represent God accurately, and act in such a way that the nation is preserved? So many conflicting values! So many wrong things a guy could say! So precious few right ways to say it! So much is at stake. It would be so easy to be misunderstood. But Joseph speaks in wisdom. And his wise words direct Pharaoh in wise ways.He says to Pharaoh, “Take advantage of the insight God has given you. When God gives you insight, act on it. You have been given an incredible gift. Knowledge of the future.” In contemporary terms, you know what the NASDAQ is going to do every day for 14 years. You could make a whole lot of money if you knew that, couldn’t you? Go all-in with that information Pharaoh. Don’t dabble.That’s a power advantage, isn’t it? So Joseph speaks to Pharaoh wisely. He appeals to Pharaoh’s self-interest, showing him that he could be a hero and could increase his wealth. He upholds the name of God by insisting on the trustworthiness of dreams and interpretations that come from the God of Israel. He saves the nation by ensuring that the right course of action is taken ensuring that millions of lives would be saved. Joseph says, “This famine is coming and you need to help your nation prepare for it.” And so he suggests a plan. Institute a 20% wheat tax. That was Joseph’s suggestion.And now drum roll here. How is Pharaoh going to respond? Remember, we know how this is all going down. Joseph has no idea. Pharaoh still hasn’t even spoken a word. He’s just listening. Joseph is just speaking, watching Pharaoh’s jaw twitch. Maybe Pharaoh is frowning. What do the furrowed brow and frown mean? Maybe Pharaoh’s got the poker face going on. For all Joseph knows, Pharaoh’s going to fly off the handle and hang him from the next available branch or send him back to prison. Joseph has no idea what’s next.So we are asking the question, how do we serve God when we have been given power, responsibility, oversight, and influence? Here’s the second thing we learn.Joseph tells Pharaoh that to administrate ahead of this coming storm, you are going to need leadership. Now I’m always tempted to read this - and I think I’m tempted only because of how I know the story ends - thinking that Joseph is inserting himself into the suggestion he makes to Pharoah. “Pharoah, here’s what you need to do. You need to pick a very wise leader, but be careful in your selection. You can’t trust a lot of people out there so if I were you I’d pick a pastor, a pastor in west Boise, preferably. They are the most trustworthy. Maybe a man who is 6’4”, brown-eyed, dark-haired…" I mean is Joseph describing himself? Now, I really don’t think so. I honestly think what happened next could not have surprised Joseph more. I think he thought to himself, “Best case scenario, Pharaoh says thank you and delivers me from prison and maybe, just maybe grants me citizenship. Then I’d be free to return to my family. That would be best case.”I mean not even a total lunatic would do what Pharaoh does next. Who turns the kingdom over to a prisoner accused of attempted rape without even a background check? How do you instantly have this much trust in a felon? God is turning the hearts of kings like rivers of waters.And so in a moment, in an instant, Joseph is thrust into the second most powerful office in the world. His head must have just been absolutely spinning. His mind must have been choking from the force-feeding of ideas and swirling emotions being crammed into his brain. Excitement, fear, terror, elation, insecurity, and doubt were all mixing together in his experience.Suddenly he is now in a position to lead. Now he has power. He has influence. Now what he says or doesn’t say will impact those around him. He’s in a position to lead. The only difference from the day before to today is that he has been given a position. He’s got a new office with new responsibilities.There are many people who could be great leaders but are not in the position to do so. There are many who have the talent, who have the ability but are not given the office. Some people would make awesome parents but God hasn’t given them that leadership responsibility yet. Some would be great pastors, ministry leaders, life group leaders, and bible study leaders but aren’t yet in that position. Some would make amazing managers of large corporations but instead, are being faithful as parents. This was Joseph for many years. In fact, let’s just review the timeline for a moment. Joseph here is 30 years old. He was sold into slavery at age 17. So for 13 years, he was in some combination of working for Potiphar or in prison. No wife or children or family to lead. No ministry to lead, no congregation. He’s had some power in Potiphar’s house and in prison but nothing compared to what he’s capable of. For years of his life! Even though he was capable of so, so much more, even though he had the gifts necessary for leading a country, he didn’t have the position.Just because you don’t have a position today doesn’t mean you won’t tomorrow. But it may be that it’s just not the season. Realize, it is the seasons of submissions that prepare you to be the kind of leader that others want to submit to.Remember Psalm 105? God put Joseph in prison to test him, to forge him, to make him a good leader. What is it about prison that prepares you for leadership? Consider what happens to a person as they rise to leadership. As people acquire power they are required to give up freedom. Good leaders recognize that power and freedom are in an inverse relationship to one another. When you are not in a position of leadership you don’t have the power but you do have the freedom to act without it having your decisions affect people. When you are in a position of leadership you exchange freedom for power. Now you have power but you don’t have freedom because you can never just make decisions that have no effect on others. When you say something or don’t say something it has an impact. Acting or not acting. Acting in this way versus this way. It always matters. Good leaders acquire power and give up freedom.It’s so hard to be a good leader because the prison that good leaders find themselves in is not fun. It’s hard to recognize that your life is not your own. That you are imprisoned in service to those you lead. You know what, the best leaders are always the ones who have been trained by imprisonment so that when the imprisonment of leadership comes, they are conditioned and familiar with the bars and are able to serve God in it. Moses was trained by the desert before he led. Daniel was trained by captivity. Jesus himself was trained by 30 years of submission to his parents. Joseph steps into this leadership position well-trained by the dungeon. And that is very evident in his decision making.Now there is a moment for Joseph when this promotion must have just brought tears to his face. “Oh, God has remembered me in my affliction! All this refinement in the dungeon is over and it’s time to be used by God.” Just imagine the transformation! The greatest promotion of all time!So Joseph goes from having an iron chain to a gold chain. The first chain represents the stripping of power and the second chain represents almost limitless power. He goes from bowing the knee to having others bow the knee. He’s given Pharaoh’s signet ring and chariot, this is like Pharaoh’s Visa and BMW. Not only that, he’s given a plaque with an office and a big fancy title. We see here his name is changed which has all the significance of a new identity, new role, new office, new power.Joseph’s name was changed to Zaphenath-paneah. There are a couple of different ideas of what this name might mean. There’s a Hebrew stem in the first part of the name that means ‘to hide.’ The second part of the name could be rendered ‘elucidate.’ So his name might mean something like, “the revealer of hidden things.” Others see an Egyptian root that means God speaks, he lives. In the Septuagint, it could mean the creator and sustainer of life.And to seal the deal, to show how serious Pharaoh is about giving Joseph the office, irrevocably let’s just go ahead and marry him into the royal family. Joseph is given the daughter of the priest of On as a wife. You’re not going to marry your daughter off to a slave who is not a citizen, who has no rights, and who belongs in the dungeon. You marry the princess to who? A prince! To prove that he’s elevated Joseph to the status of prince, Pharaoh gives him one of the kingdom’s princess. He gives Joseph the daughter of one of the priests. The priests were the highest-ranking class in society and Pharaoh himself was part of the priestly class.So you can imagine, the thrill. The elevation. So much new. A new title. A new place to live. A new wife. A new life. Now there are ceremonies, and medals and gold trinkets passed back and forth. There are all sorts of decorations and music and parades and official decrees and fanfare, and talk show appearances, and press releases. People are downloading the Joseph app. I mean Joseph the star is rising. But then the dust settles and Joseph is alone for the first time in days. And he’s just staring at the wall. “What am I going to do with all this power? Everyone is following me. Everyone is looking to me for direction. What am I going to do now that I am in this position of influence and have all this responsibility resting upon my shoulders?”Joseph immediately gets to work. He uses his head to leverage his power. He doesn’t let the power go to his head. He doesn’t rest on top of his heap of abundance. Let’s see what he decides to do with his power.So we are asking the question, how do we serve God when we have been given power, responsibility, oversight, and influence? He’s the third thing we learn.Joseph spoke advice. He was given a position. Now he has to do the work. It’s one thing to say, “Here’s what you should do to be successful.” It’s fun to spend other people’s time and money. It’s fun being an armchair politician. “Oh, if I was in charge of the country, here’s what I’d do.” It’s another thing entirely to make those decisions and be responsible for the outcomes. But Joseph was gifted to do this work.Now there are several things to note here that don’t immediately jump off the text but are apparent upon contemplation. Joseph would have been at least three things. He would have needed to be organized. Joseph would have had to develop systems that worked with repeatable steps. Go into every city and do these things. Immediately begin building silos. Immediately start spreading the word about the coming grain tax. Explain that country is going to begin building food reserves. To have this work effectively, systems, policies, and enforcement protocols all have to be in place. You can see from the text that the entire system is decentralized. Every city is in charge of their own grain supply, their own grain collection and storage, and their own enforcement of the policies. And this all has to be done quickly. No internet, telephone, no way of quickly sending information. The clock is ticking.He would have also needed to be methodical. When you have seven years to work as hard as you can, you have to pace yourself. You can’t go too fast or you’ll burn out. You can’t go to slow and take days off, thinking you have all the time in the world. You have to work at a sustainable, constant speed. Ultramarathon runners are all about pace. One-tenth of a mile per hour to fast and you won’t make it; one-tenth of a mile per hour to slow and you won’t win. What’s that perfect pace that will allow me to cross the finish line with nothing left in the tank?Joseph would have needed to be unrelenting. It says that they just stopped counting the grain. And I’m positive that people were saying to themselves, “Joseph, this is enough. No person alive had seen a famine extreme enough to warrant this kind of preparation. The grain is going to go bad. I mean how could we ever use this much grain? Why do we have to keep pushing so hard Joseph? Can’t we slacken the pace? The grain silos are overflowing. This is ridiculous. Getting a little greedy don’t you think? Joseph, you have hoarding tendencies.”But Joseph as a leader knew how he needed to use his power to serve the people. He knew what to listen to and what not to listen to. He listened if he was pushing them too hard and was in danger of breaking their spirit. He didn’t listen if they said ‘the grain is sufficient.’ So Joseph was effective because he acted in wisdom, led in season, prepared in times of plenty and now we see a fourth one:So we are asking the question, how do we serve God when we have been given power, responsibility, oversight, and influence? He’s the fourth thing we learn.It is right to praise God when we have been blessed. That is good and right. It is part of being a good leader to pause and just say, let us thank the Lord for blessing us. To look back at the ways in which God delivered from calamity.We sing the line in the second verse of the old hymn Come Thou Fount, “Here I raise my Ebenezer; thou hast brought me to this place.” What the heck is an Ebenezer? It means stone of help. It was a pile of stones erected in 1 Samuel so that Israel might remember God’s deliverance and how far he has brought us. Why do we do that? To remind ourselves that God has told us that he is going to be faithful. It doesn’t seem like he is always faithful but we trust him. And now look, he’s proven to be faithful.I don’t want to forget that. And now when I go forward and there more hard times, I will look to this pile of stones and remind myself, if you were faithful back then you will be faithful again. In Joseph’s case, it wasn’t a pile of stones, it was the way he named his kids. He names his first son Manasseh, which means God has caused me to forget. So every time he calls his son it will be a reminder of God’s faithfulness. He will remember a previous time of great pain and hurt and how God blessed him to the point of forgetting all that previous hurt. God will be faithful again.He names his other kid Ephraim whose name means fruitful. Every time he calls him it will be a reminder that God can cause fruitful fields to spring out of deserts.This kind of praise is absolutely appropriate during prosperity. Joseph wasn’t eating dungeon porridge anymore. He was eating the finest leaks and garlic and watermelon that Egypt had to offer. He wasn’t living in the squaller of a sunless dungeon. His palace door had a sprawling eastern view of the Nile River. There were herons and the smells of reeds and grasslands and fertile soil. I mean, life was good and he thanked God for it.I want to apply that corporately for us right now. God, you have blessed us as a church with financial prosperity, stability in our leadership team, a comfortable facility, and the ability to worship freely in our state. It wasn’t always this way. God, you have blessed us and we are thankful. Thanking God in times of blessing and remembering his faithfulness in times of blessing is important because times of hardship are coming.So in times of plenty what do you do? You prepare and your praise. What do you do in times of famine? You serve.Now, this is where it gets good. Joseph is now in a position to really serve. And I’m telling you, this is where all the character is tested. Yes, his character was tested in the dungeon, in times of change and transition, and in the palace as he’s given leadership and the entire country surges in prosperity. But here’s where his character is tested more than anything else. When he is in prosperity and everyone else is in famine. When he has all the chips. When you have all the wealth and influence to help those in need, what do you do then?The story of history is the powerful suppressing the weak. That is the natural disposition of the human heart. That will happen 100 percent of the time unless the spirit of God has transformed it.Consider Jesus. He had all the power. He had all the chips. He had all the wealth. And he surrendered it all. He came not to serve but to be served and give his life a ransom for many. Do you see how significant this point is? When God puts you in a position of power and resources and those around you have none, it’s time to serve.You see, Joseph never saw these gifts as his to start with. It was all God’s when he stripped it away. It was all God’s when he gave him more. It never was not God’s. And so Joseph saw it as his job to serve the people of the kingdom and serve his God. It’s so tempting to see our positions of influence as positions earned. That’s wrong. It’s tempting to see our wealth as earned. That’s wrong. It’s given by God. It’s tempting to see our intellectual accomplishments, artistic, athletic, and work accomplishments as products of our efforts. That’s wrong thinking. All of these are gifts from God. The person you are in the dungeon is the person you will be in the palace is the person you will be when you are in charge of the storehouses in the famine.Now we might not experience a food famine in our lifetime like Joseph, but we certainly will experience other types of famines. Our country is in a spiritual famine right now. And just like Joseph, we have access to food. Just like Joseph, we, as servants of the living God, are able to dispense from the treasuries of the king, the bread of life. We have access to the king’s silos. We have access to unlimited spiritual wealth - to the bread that satisfies, water that springs forth into everlasting life. How are we going to act in wisdom? How will we speak on Facebook, at our workplaces? How will we lead in our respective areas of leadership? How will you prepare and praise in prosperity? As you have time to learn God’s word and study and pray and meditate in freedom, how will you prepare? How will we serve in famine? When all around us are broken people how can we dispense the bread of life? How are we going to minister to our country right now in this spiritual famine?ConclusionNow speaking of famine, we are going to self-inflict a famine on the land this week. This week is a week of prayer and fasting for our body.This year our church theme is “Change What You Love.” What we love determines how we live. Or to say it in terms of hunger - our appetites direct our decisions. We have appetites for food, possession, power, money. What about our appetite for God? By pursuing these lesser joys our hearts can be dulled. There can be a very serious dulling effect of food, money, pleasure.Fasting is designed by God to strip us from the noise of the world. Fasting empties the container of our heart of all the trivial things of this world and makes room for God. You received a handout on the way in. For those of you watching via livestream, there’s a button on the homepage where you can download all this information. And here’s what I want to draw your attention to. We want to pray and fast for three areas:Now let me talk through some practical tips:During the week, we will have a special night of prayer and worship led by Jim and Kirstie Stout.And we’ve also given you some simple resources. This all culminates on Sunday where we come back together and sing to Jesus.

