string(7) "m-66998" Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

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Aug 06, 2023

God Intended It for Good!

God Intended It for Good!

Passage: Genesis 50:18-22

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: God’s Not Done with You

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: church, worship, faith, jesus, god, sermon, christian, bible, genesis, christ, hope, grace, sermons, jesus christ, the bible, lord, christianity, transformation, dreams, joseph, bible study, god is good, self improvement, the secret, life transformation, bible stories, study the bible, bible teaching, trending, change your life, 2023, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream, how to change your life, motivational video, god's not done with you, gods not done with you

No matter the circumstance we find ourselves in today, God will be faithful. He is always working for our eternal good and his glory; therefore, we should boldly live with an eternal focus, not a sin-stained, limited, earthly perspective. As we continue our sermon series called God’s Not Done With You, we look in Genesis at the story of Joseph. What we can learn from this scripture is that even if it seems that all others have rejected you, even family, God hasn’t, and God is enough. Our true character is revealed in the choices we make under pressure, and when other believe the worst about you, it’s God that stand with and for you. Do you feel abandoned or betrayed by people? Are you putting your trust in the one who has your back? Do you need to ask Jesus to be your savior to be assured that you have ultimate victory? Then reach out today, we’d love to answer any questions you have and take time to pray with you. Take the next step in your faith journey by visiting burnthickory.com/next

Thanks for being here. Before we jump into the message today, I want just to take a minute or two, pastorally speaking or three to tell you a little bit of an update of what is happening in our next building project here, the upcoming front kind of reconfiguration, the new hallways, the meeting space, the counseling center. I know a lot of you have been out a lot over the summer. We've been a little bit quiet on what is happening, but a lot has been happening in the background. And I just kind of want to bring you up to speed on what is happening after a ton of logistics and planning and all of the budgeting. I'm just going to kind of here to tell us today we are ready to move forward at the end of this month with what you're seeing on the screen. It is going to be a 100% kind of overhaul on the front side of our building. We're doubling the hallway. There's going to be a new atrium on the front, a meeting space on the front as well as I can't be more excited about our community counseling center that will not only kind of have family counseling and pastoral counseling, but we're going to jump into the world of mental health as well to be able to provide so much for this community. As well as on this far side of our building behind you. We are also adding a drive under for our senior adults to help them get in and out on those nasty days. So on August the 29th, you are going to start seeing construction here with an estimated completion date of the end of March and the beginning of April. God willing. All right. Don't laugh, Don't laugh, the last service laughed at me. I know how this can go, but I have faith.

All right. Is going to happen. According to plan. Let me just walk you through real quick on just what you can expect to see over these next couple of months As we jump into the project in September, you'll start to see some grading, start to see the form work, the footers and a lot of the foundational work. And in October, you'll see the foundation is going to be finished. The slab, the columns, tons of inspections moving into November. You'll begin to see steel begin to be put up. And then you will start seeing some decking. The second floor put on in December is going to be a crazy month. All right. I'm just going to go ahead and tell you there's going to be a ton of interior, drywall, interior finishing. That's when they're going to be kind of punching through into the existing building that is here. In January, we're going to start to see a lot of things take shape, whether it's the ceilings, the windows, the floors, the priming of the walls. And February will be all about kind of some inside things with painting and utilities being finished up. And a march is going to be all about interior finishes with the floors and the doors and all of the rest of the finishes with us, God willing, being able to step in and give tours on Easter Sunday is the goal to be able to have moments where people can tour the facility in April. Now that is the plan. I know it's an ambitious plan, but our contractor feels like it is a doable plan and they've already got the job, so there's no reason for them to still be lying to us now. Right. So anyway, it is all ready, ready to go. That's what you're going to be seeing. Now. There's three things that we need from you. All right? There's always a need, Matt. Any time there's anything exciting right? Because we're all part of this body, right? Three things we need. You. All right? They're all Ps. All right, I put them all as Ps because that's what good preachers do, right? Number one, we need your patience. We need your patience. We know that this is going to affect how we come in and out of the building. It's just going to be a week to week game plan. And if you are not on the Burnt Hickory communications or if you haven't downloaded the app, allowed some of those communications to be given to you, or if you have blacklisted yourself from all of our communications, please hop back in. All right. Please. We love you still, opt back in. We need your patience. It's going to be a little bit crazy over these next few months. Number two, we just need you to pray. We need you to pray for timing. We need you to pray for supplies. We need you to pray for the logistics. We need you to pray like this is your house that you're building. Amen, you feeling me on that? Because it is. I mean, this is our church. This is us. We are moving for God in this community. So be praying over that. Be praying as we're getting ready to launch the counseling center for this community. It is going to be an incredible offering for us to be able to look at this community and say, man, come on, we want to take care of you, Be praying for all this logistics. And then the third thing that I'm going to ask you to do is I need you to participate. You like that? The three P's there just to participate in this project?