What has happened in the life of Joseph? A pathetically dysfunctional family But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. Now…

## IntroductionI love survival stories. One of my absolute favorites is entitled “The Endurance,” and is about Earnest Shackleton’s attempt to cross the Antarctic Continent from 1914-1917. And what makes it so gripping is the cycles of hope and despair. You’re reading along and they are enduring unbelievable catastrophes. They are getting stuck in ice, their ship sinks, they are in open seas on an iceberg. They run out of key supplies. And you think to yourself, “Wow, I can’t imagine this getting any worse.” And then you look at your book and your only a quarter of the way through. And sure enough, it gets way worse. But then they get this incredible stroke of luck and you think, “Oh, man they are going to make it!” And you’re on this adrenaline high of hope. And you think, “This has got to almost be over.” And you look at your book and you haven’t even reached the halfway marker. And then you find out why. Tragedy strikes. And then you are just crying in sympathy for these guys. It can’t get worse. And it gets way worse. It just keeps cycling through these incredible highs where they celebrate a stroke of fortune only to be rewarded with an unforeseen tragedy of monstrous proportions.And this is kind of the way the Joseph narrative reads. He goes from mountain to valley to mountain to valley. You could illustrate it like this.Joseph starts out on this mountain top, this incredible position of privilege of an especially gifted, favorite, handsome son. But tragedy strikes! His brothers act on their raging jealousy and strip his identity from him like skin from an animal. His family, privilege, language, culture, values, and even his name are stripped away. His naked body and soul is sold into slavery.It’s a tragic valley low. But then with the Lord’s help, he rises to a position of incredible influence and privilege in Potiphar’s house. And now we are standing on a mountain high. Who wouldn’t love the view from where he stands? That is, until strategy strikes in the form of a seductress.Today we watch Joseph go from being in charge to being charged with rape. We watch him descend back into the valley and reach a low watermark, beneath his previous bottom. So let’s watch how this happens in the text. You will remember that this woman is bad news. On the outside, she looks extremely attractive and is always put together. Her hair is always so effortlessly perfect, the clothes are tailored to the perfect length, very physically gifted, very beautiful to behold.But she’s bad news. Why is she such bad news? From the text alone we can tell she has an adulterous heart, she’s a skilled liar, and she is very manipulative. Let’s re-read part of the text from last week and see the seductress work her angle.He’s getting slaughtered by temptation. But he’s trusting God. If you were to summarize from Joseph’s response his chief reason for resisting this woman, what would it be? “How could I do this great evil and sin against God.” That’s his core reason. That reason has both a positive and a negative built into it. There is a consequence of sexual sin and there is a reward for righteousness. And both are intended to keep us in the place of blessing. But I want to illustrate how important it is to correctly identify the consequence and the reward. Because the incorrect identification of reward and consequence might psychologically destroy you.ConsequenceLast week, we mostly talked about consequences. Sexual sin has consequences that we need to take really seriously. We used the analogy of temptation as bait. Every temptation hides a sharp hook that leads to death. And the reason temptation works is because it deceives. Satan is a deceiver. He’s always making bad things look good and good things look bad.Joseph was able to resist temptation because he was able to uncover the deception. This was not life. This was death. It may be pleasurable now but it will be miserable later. The Bible always tries to help us see the deceptions woven into sexual experience. There are always consequences.This woman was hunting down Joseph. Here was a married woman trying to hunt down a precious life. There are always consequences of sexual sin. Yes. We’ve identified those. But God gives us more than just deterrents. There is also a reward for righteousness.Reward.I’ll say it one more time. It is so important to identify the correct consequences and the correct reward. Because the incorrect identification of reward might psychologically destroy you. So what is the reward of righteousness? Let’s begin with what it is not.Let me illustrate it this way. If you were to listen in on Joseph’s prayer life in the heat of his temptation, what do you think he would be praying? “God help me live a life of complete integrity. Everyone knows I’m a follower of YHWH. God, reward me for my righteousness. I want to live completely above reproach. I want to be like a sheet of Teflon so that no accusation has even the slightest chance of sticking. Reward my integrity!”If you overheard that prayer, what’s reward do you think he’d be referring to? Here’s the mistake most of us make. Most of us assume that with enough diligence, obedience, and righteousness, our life will turn out pain-free, struggle-free, and we will have relational harmony throughout. We think God ought to reward our righteousness with wonderful circumstances.Let me show you how dangerous this can be. Let’s imagine for a moment that Joseph incorrectly believes that the reward for righteousness is favorable circumstances.Motives for ObedienceLet’s keep reading the narrative through the lens of this incorrect expectation:Now, this has got to have a wearing effect on a guy. Let’s suppose for a moment that in the heat of these temptations, what was motivating Joseph was the belief that his righteousness was going to be rewarded. And he had a very specific understanding of what that reward was. Let’s imagine Joseph with the yet-to-be-written book of Proverbs in his hands. He reads chapter 1:And he’s thinking, “Okay God, I’m counting on you take out this adulterous woman. I’m going to obey you. This is tough but I trust this is going to get better. After all, you told me:”“So God, I’m praying that you would fix this situation. That’s what I really want.”And we could imagine a Joseph whose motive for obedience was the reward for his righteousness in the form of vindication, justice, relational harmony, and comfortable situation. Well, look at what happens next.Now Joseph is freaking out at this moment. But he’s got his book of Proverbs and it just so happened that it was September 11 so he had just read Proverbs 11 that morning.“Okay, God, you’ve said that my reward for righteousness is deliverance. Time for you to do that, right now.”And he was so consumed with chapter 11, he read clean through to chapter 12:“Cause my house to stand! The reason I obeyed you, Lord, was that you promised to reward my righteousness. Time for some help here.”Now if Joseph thought in his mind that the reason he is obeying the Lord is that he will be rewarded for his righteousness in the form of comfortable circumstances, he would be very, very, very disappointed. He would feel very betrayed and very confused at this point.Think about Joseph in heavy chains around his neck and manacles around his wrists and ankles. And he would have said something like this, “The whole reason I obeyed you, Lord, is that you promised to reward my righteousness and now I’m in prison. What kind of reward is that?”Many people turn from God for exactly this reason. They are confused by suffering and ask, “God, why did you take my son or daughter? Why did you let that terrible accident happen? God, why did that financial tragedy destroy us? Why are we suffering from this physical illness?” And they walk away from God.Prosperity Preaching in Conservative ChurchesNow most of us realize that suffering plays a role in the Christian life. Now not one of us in the room buys into prosperity theology which basically says, “God wants you to be materially, circumstantially prosperous and so if you are not materially prosperous you are out of step with God’s will. You either don’t have enough faith, you haven’t prayed, you have some sin in your life, or some combination of these factors.” We ought to know, just from a cursory reading of the Bible that this is bogus theology. There are dozens of heroes of the faith that honored God and were rewarded with suffering - including Joseph and even Jesus himself. That can’t be right and it isn’t. We realize that suffering is part of the Christian life.But what I want you to understand is that prosperity theology did not originate with greedy preachers. It originates in your own greedy heart. At a very subconscious level, we believe that we deserve ease. We expect comfort. We expect a physical reward for righteousness. We expect comfort and relational harmony ought to be our reward for righteousness. And here’s how I can prove it. I’m going to trick you so watch for it. See if you can relate to this train of thought: “Man, I have really got myself into a mess. I’ve totally been a terrible parent and now my kids are acting up in this way. I’ve been neglectful. I feel guilty about that. I’ve been totally mean to my spouse and now they are all mad at me and I deserve it. I’ve been really lazy and procrastinated. So now I’m reaping the rewards for that. I didn’t save for retirement and now I’m paying the price. What was I to expect? I made this bed and now God is making me lay in it.”There it is. That is conservative evangelical prosperity theology at it’s finest. Yet if our righteousness does not merit prosperity and good circumstances, then our unrighteousness does not merit poverty and bad circumstances. Why? Because God does not reward or punish primarily through circumstances. If the gospel of Jesus Christ means anything, then it means you are already righteous. You have been merited the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It means the verdict has already been delivered. And there is no judging of your works as if they are the basis upon which you receive pleasant or unpleasant circumstances. The basis of our circumstances is God’s sovereign, providential plan for our good and for his glory. There is no ying-yang. There is not karma upon which the world operates that says because you did this bad thing over here, the cosmic powers that be will ensure this bad thing will happen to you and because you did this good thing over here, the divine forces of the universe will ensure that this good thing happens to you.If you think that your circumstances are somehow divinely linked to your righteousness or unrighteousness, how would you explain what you witness in the world? Is it not the case that sometimes the unrighteous prosper and the righteous suffer? And is not the inverse true? And if you concede that this exists, how would you ever know when your good circumstances are a result of your good behavior or when your good circumstances are a result of God circumventing your bad behavior?God does not reward our righteousness with material prosperity, physical prosperity, or relational prosperity. There is a reward but that’s not it. On the other hand, God also does not punish our unrighteousness with material poverty, physical poverty, or relational poverty. There are consequences to unrighteousness but that’s not it.You want to argue with me, I know. Isn’t there cause an effect? For sure. That’s not what we are talking about. Yes, if you punch people, they are going to punch you back. Yes, if you are kind you will generally receive kind treatment. Is there a connection? Of course. Here’s the distinction I’m making. I’m trying to disconnect the reward of righteousness with circumstances. Yes, certain causes will generally have certain effects. But that effect is not a reward. The reward of righteousness is something else. What is the reward?One of the most remarkable things about Joseph is that he understood reward. The reward for righteousness is simply this: closeness with God. How could I do this great evil and sin against God?Joseph wasn’t looking to get a position of influence from God, nor riches, fame, glory, or blessings from God. He was looking for God! God was the desire of his heart. Joseph appears to have the heart described by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.It is so easy to confuse the reward, isn’t it? The gift is God. The gift is being with God, closeness, the feeling of satisfaction knowing you didn’t betray him, freedom from guilt, the satisfaction of his smile. This is the reward. This is what Joseph was after.Many are after a different reward. They mistakenly believe that the reward for righteousness is the gifts of God rather than God himself. In fact, if you remember, this is the problem with the Psalmist in Psalm 73. You may recall, the Psalm begins:The Psalm begins by affirming that God rewards the righteous. Great! But what’s the reward? That’s the all-important question we have been asking. It’s easy to get it wrong. And at first, Asaph did get it wrong. Asaph, the writer of this Psalm, says, “My foot almost slipped when I looked around and I saw the wicked prospering.” Everywhere he looked he saw reversals of how things ought to be. He saw the wicked being rewarded. They were the ones who were well-fed, had luxury cars, got anything they wanted, and got away with such evil.If the righteous are rewarded, then how do you explain this? God doesn’t reward the righteous. He’s rewarding the wicked! And what’s God’s answer? You’re totally misunderstanding the reward. The reward of the righteous is nearness to God. Closeness to God is the reward and separation from God is the consequence of unrighteousness. And when the Psalmist enters the house of God, it’s all made clear to him.This was Joseph! “How could I do this great evil and lose the relational intimacy I have with God?”Do you feel distant from God? Perhaps it is because of sin. If I ever feel distant from God, this is always the first question I ask myself. Am I aware of any sin that might be distancing me from God? I might be getting away with it like the man of Psalm 73, but I have no closeness with God. Repent!The godly prize this closeness with God more than anything in the world. How could I do this great evil and sin against God!For Joseph, the reward and the consequences are one and the same. The consequence of sexual sin is that God becomes very distant. The reward of righteousness is that God becomes very near.Now here’s where you can actually see the reward given to Joseph in the text itself. Even though Joseph was unjustly thrown into prison, accused of attempted rape, and had his character drug through the mud, they could not take from him the thing he prized most. Now, look at how it is stated in the text. It’s so beautiful!Now there, my friends, is your reward for righteousness. The reward of the righteous is the awareness of the steadfast love of God, the presence of God, and communion with God. Joseph was rewarded with the awareness of the steadfast love of the Lord. What a beautiful picture. Locked in prison walls, stripped of everything, all men’s power used against you to destroy you, but you have the steadfast love of God! Joseph was richly, richly rewarded!Now, this might seem a little too neat and too tidy. Those who are currently in a difficult situation might say to me at this moment, “You sure look comfortable up there. Have you ever suffered a day in your life? I mean, in the midst of suffering it sure doesn’t feel like I’m being rewarded with intimacy with God. It actually feels more like God is about 10 billion miles away as I scream out my prayer into the night and he doesn’t answer.”You won’t always feel the reward in the midst of difficult circumstances. In fact, do you remember Job? The Bible says Job was a righteous man, blameless and upright and God allowed him to go through a period of intense suffering. Job has lost his house in a hurricane, all his family, his entire 401k has been wiped out, and he’s got some nasty sickness replete with body boils, a sickness that would make COVID-19 look like a dreamy relief. Not only that, but his friends are heckling him that he must have sinned in some horrific way.He’s suffering as a righteous man. What is our reward supposed to be for the righteous? The reward is supposed to be a relational closeness with God. We are supposed to feel close to God. Is that how Job feels?How do we square this? It sounds nice to say that God is our reward for righteous living, but is it true to our experience? As Joseph stood staring at his prison wall, how do you suppose he felt? Elation? I doubt it. How is the reward of righteousness experienced?Let me give you an example. Running is terrible. Those of you who actually enjoy running are freaks of nature. For most of us, we just hate it. You don’t feel like anything good is happening. I generally feel like throwing up, like my legs are rubber mallets, and my lungs are tiny plastic sandwich baggies flapping in a hurricane. It’s truly just torture. But then when I finish, suddenly, the magic kicks in. My body is flushed with energy, I feel loose, my muscles thank me for actually being used. After the suffering is over, I stand back and I realize that the suffering eclipsed the really wonderful things going on at a much more nuanced level.The reward was there all along, it was just being drowned out by the noise of suffering. This is much how the reward of righteousness works in the midst of suffering. James Fixx wrote a book entitled, The Complete Book of Running which sounds pretty definitive, doesn’t it. I’m guessing he’s one of these freaks. And there’s a section in the book where he addresses the psychology of running. He says the hardest thing about running a marathon is winning the mental battle. When you suffer, weird stuff happens to your mind. He says, “I would be in the middle of a marathon and the pain would wear on me to the point where I would ask myself the question, ‘Why am I doing this again?’ But the pain makes you forget.” And he would start to wrack his brain for a reason why he was punishing himself so severely and he would find he had no answer.Isn’t that sometimes how you feel in suffering? I’m sure Joseph felt this way. “God, why did I choose to obey you again? Why didn’t I just give in? God if I had slept with that woman, I would have had a really great night, and probably would have even been rewarded in some way but now I’m cursed. What’s the reward for righteousness again?” And he has no answer.Maybe you are suffering for righteousness’ sake and you find you have no answer. You thought there was an answer but you can’t remember it. So you know what James Fixx recommended? Memorize the reasons. Before every race, he would memorize the reasons he loved running. And when he was super tired, he would recite those reasons back to his own brain. That’s good advice for the Christian. If Joseph had the New Testament, for sure he would have memorized:You could imagine this being very helpful. Because prisons are not fun. Imagine being in prison and what your body would be screaming at you. How would you feel being hungry, hot, the smell of urine and human waste, dirty, sick, and coughing. What’s my reward for righteousness again? Nothing comes to mind.I’m sure in this moment, all Joseph’s dreams about sheaves of wheat bowing down and stars bowing down seemed like pipe dreams. All he can see and smell and taste is the dungeon. But there’s this verse I memorized. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.Now James Fixx had one final trick. “If things really get bad and you can’t remember what you memorized, the final trick I used to play on my brain is I used to say, ‘Well I know when I get there, I’ll remember it. I know I had a good reason to start. When I get there, I’ll remember it.’”Now there’s a lot of wisdom in this, and this is what Joseph does. Joseph says, “How can I then do this wicked thing and sin against God?” At that moment it’s all clear. But then he gets tossed into prison, and perhaps God feels a million miles away. But he can say, “I have no idea why this happening and I can’t even remember the reason I decided righteousness was worth it. But I know there was a reason and when all this is over, I’ll remember.”Imagine a marathon runner who forgets the reason he runs and just decides to quit. The reward was all around him, it was in him, it was just ahead of him in spades, but he couldn’t remember and so he just stopped. How tragic to lose a race because you forgot!Do you know the Christian’s version of this? It’s Romans 8:28, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose.” I don’t know what that good purpose is, but when I get there, I’ll remember. When I get there, I’ll know it. You see Romans 8:28 is a verse for the dungeon. It’s not what you quote when you get a stimulus check. It’s what you quote when you find out you have cancer, or when your child walks away from the faith, or when your marriage is in shambles.Nobody Can Take The RewardYou see, for a Christian, one of the greatest comforts is that nobody can take that reward away from you. Nobody has the power to take away that assurance. In Joseph’s case, everyone tried. Everyone was trying to ensure that nothing worked together for Joseph’s good. There were all sorts of power exchanges going on trying to strip Joseph of his reward for righteousness. If you inspect the narrative closely you will see the story is a story of various powers trying to destroy Joseph and strip him of his reward, but he is indestructible because of God’s righteousness in him. No power can destroy the righteousness of God.And you can see this in the text by tracing the Hebrew word “hand.” In Hebrew, the word ‘hand’ is nearly synonymous with power. In an agrarian society, power is represented by plowing, tying a rope, harvesting, building, farming, weaving, raising children - all things we do with our hands. And there are all these expressions in the Bible that associate power with the hand: - God shuts his hand. - Open your hand to me or do not relax your hand. - A mighty hand and outstretched arm or the right hand. - Deliver my enemies into my hands.The hand is synonymous with power. You can trace the word ‘hand’ through the narrative. At first, Joseph is put into the hand of the Ishmaelites. He’s under their power, under their hand. But soon the power shifts. Everything in Potiphar’s house is given into Joseph’s hand. Everything that is, except Potiphar’s wife. But then the woman uses her imperial hand, her power, to try and grab Joseph. But that grasping hand does not reach Joseph. Only his clothes are left in her hand. She is ultimately empty-handed. And all through the narrative the power shifts, from Joseph’s brothers to the Ishmaelites to Potiphar to Pharaoah to the seductress. Who has the power? Whose hand is controlling these events?As we back away, we are shocked to see, none of these hands are actually doing anything. It’s the sovereign hand of God, orchestrating, keeping, preserving, redeeming, strengthening those he wills to strengthen, and destroying those he wills to destroy. Ultimately Joseph entrusted himself to that gracious hand and when he is safe in God’s hand nothing can touch him. Nothing can hurt him. The hand of the woman could not reach him. The hand of others could not separate him from the hand of God.And this should be a lesson for us in suffering. It’s the thing we memorize. It’s the thing we recall to mind. The hands of men can never ultimately assail me. They don’t have the power to take away my reward. Their hands can’t reach that far.Even though the suffering is so terrible, know that when the suffering lets up the reward will be obvious. For Joseph that suffering lets up. And even though it’s not perfectly clear at this moment in prison, he begins to see glimpses of God’s hand working, saving, redeeming, preserving, and keeping. Listen to it.The story of Joseph is the ultimate example of Romans 8:28. God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and who are called according to his purpose. What if you were Joseph with one key difference? What if you knew that the answer to your suffering is that your suffering would be written into the pages of the Bible to encourage other Christians? Wouldn’t it be easy to suffer through prison for two years if you knew that you would be made ruler of the entire land?Wouldn’t that change things? Of course it would! Can you trust God if you don’t know the reason? God’s hands are large enough for that. Can you accept the fact that your reward for righteousness will not necessarily be pleasant circumstances, but in that dungeon of darkness, God will show you his steadfast love?Ultimately, this has incredible sustaining ethical power because circumstances don’t factor into the reason why you obey. It’s why Joseph was able to resist. Why are you righteous? Why do you keep God’s sexual ethic, Joseph? What is Joseph’s answer? Because the nearness of God is my good. How could I do this great evil and lose closeness with God? If the only reason you obey God is that you don’t like consequences, you will fail. It’s easy to think, “I’m righteous because it’s beneficial to my business. If I get caught it would be horrific. If I get caught, my reputation would be destroyed. Can’t have that. If I got involved in this sexual stuff, well, I can’t imagine breaking apart my family. That would be more than I could bear.”That’s all fine. What if you were totally righteous but you were falsely judged, condemned, and then destroyed as if you committed all those sins? If the only reason you obey God is for the good circumstances he brings you, then you are preaching to yourself a prosperity gospel. Could you choose righteousness if the reward was nothing else except the nearness of God?ApplicationYou see, the man or woman God uses is not necessarily a missionary or a pastor or ministry professional. Joseph wasn’t any of these. He wasn’t in ministry. The person God uses is the one who resists temptation when nobody can see. One who, in the secret watches of the night, is righteous because he loves the smile of God. A man or woman who does the right thing when nobody is watching. That’s who God uses.