Listen, if this is your church home is your mission today, this ain't for you. Let me talk to the home folk. If this is your church home, we need your financial participation in this. This is the largest non debt project this church has ever done. We're not borrowing money to do this. The construction cost is coming in at just under $6 million. And we're going to do this with cash. And so we need you to begin to ask yourself how your family as so many families have done to prepare this place that we're in, how your family can participate in giving towards this project. Now, I know some of you've already pledged to give, but here's what I'm going to say to you, man. Go ahead and fulfill that pledge. A lot of this lead time we're trying to do on the front end. I know a lot of you were like, well, Matt, I pledge, but I was just waiting to see if this was really going to happen or not. It's going to happen. Okay. It's happening this month, I might add. Go ahead and fulfill that for some of you. That kind of held back a little bit. Man, I'm just going to tell you, we need you. We need you. This is expensive. It is what it is. But this project has the potential to set us up for the next two years of our community hosting events for our function as a church and flow as a church for our counseling needs. Helping out our seniors and in general, building flow here with community. So please, please, please jump on to that. If you want to know more information, you can scan the QR code that is on the screen and it will give you all that you need and give you the ability to jump in and support that. All right. Hey, there's your commercial hour, let's jump into the message. All right. There it is.

We are in week two of a series of messages. They all go together but realizing they don't connect called God Is Not Done With You. And what we're doing is we're looking at some events through scripture to where it shows us that no matter what your past looks like, no matter what has happened in your life, that we serve a God, that is incredibly faithful to us, that is incredibly loving to us, and that wants to use us no matter where we come from. In fact, last week we looked at the story of Moses. Last week we walked through his life and through his calling, and we walked out last week with this general thought of no matter what your past looks like, God can still use you in the present and God can still set you up for future success in Him. We said last week that God's role in this is that He is always faithful and our role is that we are to listen to God or to obey God. We are to ask our God, What are you giving me? Well, last week we spoke out of the Book of Exodus, looking at Moses. And this week the account that we're going to look at is an equally incredible account in Scripture, and it shows us just the eternal faithfulness of God. It shows us the faithfulness and power of God. And probably I would even go as far today to say that this is the greatest comeback story in all of history. If you got a copy of Scripture today or got an app with you, fire up your Bibles to Genesis chapter 50 today. Genesis chapter 50 today. And we in just a minute are going to start at verse 20 at verse 20, and we're going to look today at the life from a 50,000 foot view of a man named Joseph, a man named Joseph today. And we're going to see Joseph remain faithful in his life. And actually, listen, if anybody on this planet has ever had the right just to give up, it was Joseph. If anybody ever had the kind of right to look at God and go, God, are you done with me? It was Joseph, but Joseph is going to show us something today that's incredible. He's going to show us something and he's going to show us that no matter what life looks like or no matter what life has you walking through in this moment that God is always working for his glory and he's always working for his children's good. That's what Joseph is about to show us in the story today. Now, as you're finding Genesis 50, let me just tell you, Joseph, in the life of Joseph as is given to us in the Book of Genesis over the course of 13 chapters, 13 chapters to just this one man. Now, don't think for a minute I didn't think about reading every single one of them. I did. All right. But we're not okay. I'm just going to tell you we're not going to do that. But Joseph's life is absolutely incredible. So let me just beg you this week, will you do me a favor? Take one Netflix special off just one docu series after this week, please, and read from Genesis chapter 30 to Genesis Chapter 50 or one Car ride to work this week. Just hit the play button because I want you to see in its entirety the faithfulness of God and Joseph's response and how he had faith and who God is. Now this morning, obviously, I can't look at all of it.