Genesis 42Joseph’s brothers go to Egypt1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, ‘Why do you just keep looking at each other?’ 2 He continued, ‘I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.’3 Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. 5 So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also.6 Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. 7 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognised them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. ‘Where do you come from?’ he asked.‘From the land of Canaan,’ they replied, ‘to buy food.’8 Although Joseph recognised his brothers, they did not recognise him. 9 Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, ‘You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.’10 ‘No, my lord,’ they answered. ‘Your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.’12 ‘No!’ he said to them. ‘You have come to see where our land is unprotected.’13 But they replied, ‘Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.’14 Joseph said to them, ‘It is just as I told you: you are spies! 15 And this is how you will be tested: as surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!’ 17 And he put them all in custody for three days.18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, ‘Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19 if you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. 20 But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.’ This they proceeded to do.21 They said to one another, ‘Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.’22 Reuben replied, ‘Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.’ 23 They did not realise that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter.24 He turned away from them and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.25 Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man’s silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, 26 they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.27 At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. 28 ‘My silver has been returned,’ he said to his brothers. ‘Here it is in my sack.’Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, ‘What is this that God has done to us?’29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, 30 ‘The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the land. 31 But we said to him, “We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.”33 ‘Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, “This is how I will know whether you are honest men: leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for your starving households and go. 34 But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.”’35 As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, ‘You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!’37 Then Reuben said to his father, ‘You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.’38 But Jacob said, ‘My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my grey head down to the grave in sorrow.’

Key Bible Verse(s): “Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet." Acts 4: 36-37

Genesis 38 & 39 Judah and Tamar1 At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. 2 There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her; 3 she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. 4 She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. 5 She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death.8 Then Judah said to Onan, ‘Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfil your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.’ 9 But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to avoid providing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.11 Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, ‘Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.’ For he thought, ‘He may die too, just like his brothers.’ So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.12 After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.13 When Tamar was told, ‘Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,’ 14 she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 Not realising that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, ‘Come now, let me sleep with you.’‘And what will you give me to sleep with you?’ she asked.17 ‘I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,’ he said.‘Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?’ she asked.18 He said, ‘What pledge should I give you?’‘Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,’ she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. 19 After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.20 Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. 21 He asked the men who lived there, ‘Where is the shrine-prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?’‘There hasn’t been any shrine-prostitute here,’ they said.22 So he went back to Judah and said, ‘I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, “There hasn’t been any shrine-prostitute here.”’23 Then Judah said, ‘Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughing-stock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.’24 About three months later Judah was told, ‘Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.’Judah said, ‘Bring her out and let her be burned to death!’25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. ‘I am pregnant by the man who owns these,’ she said. And she added, ‘See if you recognise whose seal and cord and staff these are.’26 Judah recognised them and said, ‘She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.’ And he did not sleep with her again.27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, ‘This one came out first.’ 29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, ‘So this is how you have broken out!’ And he was named Perez. 30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah.Genesis 39Joseph and Potiphar’s wife1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’8 But he refused. ‘With me in charge,’ he told her, ‘my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?’ 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even to be with her.11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. ‘Look,’ she said to them, ‘this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.’16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: ‘That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.’19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, ‘This is how your slave treated me,’ he burned with anger. 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warder. 22 So the warder put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warder paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified 19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. 4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” 7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” 13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. The Crucifixion of Jesus So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” 23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”[a] So this is what the soldiers did. 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. The Death of Jesus 28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[c] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[d] The Burial of Jesus 38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[e] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Joseph Warren started a $2M/yr business at age 19 and then semi-retired for 5 years. After blowing through all of his money and almost being murdered TWICE, he suffered severe depression and considered ending his life. But then something extraordinary happened... God pulled him out of his dark twisted worship of pleasure, money and success to show him his true Identity and Higher Purpose. Now Joseph is the host of not one, but 2 podcasts: the Broken Catholic and Your FIRST $100K, with listeners in 85+ countries! He encourages Christians to Build FAITH & PROFITS Into Their Business™ because he believes that real success is about more than just money.   Joseph also offers Spiritual Coaching to successful Christian Business Owners and helps them win in business AND in life! If you like to contact Joseph and sign up for the free training he mentioned during his interview, simply go to his website: http://www.JosephWarren.net  ------------------   If you want to help us transform the lives of even MORE MEN for God’s glory, please take a minute to leave us a helpful REVIEW on iTunes: http://www.rmcpodcast.com and SHARE this podcast with any young man (or men) you’re mentoring or discipling. And make sure you don't miss an interview episode by signing up for our Man-to-Man eNewsletter at http://www.RealMenConnect.com, and grab your FREE copy of the Real Men Victory Tracker.  Are you stuck? Want to go to the next level in your marriage, career, business, or ministry?  Then maybe it’s time you got a coach. ALL CHAMPIONS have one. Let me coach you to help you strengthen your faith, improve your marriage, spiritually lead your family, achieve more, balance your time, grow your ministry, or even stop an addiction. Click here for details: http://www.RealMen300.com Also join us on: Download Our APP:  iPhone or Android Join the Real Men 300: http://www.RealMen300.com Facebook Group: http://www.realmenuniversity.com/ Facebook: @realdrjoemartin Instagram: @realdrjoemartin Twitter: @professormartin

John 19:38-42 New International Version (NIV) The Burial of Jesus 38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[a]40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. Footnotes: John 19:39 Or about 34 kilograms

John 2 23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person. John 3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” John 19:38-40 38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. John 3 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” ἄνωθεν John 3 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” Isaiah 44:3 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. 5 Some will say, ‘I belong to the Lord’; others will call themselves by the name of Jacob; still others will write on their hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and will take the name Israel. Ezekiel 37 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. John 3 9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Proverbs 30:4-5 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know! 5 “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him Ezekiel 36:26 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ephesians 5:26 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,   1 Peter 1 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.   James 1 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.   John 15 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

After 13 years of languishing in slavery and prison, Joseph goes from a forgotten Hebrew prisoner to second in authority only to Pharaoh. God's favor on Joseph continues to benefit him as God gives Joseph the correct interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams. This surprising change of events is a total turnaround in the life of Joseph. Now Joseph is in position for the fulfillment of the dreams of his youth and the preservation of Egypt as the looming famine gets ever closer.

Brandon Stubbs shares with us the truths of John 19 being the crucifixion and death of Jesus.  ----------------------------- John 19  Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified 19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. 4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” 7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” 13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. The Crucifixion of Jesus So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” 23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them    and cast lots for my garment.”[a] So this is what the soldiers did. 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. The Death of Jesus 28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[c] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[d] The Burial of Jesus 38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[e] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.  

Genesis 39:1-6 New International Version (NIV)Joseph and Potiphar’s WifeNow Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,

'So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her. But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. ' Genesis 39:5-12 The definition of integrity - wholeness, entireness, an unbroken state; particularly the mind; morality Having recognized our sinful nature does not excuse the fact that we are called to still have integrity; we cannot undermine the necessity of integrity in the kingdom of God Comes from the word “integer”, a math term that means a whole number; in - meaning “not”, teger - meaning “to touch” Many of us come to Christ with a “box of unorganized parts” and broken due to a lack of integrity in our lives or someone else’s Integrity must be tested - without the test we can not know that someone has integrity; it is why trials and tests are allowed; you cannot have integrity without heat, the “refiner’s fire” If we don’t make a stand to clean up our lives we will be lacking in integrity; when we refuse to have standards and exercise self-control we will be lacking in integrity Integrity, high standards, purity and righteousness are expensive, they are hard, they are difficult but in time they will be rewarded Want to receive text updates from our church? Send the keyword VBPH to 757-665-2410. Please let us know how this message has influenced you using one of these options: Email: pastor@vbph.org Voicemail: https://anchor.fm/vbph-sermons/message Thanks for listening! Has this message been a blessing to you? Please consider giving a generous donation --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

An Encouragement to be an Encourager - Pastor Joel Glupker Acts 4:32-37 "Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet." Acts 4:36-37 1-5-2020

The Innkeeper’s Wife“No, there’s no room for the likes of you,and yes, I can see your wife. Now get from the door, let the others by, don’t trouble me with your life.Besides the fact, have you no senseto bring her so close to time?Why in God’s name would you have a child, there’s quite enough of your kind!If you must there’s a cave, a place for sheep,outback on the hillside near.Go out there, don’t bother to pay, just don’t let my husband hear.”And so it was that God’s cruel plan to enter our broken estate,was greeted with the best we had and that, almost too late.God’s precious Lamb, spotless and pure, born in a cave out of sight.For no room in the hearts of lost mankind could be found that silent night.Jericho had been kind to the young travelers. An elderly shopkeeper and his wife took pity on the couple as they watered the donkeys in the town square. A good meal and a soft bed was all Mary needed to be fast asleep in a matter of moments.The old shopkeeper took Joseph aside after Mary was settled. “Now Joseph, as you leave Jericho, don’t stop until you reach Jerusalem! It’s a treacherous road filled with robbers all along the way. Try to band together with other pilgrims, and stick to the main road. No shortcuts, Joseph! They’re sure to mean disaster.”Before the sun was up, Joseph had the donkeys ready and loaded. The old couple sent them on their way with dried fish and matzoh cakes. Fortunately, a number of other travelers had also waited till first light making a sizable group with whom the two could travel.The others would spend the Sabbath in Jerusalem, but Joseph knew that Mary’s time had run out. He had to reach Bethlehem by nightfall. The shofar horn, beginning the Sabbath, sounded as the two reached the city gates of Bethlehem.“Joseph, what now?” asked Mary. Her breathing was labored. Her face smeared with the dust of many bone-jarring miles on the back of the donkey. Joseph could sense that the labor pains had begun once again. “We need to find an inn that will keep us, Mary. Let’s try over there.” Making their way past the city gates, they joined the crowds of people who had come to register for Caesar’s tax.Everyone, it seemed, had come to register. From one door to the next, the two asked for lodging. But it was obvious. No one wanted to board the dirty peasants from Galilee. One look at their dress and that was all it took to say no. The last door presented the same story.An old lady, the matron of the inn, greeted them with the same indifference as the others. “Yes, I can see for myself that your wife is about to have a baby, but that doesn’t change the fact that we have no room. Now get along with you!”Tears welled up in Mary’s eyes. The pain, weariness, and loneliness were too much. Her first child would be born on a street corner and not survive the night. Joseph was panicking. "Oh God," he thought, "please don’t abandon us now!" Turning to go, Joseph looked into Mary’s pain-filled face. He didn’t have any more answers to give. “Wait a minute, you two.” The faintest tone of compassion came from the doorway. Joseph turned to face the woman who quickly glanced over her shoulder before she spoke.“There’s some old sheep pens out behind the inn. You’re welcome to stay up there if you want. Go around back, and I’ll show you the trail. Well, do you want it or not?”Before Joseph had time to speak, Mary cried out a response. “No time left. Hurry, please let’s just go.” Joseph lifted Mary from the donkey and placed her on a quickly made bed of straw.The pains were quickening. There was no time left to find a midwife. And so a poor, young carpenter and his child bride cried alone in the night waiting for God to appear.