Okay. But here's what I want to do. I want to start with the end of Joseph's life. I want to show you where Joseph ends up this morning. And then I want to backtrack later on to show you how Joseph ended up getting there. Okay. I want to show you that. Now Joseph's life, when you think about it, some of you know this already, but Joseph was the favorite of his dad. His brothers hated him for it. He was a dreamer. He basically had this ability to hear from God and express dreams. And that didn't help his favor with his brothers, because one of these dreams we're going to talk about in a couple of minutes, Joseph's life had these incredibly high highs and incredibly low lows. And actually, it was a roller coaster of life, which some of you were like, well, that kind of describes my life, right? My family hates me. I'm high, high, low, low. It's all kind of weird in my life. And Joseph Live was this incredible roller coaster of victories and defeats. And what we're about to see is his great victory at the end of his life. But it took him a lot to get there. Now, Joseph, we're about to catch up to him is in a position of power. God has placed him in this position and we're and I'll make this clear in a couple of minutes. And now his father has passed away. This incredible craziness of life has caught up with him. And he's about to say something completely outlandish when you think about it through the lens of everything that has happened to him. But from God's perspective, here's what I'm hoping you walk away from here today having. All right. In fact, right. This principle, don't you got your app fired up Here it is. No matter the circumstance we find ourselves in today, God will be faithful. He is always working for our eternal good in his glory. Therefore, we should boldly live with an eternal focus versus a sin stained, limited, earthly perspective. Now, that is the longest principle I've ever given you in all of my preaching career, and I get it. There is a lot there. You can't even chew all that at once, you know what I'm saying when I say that. But that is setting us up for the rest of this message. In fact, I had to ask two people if the grammar was right in it, and I still don't know if it's right, but here's what I hope your kind of feeling in this massive thing. Joseph is about to show us that no matter what is happening in your life, if we are faithful and we know the God of the universe, that he will always work in our lives. All right. Let's jump into Joseph's life, I want to show you the end of the story and then backtrack from the beginning. All right.

Genesis chapter 50, verse 18. Here's what it says. It says, His brothers and sisters. His brothers then came down and threw themselves down before him. All right. His dad is dead. Now. Remember that. His dad is dead. His brothers know that if they are going to live in Egypt, they're going to have to know and have Joseph on their side. They threw themselves down before him. And here's what they said. We are your slaves, they said. But Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Now let me read it again. Verse 20. This is like the beginning of the movie where we really don't know what's going on yet, but I promise it's going to make sense because his brothers listen, his brothers have done so much evil against Joseph, they even sold him into slavery. I want you to feel what he's saying back to them. Verse 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Watch what he says to him. So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And then he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. And Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with his father's family, and he lived 110 years to be 110 years old. Now I'm going to stop there because I just wanted you to see where Joseph's life is going. I just wanted you to see how God is going to be faithful in Joseph's life. And I want you just to grab hold of the fact that the same thing that Joseph grabbed hold of, and that is, no matter what is happening in your life, God will be faithful and God will come through at the end. And if I and you and if all of us can begin to see ourselves through the lens and perspective of an eternal perspective, it will change us and it will make the things that come into our lives seem seemingly small compared to the eternal power and love of what God gives us.

Can I promise you something? If you see yourself through the lens of Joseph, if you see yourself through the lens of that God is faithful, you are going to be less anxious, you're going to be less panicky, you're going to be less still fearful. If you can just realize what Genesis 50:20 says. Hey, what you intended to harm me, God intended it for good. Church,. our lives would change if we could just grab hold of this. That is what this text is about to teach us. That's what Joseph's life is about to teach us. And this is Joseph's final testimony that we just read. And listen. It can be your testimony as well. Did you know that your testimony can be this idea in your mind that no matter what questions, no matter what pain, no matter what sorrow, no matter what disappointment, that you can finally understand that God is faithful. But what got Joseph here? That's the question, right? That's the question I've been asking all week. What got him here?

But Matt, you don't understand my life. Matt, you don't understand what has happened in my past. You don't understand what is happening in my life right now. You don't understand the craziness that is in my life right now. No, I don't. And you don't understand what's in my life. And we don't even really understand the harshness and what happened to Joseph. But I. Here's what I want to do. Want to walk you back through Joseph's life, and I want to show you God's faithfulness, even in the middle of the crazy. All right. Let me give you some things about Joseph's life that will help you kind of see yourself in the story. Number one, Joseph, like many of us, lived a life of hurtful rejection. He lived this life of hurtful rejection. In fact, if you go back from Chapter 50, back to Chapter 37, the Bible speaks of Joseph's ten step brothers hating him so much, and Joseph's dad sends him to go check on his brothers that these guys hated him so much. Watch what the Bible says about this rejection in his life. Genesis 37:18 says this, but they saw him in a distance. The brother saw Joseph in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. Now, look, I don't know how dysfunctional your family is, but it probably is not this dysfunctional, maybe one or two of you. But the rest of you, it's probably not. This is a real story. Don't read this as an allegory. Don't read this as a parable. Right. This is a real story of a dysfunctional family and of a human being that is being rejected by his family. Man, some of you, that's where you're living right now. And his brothers were so envious of him. Why? Well, he's got these ten step brothers. He's got this one natural brother. His mom died in childbirth, giving birth to his younger natural brother. And because of that, his dad kind of took notice of Joseph and kind of favored him to the point one day that he gave him this coat, this incredibly nice coat. You know, you've been to the Fox. Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, right? This is where it comes from, right? He gave him this coat. He favored him so much, he wasn't like most of us have families and favorite kids that fake it. The dad didn't even fake it, right? He was just up front about it. He was like, Yeah, that's my favorite kid and I love it. And his brothers hated him for it so much they wanted to kill him. Joseph was also a dreamer, and his and his family hated him for it. So much so that they wanted to kill him. Man, what kind of dream would want you to kill your brother? Well, when your brother has a dream from God and tells you that you're going to bow down to him one day, I mean, that's probably a dream that you might just want to keep to yourself, right?