Do you ever ask the question why bad things happen to good people or maybe, Is God mad at me? Why am I going through adversity? If you've ever struggled with those questions, today's podcast is for you. Stay tuned. How do I bring my faith to work? How do I tap into the power of God in my work life? Paul, why am I going through this adversity? Is God mad at me? I'm also yeoman and I've been helping leaders like you enter these questions at more for over 30 years. That's what this podcast is all about. Let's learn and grow together. Welcome to TGF today. God is first. Well, welcome Today's podcast is entitled four reasons why you'll go through adversity. You know, we all go through adversity. The question is are determining why we go through that adversity and today I want to give you four reasons. I believe that we all go through adversity, but make sure you stay through the end because at the end I'm going to give you a resource that'll really help you, that has supporting scriptures in it that you'll be able to download. At no charge. So just stay with me till the end. You know, I went through a seven year adversity back in the early nineties. It was a devastating time. I'd lost over a half a million dollars. My wife left me, 80% of my business went out the door. And it was a very difficult time. I had a vice president take my second largest account and so many of you who follow my podcasts already know my story so I won't get into it. But you know, it was during that time that I really discovered a lot about why I went through adversity and why others go through adversity. And so that's what I want to talk about today. You know, Satan has three great lies and, and I wonder if you know what those lies are because he speaks it to almost every person, whether you're a believer or a nonbeliever. These lies are 1)you are powerless over your circumstances, 2)you are a victim of an unjust God 3) who left you here to suffer. Those are the three lies that every believer will believe at one time or another. So, you know, we need to understand that Satan wants your past to be your future, but God always sees you for what you're becoming. You know? And that's where we see in the story of Gideon. Gideon was spoken to by the angel of the Lord. He says, “Oh, mighty warrior!” Now, he wasn't a warrior at the time, but I can assure you that God was looking at him through different lenses. You know, he was hiding behind a fence trying to protect himself from the Midianites. And so he was impugning the nature of God too. When the angel started talking to him, he said, “Why do you care? You don't care about us. You're not helping us. What kind of God are you?” And that's the way many of us are. But you know, God worked in his life and he did become a mighty warrior. You know, in the book of Mark we see a passage that says, “Jesus told them, you're all going to feel that your world is falling apart. And that it's my fault.” You know, I think that we've all identified with that statement, but we need to better understand what the Bible says about adversity. And while we might go through adversity, let's look at these four reasons that I believe we all will go through adversity. The first one is a consequence of the call. Our biblical example of that is Joseph. Now Joseph learned later about his adversity, that his brothers meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. You know, I believe that Satan entered the heart of his brothers. And yet God's omnipotence even worked in that situation. So Joseph went through 13 years of adversity that included slavery and also being a slave in Potiphar's household. And it, the Bible tells us about Joseph that he did. He was blessed by God and God prospered him. He used that word prosper. You know, it doesn't seem like he's being prospered, does it? But that's what the Bible says about him. And so, you know, when it came time to him to be elevated, God used his gifts and talents as Joseph, in the prison there. And his dream interpretation ability became renown. And as a result of that, he interpreted the dream for Pharaoh. And that's what got him out of prison. And Pharaoh chose to use him to be number two over all the land that what an incredible story that is. Uh, but it came with great heartache and great, um, persecution. But we learned from that story that sometimes God uses great adversity in order to fulfill your purpose for a larger story. And that's the key thing you need to remember. It's for a larger story. And Joseph had a larger story than what he was living. God gave him early visions of that story through dreams and visions. And so God used that. And so, you know, it's a consequence of the call was the adversity that Joseph went through and because there was a big call and the the greater the adversity often the greater the call and the greater the influence. And we see this really lived out with Paul and the disciples and just about anyone in the Bible that God used significantly went through a major crisis. Number two is sin. We can go through adversity because of sin. The guy Gehazi was the assistant to Elijah and he had his boss heal a general. And when that that general got healed, Gehazithought that they should be compensated because that was a man who had means. And so he wanted to benefit from that. And that was not what God had in mind. So God judged that sin and he got leprosy and he lost his job. And so here was a situation that he thought he deserved something because of the power of God that worked through them. And so sin can be a place that can keep us from fulfilling our destiny. It can cause adversity in our life. The scripture is very clear about this area. You know, just in the old Testament, we see where Joshua, uh, in his first battle where they went into Jericho, they won the battle. But God said, don't take any first fruits. And so there were a couple of people that did take the first fruits and hid them in the camp. Well, the next battle they go out at I and they you know, they're not winning. And Joshua was wondering why are we not being blessed by God? And it's because they had a disobeyed God even though he didn't know, uh, someone in his camp disobeyed God. God was not blessing his organization. And that's another principle to learn. If we've got people in our organization that aren't doing the right things, then you know, that could hinder us and cause adversity in our own situations. So the next one is son ship. And Hebrews 12 find the Bible tells us that we are sons of God and as sons he disciplines us just as the earthly sons need discipline. And so in this situation we see that God might reproof us and the Bible speaks about being reproved as sons and daughters. And so it's important that you and I know that, you know, God's going to allow things in our to our lives that will really keep us in the right path. You know, a parent always wants to keep their children and going down the right path and God certainly wants to do that with us as well. And so here we see sun ship as being the third reason we might experience adversity. And then the fourth reason is spiritual warfare. John 10:10 tells us that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And you know, the second part of that says, Jesus came to give us life and life abundantly. There are two mission statements in that one, uh, scripture verse. And so we see that Satan wants us to, uh, really have terrible life on this earth. If you can't kill us at birth. And he tries to wound us so badly in childhood that we are in effect ineffective in our walk with God and on the earth. Now, Ephesians tells us about this warfare. He says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you can take your stand against the schemes for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but of the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you've done everything to stand. So you know, first John three eight tells us that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. That was another reason he came, in addition to being the savior of the world, but also to destroy the works of the devil, and he causes us to do the same. You know, there's another aspect of adversity that I just want to briefly mentioned, but I won't teach on it today. And that is the Joseph calling. Some of you may have a Joseph calling on your life, and that's a calling that's earmarked by adversity. When we think of Joseph, we think of the adversity he went through. He was a spiritual and physical provider to others. And, uh, you know, when I first encountered a man to help me understand my adversity, he says, loss. You have a Joseph calling on your life. It's earmarked by adversity. When people think of your name, do they, uh, relate the adversity to your name? If so, there's a good chance you may have a Joseph calling. You know, God created us with seven needs. And these are found in Genesis one and two. He created us with a need for dignity and authority, blessing and provision, security and purpose and meaning and freedom and boundary and intimate love and companionship. And so in order to raise, you know, have those needs met, we have to depend on God for that. But if we try to meet those needs outside God's design, that really opens us up to what the Bible calls a spiritual stronghold in Corinthians. Paul talks about this in Corinthians, and so we need to make sure that we're clean. You know, Jesus, there was nothing in Jesus, uh, in which the devil could use as a reason to attack him. You know hereafter I will not talk much with you for the Prince of this world comms and that nothing in me. In other words, what he's saying is that there is no sin in my life. Jesus had no sin so he couldn't attack Jesus for sin. You get attack him because he's the son of God because of warfare, but not because of sin in his life. And so there was no entry door into his life. And we need to understand is there any entry door to our life? Could he come into us because of that? Now in Corinthians, we see the definition of a strong home. It says, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And so that is the definition of a stronghold. The opposite of that is found in Ephesians 3:17 Paul says, and “I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Now, whenever we seek to meet one or more of these basic needs outside God, we set the stage for the development of a generational stronghold. You see, Satan convinced Eve to believe God was holding out on her and he would not meet her needs, so she chose to meet her own need. Now there are examples in the Bible of generational strongholds. We see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob having the stronghold of deceit and lying, and then we have control with Laban, Rebecca and Jacob, and then we have King Saul as well. We see a sexual stronghold in Rahab, David Bathsheba, Absalom, Amnon in Solomon. In Psalm 51 David says, I was conceived in iniquity. What that tells me is that perhaps he might have been conceived in iniquity or out of wedlock. Maybe that might be the reason why his father didn't even have him as a one to be considered when Samuel was looking to anoint the next King. You know, I've, I learned a lot about this stronghold through a mentor who came in my life and he had written a book called demolishing strongholds that actually helped him publish. And he said, there's nothing wrong with you. You just have a stronghold of insecurity and fear that makes you control people in circumstances. Well, I said, that's crazy. And he says, well, let me prove it to you. And so he gave me this little self-assessment tool and he says, I want you to go to your sisters and your mother, have them fill it out and come back to me. Well, what this does is gives you symptoms that rank, uh, according to your stronghold. And so what came back back from that was sure enough, I stronghold of insecurity and fear. And this was quite a revelation to me. And so he took me through a prayer of faith to get rid of that. And, uh, you know, in the scriptures in second Corinthians it says, but we have renounced the hidden things of shame. Not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And so, you know, we don't have to remain in those strongholds. We overcome the influence of strong those by renouncing and repenting of their influence through the prayer of faith in Jesus's blood to cleanse us from these influences. And one of the things I've discovered in working with people, uh, over the years is that whenever the reaction to a situation seems to be an extreme response compared to the offense, you know, there is unresolved pain or the enemy is at work in the situation. You see, whenever we grow up, uh, and have a pain or a wound in our life and never resolve it as an adult, that pain can surface through different trigger points in our life. Now when people react to the out of their pain, their behavior is never logical. And let's say a person gets upset over something and it should be a level three and they go to a level 10 well you know something's going on under the hood and you need to find out what is the problem. So there's a process of discovery and deliverance for that. First you see the symptoms, which are light lights on a dashboard. And then we need to understand what the root of the behavior is. Then we read, revisit that wound and bring healing into it by confessing it and asking Jesus to heal it. And we discover the lie. John 8:32 says the truth shall make you free. And when you discover the truth of something that begins the process of healing, you apply the truth to that situation. So the steps to freedom is this prayer. Identify the strong hole and their symptom and rank them from 1 to 10 and then you want to work with someone close to you to help you confirm those strong holes. And then you want to confess a renounce the influence of strong holes in Jesus's name. Each believer has the power of the Holy spirit to renounce the influence of strong holes over their life. We have divine power to demolish strongholds. It says in second Corinthians 10, four and then we meditate and walk according to the word. Uh, we renew our minds. We began to change our behaviors. You know, any self-image, contrary to the truth of who God says you are in the spirit is a false self-image. You must agree with God, not with your flesh or the devil. You know, this reminds me of the, you know, the fact that we've been equipping leaders for the last 25 years on things like this. And I've been thinking about what we could do to help go deeper in a lot of these concepts. And so we've decided to come out with something in the near future that's going to address things like this and other issues in people's lives as well as a marketplace initiatives. And if you're interested in being on our waiting list to know when that comes out, we set up a webpage called www.becomeGodschangeagent.com. If you go there and just enter your information there, we'll uh, make sure that you know about the program when it comes out. And we'll also give you a free download of a booklet there that I did on the 10 truths of success that I've, uh, documented over the last, uh, 20 years. The top 10 things that I have found to be the most influential in my life that perhaps would be helpful to you as well. Just for putting your name on that list. Go to www.becomeGodschangeagent.com. You know, Paul’s sufferings, it says that five times I received the Jews the 40 lashes minus one three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was pelted with stones three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night in a day in the open sea and I've been constantly on the move. He says, I've been in danger from rivers in danger, from bandits, danger from fellow Jews, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city. And in the country dangerous. See danger from false believers. I'd labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and I've often gone without food. I've been cold and naked. That's Paul describing some of the experiences that he's had, but he never complains. He always see taps into the grace of God wherever he goes. Philippians two five says, let this mind be in you. That is also in Jesus Christ. We need to have the mind of Christ. Uh, Philippians two five, whatever God sets you free from, he automatically gives you an anointing to set other people free from the same thing you were a victim of. That's your payback to the enemy. And know that if you go through something major and you get victory on that, God is gonna use that to create your anointing and the power to release others from that same thing. We want to transform our past into a new beginning. First. We need to realize our identities and then learn to contend with it and then to receive our inheritance. And so that's the process. And these are the things that we want to help you with. Facing our fears requires coming to a debt in our expectations and leaving outcome to God. And so we can't cookie cutter this. You know, I had my mentor once say a dead man can't have stress, you know? And so if you get angry or upset about things, that means you're not dead yet. We can have strong emotions about things as long as we don't sin. And so that's the borderline severe adversity will reveal what we really believe about God. It reveals our deepest fears and beliefs about God. The bottom line is every in our lives is designed to give us an upgrade with God. If we'll press end to him with our whole horror, the greater revelation, greater power, greater character, and greater intimacy will be the result of that and a greater influence as well. So fear drives us to performance and to be slaves and orphans, but they encouraged, turns us into sons and daughters. And that's the difference between operating out of fear and operating in courage and faith. So I want to help you with this message by offering you a free download of a booklet I put together called www.adversityFAQ.com or, frequently asked questions. So if you go to our webpage we set up just to download this resource. So if you'd like to receive this nine page ebook on adversity - frequently asked questions just go to www.adversityfaq.com that's www.adversityfaq.com and there you'll be able to download that resource at no charge. As we close out, I'd like to close us with a word of prayer. And then a final remark from myself. So father, we thank you for this day. We thank you Lord that you allow adversity at times to matures into sons and daughters, but you also equip us to fight the battle because we're in a war and Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy from us. And so we ask for grace to be able to weather the storms and to persevere through them. And I pray for anybody going through adversity today that you'll minister to them through your word this day and help them navigate in Jesus name. Amen. So a final word. If you're listening to this on iTunes, uh, please, uh, give us a rating, uh, that helps others find us on iTunes and help others benefit from this teaching. If you accessed, uh, on YouTube and watching this program, please, uh, share your comments at the bottom and subscribe to our channel. That too helps us, uh, find more people who will find this message helpful. God bless. Have a great week. We'll see you next week.

Exodus 1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. 8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.                 Exodus 30 “Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense. 2 It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high—its horns of one piece with it.3 Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. 4 Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding—two on each of the opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. 5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 Put the altar in front of the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law—before the atonement cover that is over the tablets of the covenant law—where I will meet with you. 7 “Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. 8 He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come. 9 Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it. 10 Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord.”       Leviticus 10 Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke of when he said:   “‘Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’” Aaron remained silent.   2 Chronicles 26 4 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord… 5 He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success… 7 God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal and against the Meunites. 8 The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful… 16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.   2 Chronicles 26 21 King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house—leprous, and banned from the temple of the Lord.   Luke 1:10-11 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.   Revelation 8 3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand.   Psalm 141:2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.   Exodus 37 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 2 He overlaid it with pure gold, both inside and out, and made a gold molding around it. 3 He cast four gold rings for it and fastened them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other.4 Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. 5 And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. 6 He made the atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 7 Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. 8 He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. 9 The cherubim had their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the cover.                       Exodus 25:22 1 Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you.22 There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.   Exodus 32 21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?” 22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”   Hebrews 9:4 … the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant."

Hurt and ForgivenessGen 37-50 Life of JosephOctober 13, 2019I. Introduction:A. Baby Announcement - Grayson Gary Borger was born September 26 to Matt andLexi. The proud grandparents are Gary and Tami Reyna. The proud greatgrandparents are Don and Sharon Couwenhoven.B. Today’s sermon is my most direct response to the Father’s Day sermon I gave ayear and a half ago about those who did not have a good relationship with theirparents. But the truths we learn from today’s message will apply to anyone whohas been hurt by someone, whether a parent, a mate, a trusted friend or even astranger! The various kinds of damage to the human soul still linger long after theevents took place.C. The struggle is real and the pain is especially deep for those who have been hurtby who is supposed to love you like a mate, parent, sibling, trusted friend, etc.D. The goal of my message today is learn how to turn “victims” of people’s sinsagainst them into a “victors” over that sin!• This morning I want to jump-start the process of healing by showing you threelessons from the life of Joseph that turns victims into victors. Let’s start by seeinghow …II. Joseph was a VictimA. The first happened to Joseph when he was 17 years old. God had shown him in adream that someday he would rule over the rest of his family. When he sharedthis dream with his family, it was not received very well.1. One day when his brothers were out in the field with the flocks they sawJoseph coming towards them and they plotted together to kill him.2. Eventually rather than killing him, they sold him as a slave to someIshmaelite foreigners who were passing by on their way to Egypt.3. When these Ishmaelites reached Egypt, they sold Joseph to an Egyptianofficer named Potiphar, who was the captain of the bodyguard.4. So Joseph was literally sold into slavery by his own family.B. Potiphar’s Wife1. God was with Joseph and all that he did prospered. So Potiphar put him incharge over everything that he owned.2. Now Joseph was a handsome man and Potiphar’s wife desired to sleep withhim. Day after day, she offered herself to Joseph but he refused her offers.3. One day Potiphar’s wife was tired of his rejections and grabbed his garmentas he was running away, and she made up a story that he tried to rape her.Because her lie, Joseph actually ended up in jail!C. While in jail through a long chain of events, Joseph ended up interpreting thedream of one of the king’s servants who was in jail with him.1. Joseph asked only one request, he asked the cup bearer that when it went wellwith him to remember to mention Joseph to Pharaoh so he could get out ofthe jail2. Well the cupbearer forgot to mention Joseph to the Pharaoh and he spent twomore years in jail because of this man’s neglect and forgetfulness.3. Eventually Joseph got out by God giving him the wisdom he needed tointerpret the Pharaoh’s dream.D. The point is this, over a 13-year period from the age of 17 to 30; Joseph threetimes had to bear the severe consequences of someone else’s sin or neglect.• But what we learn from Joseph’s life are the lessons that turn a victim into a victor.The first lesson we can learn from Joseph isIII. Seeking God in the midst of your painA. Read Gen 41:50-52B. Now we know from the story as it goes on that Joseph did not forget the details ofwhat happened to him.1. So forget is not used in the sense that God wiped the memory of the situationclean from his mind,2. Rather what happened to him was that God had broken the power of thatsituation controlling and enslaving his mind.C. Note that it was “God” who made him forget, and it was “God” who made himfruitful. Reread v51 & 52 emphasizing “God”1. It is important that we get face to face with God in the midst of our pain andallow Him to do His work of healing us, breaking the power of that memoryand using our life and pain to bring glory to Him and blessing to others.2. When God meets us in our pain and messes as someone has said, “our messbecome our message!” that God uses to bring life and grace to othersD. I mentioned last week that when we seek God in the places He is working(programs, services, etc.) and deeply depend upon Him miracles happen! I call itDD & DD. Due diligence on our part and deep dependence upon God1. At Next Steps Table pick up resource cards!2. This last week Emotional Resilience started and I was excited that some 80people have put themselves in a place where God can work3. This coming week on Thursday Night starts Celebrate Recovery, which isspecifically designed to help people who are struggling with hurts, hang-ups,habits and addictions from eating to drugs and everything in between. Oftenaddictions are used to medicate our depression and emotions. Information isavailable at the Next Steps table – Jeff Janulis¨ So the first thing we need to do is position ourselves to involve God in our pain andonce we do that we are ready for the second lesson which is …IV. Seeing God’s purposes in your painA. Joseph saw God’s sovereignty and purposes in the terrible sin that his brotherscommitted against him.1. Listen to what happened when Joseph first revealed to his brothers who hewas. Read Gen 45:5-8a.B. Many people that I have met who have been seriously sinned against are stillseeing and interpreting their life through the lens of the sins against them.C. When God is working in our hearts, we begin to see life from a completely newperspective. We begin to see it from God’s viewpoint rather than our own. Webegin to understand that there is more going on in my life than what meets theeye. There is a larger story going on than that of which I am aware.• Illustrate the tapestry and my ability to see only a small piece of it and onlythe backside of it that looks very messy.D. Let me suggest two things that we know from Scripture that God is doing. Weknow that there are more, but these are two major ones that have applications toeach of our lives.1. Rom 8:28-29– conform us to the image of Jesus Christ.2. Two Cor 4:7-10– manifest the indwelling life of Christ through us.¨ Once we learn to experience God in the midst of our pain,which allows us to see God’s purpose in our pain, then the finallesson on turning a victim into a victor is …V. Forgiving the offenderA. Read Gen 50:15-21B. Forgiveness is essential to experiencing the deep healing within our souls. Yet itis such a struggle as 2 Cor 2:10-11 tells us that we need to forgive lest Satan takeadvantage of us because we are not ignorant of Satan’s schemes! Satan shots hispoison into our hearts through un-forgiveness and compounds the struggle!C. The hardest part of forgiveness for me is when the person who hurt me does notacknowledge they did it or does not apologize for what they have done. Ifsomeone apologizes normally, God gives me quick grace to forgive. But what dowe do with those who have not:1. As I wrestled with forgiving someone who hurt me and did not acknowledgeit or apologize to me. God spoke me through Jesus on the cross when Hesaid, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing” –a) Jesus forgave without anyone asking for forgiveness oracknowledgement of their wrong doingb) I could no longer hold out for an apology or acknowledgement – Ineeded to forgive without that.2. Last week we talked about two thingsa) Room of grace – depend on Jesus for strength and next steps –(1) It is not a program to follow or a principle to learn but a person, theSavior, Jesus that gives us the ability and wisdom we need to walkthrough this!b) When we take a radical honest look in our hearts we see helplessness –bigger than me, smarter than I am smart and stronger than I am strong –(1) So I need to turn to Jesus to show me what I need to do next andgive me the strength to forgive!D. Let me tell my story and how God met me on the issue of unforgiveness that wascontrolling my heart towards those who hurt me!1. I was at a conference when the speaker told his story of his need to forgivesome people that deeply hurt him. Afterwards the host of the conferencechallenged us and gave us some time to examine our own hearts and the needto forgive.2. That time with the Lord at the end of that message ended up being four hourslong and my missing the entire afternoon session.E. As I met with God that afternoon, He placed in my heart an image that set me freeand I have been free now for over ten years. This is what God spoke to me aboutthat day:1. Need to hand over to God the “papers”, the ‘blood stained’ papers that haveall the offenses on it that this person has committed against me. That bloodstained list with “paid in full” written over it with Jesus’ blood. (Yes, theyare guilty as charged but Jesus paid for it in full.)2. Get the keys from God, go to the prison of my heart, and open up the prison.Then go back to the torture chamber of my heart where I have been mentallyand emotionally beating them up and making them pay for what they havedone to me, and set them free3. Next, I needed to go over to the judgment stand where I had been hurlingaccusations at them and set them free from my judgments and from thinkingevil about them.4. Thank God, for the relationship I did have with this person and the blessingthey were to me.5. Thank God, that He will use their wrong against me and all the pain that hasbrought for a good purpose in my life.6. Confess my sin of unforgiveness as being as great of a sin as what they didagainst me7. Resist the Devil from taking any further ground in my heart from myunforgiveness8. Pray a blessing for that person for their life.9. Do all of this in Jesus’ name trusting Him to enable me for this.E. Working through all these people, I had never forgiven and God genuinely settingme free took about six weeks of going through this process. With each person Ijournaled before the Lord about each different person or groups of people as toexactly what they did and what I did and how I respondedVI. ConclusionA. Turn to Psalm 1231. Note the contempt in his soul. Read 3-42. But that contempt was placed on him by others3. He is not saying it is his contempt for others that fills his soul but thecontempt that others placed on him. Modern day translation, “These peoplehave crapped on me and now I am full of their crap!”B. How do I get rid of this crap in my heart? How do I release this from my heart?1. Listen to 3a – God’s grace – only God can do this – it is a gift from God2. Read v1-23. The same way a servant looks to the hand of their master for direction andprovision we must look to God for direction and provision until He providesit!a) We need to continually look to, rely upon, call upon and wait for theLord until He gives us the grace to forgive and let it go!

Trigger warning: This episode is about rape.  The Biblical stories about rape are graphic and emotional and certainly have the potential of triggering strong psycho-emotional reactions. Sex in the Bible: Rape Note that rape is not a violation of the Ten Commandments.  Adultery and coveting are not rape.    Deuteronomy 22:23-29 (The Kavanaugh Passage) 23 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 24 you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you. 25 But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26 Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, 27 for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, there was no one to rescue her. 28 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay her father fifty shekels[a] of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. Num. 31 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle. 15 “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. 16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. See also Deut. 20: 14 As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies.   Three rapes, and one attempted rape, that are tied, in the text, to sexual desire and passion.  Gen. 34 (Dinah) Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. 3 His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 And Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as my wife.” 5 When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he did nothing about it until they came home. After the plot to kill all of Shechem’s clan is successful, Jacob objects to the trouble Dinah’s brothers have caused with their rash action.   But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?” Epilogue, Simeon and Levi are cursed by Jacob at his death for their violence and having killed people in anger.  Hashtag interesting. Gen 39 (false accusation) Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” 8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. 13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” 16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” 19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. 2 Sam 11 (Bathsheba)  One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roofof the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” Epilogue, Nathan’s parable, the child dies & no temple for you.  But, Solomon, so? 2 Sam 13 (Tamar)  Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. 11 But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, my sister.” 12 “No, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. 13 What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.” 14 But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her. 15 Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out!” 16 “No!” she said to him. “Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to me.” But he refused to listen to her. 17 He called his personal servant and said, “Get this woman out of my sight and bolt the door after her.” 18 So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her. She was wearing an ornate[a] robe, for this was the kind of garment the virgin daughters of the king wore. 19 Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornate robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went. Epilogue: Absalom takes revenge on his sister, which David forgives him for.  Not sure what happens to Tamar.  Seriously, WTF.  Two very similar stories about attempted gang rape of a traveling man, that eludes to gang rape of a virgin woman instead. 19 (Sodom gang rape) Unclear whether Lot knows they are angels, he insists that two travelers not sleep in the square.  Instead:  He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” 6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” 9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. Judges 19 (Concubine & Mass Rape) When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?” . . . . 20 “You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” 21 So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink. 22 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.” 23 The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.” 25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 26 At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight. 27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home. 29 When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel.30 Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!” Epilogue: Benjamin doesn’t join the other tribes to seek revenge on this rape.  So, they pledge not to give them daughters in marriage.  But this makes them sad, so: So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards 21 and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. 22 When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us the favor of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give your daughters to them.’” So, what should we even look at in the new testament? What Is Rape Different from Assault? The empirical evidence indicates that rape results in greater physical and psychological harm for victims than other forms of violence or abuse.  Professor Mary Sigler. As a first step, we should experience deep regret over the necessity for the difficult policy judgments that contribute to the shameful state of our prisons and see them for the morally flawed actions they are. Instead, we seem to take a sort of satisfaction in our self-righteousness, congratulating ourselves and our officials for denying inmates a minimally decent living environment. By the Light of Virtue:∗ Prison Rape and the Corruption of Character Mary Sigler∗∗ Matthew 5:27-29 (Jesus’ teaching on adultery) 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’[a]28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. Colossians 3:5 (because we should talk about lust/power) or pick another  5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 1 Corinthians 6 (Sexual Immorality) 12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”[b]17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.[c] 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.   1 Corinthians 7 is relevant to marital rape Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.

John 19:38-42 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. (NIV)

Pastor Smith preaches from Genesis 39:6b-12, 16-23 on July 14, 2019. With Joseph in charge, he [Potiphar] did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in... Read More

FAITH IS MORE THAN A DREAM Never Give Up Peter Young ~ Pastor at Hope “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.” - Hebrews 11:22 Joseph was MORE than a Dreamer He Lived a Faith-Filled Life 1. As a young person – Faith to Share the Dream “This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers.” - Genesis 37:2 “Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more.” - Genesis 37:5   “Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.” - Genesis 37:9   2. As a young man – Faith to Live Beyond a Comfort Zone “The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand.” - Genesis 39:2-3 “There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” - Genesis 39:9 “Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.” - Genesis 39:20 “The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.” - Genesis 39:23 3. As a mature leader – Faith to Save His Family Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” – Genesis 41:46,44 And he (Jacob) said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and not die.”- Genesis 42:2 “And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” - Genesis 45:7   4. As an old man – Faith for the Future   “And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying (at 110 years); but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”” - Genesis 50:24-25, 26 “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.” - Hebrews 11:22

Scripture:Exodus 39:5-6 So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.Transcript:And now, Admonition, brought to you by the Collierville Church of Christ.What does it mean to be a faithful servant? What does it mean to be a faithful employee? What does it mean to be the kind of person who can be trusted? We read concerning Joseph that he was one who was trusted by Potiphar, so that Potiphar did not even know what was in his own house because it was under the hand, under the care, under the oversight, of Joseph. Joseph was such a faithful servant that Potiphar knew, if it was in Joseph's hands, it was in good hands and he didn't have to worry about it. What kind of person are you? What kind of employee are you? What kind of servant are you? Are You a faithful servant?For more from the Collierville Church of Christ, visit Colliervillecoc.org.

Genesis 37:1-11 English Standard Version (ESV) Joseph's Dreams 37 Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

Genesis 37:1-11 English Standard Version (ESV) Joseph's Dreams 37 Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

John 19The Burial of Jesus38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.The Empty Tomb20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Matthew 27:59-60a NLT 'Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock.' Good Friday is the day the world is silenced. Jesus is crucified and the voice of God goes quiet. Many assume this is the conclusion of Jesus’ ministry. Now Joseph of Arimathea places Jesus in a tomb he has purchased for himself. It is his final act of respect for someone he followed at a distance. As the small funeral party leave, they are replaced by an armed guard. Darkness falls and night envelops the world. Unable to sleep in the night, our mind can trawl through the worst of our fears as our perspective disappears. We look to Jesus, yet it seems he has been entombed. We wait for dawn, the time when the angels will remove the stone and we shall discover Christ is indeed raised. I can’t imagine the depths of sadness and fear the disciples experienced that Friday. They had no knowledge of the resurrection. All they knew was the years they had invested in following Jesus in the hope he was the promised Messiah. Was this wasted time? Had they been duped and now had to live with the shame of their stupidity? I see many today who have walked with Jesus who now feel they have equally been duped and their erstwhile saviour is once again entombed in a grave. They rationalise their past as a search for wholeness or youthful idealism. Night crushes their hopes of a risen Christ. This was the state of those first disciples; yet remember Sunday’s coming. QUESTION: Are you tempted to question the reality of the risen Christ? PRAYER: Lord, for the doubting and the confused, may the light of your love dawn over them.

The excitement of the miraculous birth with worshipful shepherds was behind them. The adoring wise men with expensive gifts had gone home with their own stories to tell. Herod was still King and more vicious than ever in his hatred of Jesus. Now Joseph and Mary had to trust as God led them, in His plan, through places that didn't make sense to them.

Joseph is an active duty service member, and active investor. He found someone who was having success house flipping, and use him a as a mentor to help him get his feet off the ground. Now Joseph is on his own and still doing a great job with his investing. If you enjoyed today’s episode remember to subscribe in iTunes and leave us a review!   Best Ever Tweet: “If you’re not embarrassed by your offer, it’s too high” - Joseph England   Joseph England Background: - Active Real Estate Investor - He is the property manager for all his properties and accomplished all of this while maintaining my full time position with the US Military and deploying overseas. - Purchased first investment property in Baltimore in June of 2015 - Now, he’s done over 20 deals, 16 buy and hold properties and four rehabs in various stages - Specialize in rehabbing very distressed properties (rentals and flips). - Based in Baltimore, Maryland - Say hi to him at - Best Ever Book: 10x Rule Made Possible Because of Our Best Ever Sponsors:   Are you looking for a way to increase your overall profits by reducing your loan payments to the bank?   Patch of Land offers a fix-and-flip loan program that ONLY charges interest on the funds that have been disbursed, which can result in thousands of dollars in savings. Before securing financing for your next fix-and-flip project, Best Ever Listeners you must download your free white paper at to find out how Patch of Land’s fix and flip program can positively impact your investment strategy and save you money.

November 19th 2017, Pastor Josh Guajardo, Trinity Baptist Church of Katy Joseph said to them, "It is as I said to you, you are spies; by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here! Send one of you that he may get your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies." So he put them all together in prison for three days. Now Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be verified, and you will not die." And they did so. Then they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us." Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not tell you, 'Do not sin against the boy'; and you would not listen? Now comes the reckoning for his blood." They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them. He turned away from them and wept. But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them. So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there. Genesis 42:14-26

39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. 2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” 8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. 13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” 16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” 19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Genesis 39:6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” 8 But he […]

Thursday, May 30, 2013 Go in, listen to , lie beside, be with Genesis 38:7-10 ESV But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord , and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother." But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother's wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord , and he put him to death also. Genesis 39:5-10 ESV From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me." But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her. _________________________________________ I won't pretend to have all the answers when it comes to understanding these chapters in Genesis (38-39). However there are hints and themes that point us towards God's intent. May I remind you that proliferation of the human race has been job one since man's creation. And although the blessing of offspring has been particularly promised to Abraham's family that promise has required a lot of faith. And proliferation when it does happen seems to be mired in family conflict, deceit, and immorality. But the key to gaining clarity in this mottled ancestry is to look for God, and God's promise. Who is trusting God even when it appears to be counter productive in realising the promise. See God comes before even the promise. Hearken back to Abraham and Isaac with the lamb. Our experience of blessing should never need to be at the cost of God's glory. We can be faithful to God without forcing our self interest at the cost of regard for God's word. To be honest I don't have all the answers about these two chapters. But I know that we are meant to notice the contrast. Two of Judah's sons are killed by God. Joseph is blessed. But it's not quite that simple. Joseph is a slave. Joseph is in Egypt. Joseph has no children. Judah's sons Er and Onan are wicked and they are not blessed. Judah, Er, Onan, and Joseph all have to make a choice about sex. Only Joseph's abstinence policy is blessed. But again blessing includes prison, slander, and loss. In Joseph's life the way up is very much down. The Lord blessed Joseph's regard for God's way. Judah, Er, and Onan did not consider God's plan. Do you? Are you willing to be blessed while in prison, slandered for doing right, or sold into slavery because you are relating God's plan revealed to you? Ultimately this is a story about Jesus. Can you see Jesus? How would Jesus explain his Father's plan to rescue the world through his humiliation and death in these few chapters of Genesis?