But Joseph doesn't. He tells them this dream and all of this leads to disappointment. This rejection. This hatred. And Joseph was plotted against by his family. And listen, earthly rejection is hard and it's hard. And can I just be real straight up honest with you? That's where many of us live our lives. We live our lives feeling like every single person on this planet has just rejected us. Or we live our lives knowing if they knew the real me, they would probably just turn their back on me. Earthly rejection is real. It hurts. It can shape us. But let me just remind you of something. God will never reject you. God will never turn his back on you. There is not a moment in your life that you need to fake it because God loves you at your worst to deliver you. And now you can be His and God can always take the rejection of this world. He can rebuild old you up into something far above anybody else on this planet has to offer you. Teenagers remember this. There's not a person on this planet that cares for you like your father God does. In fact, write this principle down, even when it seems like all others have rejected you, God hasn't, and God's enough. He's enough. You see, we see this over and over and Joseph's lives. And if you really pay attention, you can see it in yours as well. Joseph walked out his earthly rejection in a way that honored God. And as long as we're on this side of eternity, until Jesus chooses to come back and get us. Listen people, we are always going to live in suffering and rejection. It's just where we live. But God is faithful and He is with us and He is for us. And he will always give us joy here, an eternal deliverance on that side. So listen, if you're feeling rejected today, it is not from God, it's not. Number one, he lived in rejection. But number two, Joseph's life moved from a life of rejection to a life of false accusation. To life of false accusation. Have you ever been there? You see, just after his brother's plot to kill him, they decide, Hey, let's not kill him. Let's not kill Joseph. Let's. Let's sell him into slavery. Right? That's a great idea, right?

So what do they do? They see some Ishmaelites that are walking by and down the path, and his brothers decide we're going to sell him. So they did. They sold Joseph to some Ishmaelites traders. These Ishmaelites chain him up to the back of the caravan. They drag him on a 12 day walk, all the way to Egypt to where they sell Joseph again to a man named Potiphar. To a man named Potiphar, a chief guard in the Egyptian army. And Joseph now is the servant of a man named Potiphar. It seems like though in his servanthood that God blesses Joseph. Joseph marches up through the ranks of servanthood and eventually God blesses Joseph, even in the middle of his struggle. And Joseph is put in front and in charge of all of Potiphar's household. And this is a major deal. This is an incredibly big government official in the land of Egypt. Well, Joseph's now in charge. He is second in command in this house. It seems like this success is all over Joseph's life, but the success was short. In fact, watch what the Bible says and in Genesis chapter 39, verse six, the Bible says this Now, Joseph was well-built and handsome. I like to think we share that fact about each other right? I'm just kidding. Just kidding. And after a while, his master's wife took notice of him and Joseph said, and it took while his wife's, the master's wife, took notice of him, of Joseph, and said, Come to bed with me. But he refused. You see, God had given Joseph favor. In fact, so much so that he was managing the house when his master was away and now he rejects his wife. But now Joseph has put into this incredibly big no-win situation because now Joseph runs away from the wife that was pursuing him. But now she comes up with a plan to slander his name. In fact, when you really think about Joseph, he does every single thing right in this situation. He runs away from her once he runs away from her again. And now Joseph looks at her and says, I would never do that. I would never do that to my master God, and I would never do that to my boss, your husband. And all of a sudden the wife gets mad and angry about the situation and falsely accuses him of trying to come and have her. Here's the deal.

Who are you going to believe? Are you going to believe the lady that is in charge and has the house? Are you going to believe the slave? You're not going to believe the slave. So what happens, Joseph is thrown into prison. He's thrown in the prison with no chance to explain, with no trial, with no voice. All Joseph has is no credibility and God at this point. Let me ask you something. Have you ever been in a situation where you've been falsely accused and you literally look around and you have nobody else? That's where Joseph is. He's living a life right here where he's going. I've got nobody. But Joseph is teaching us something here. Write this principle down. Sometimes the difficulties that come to our life are not because we've done something wrong, but because we've done something right. You see, Joseph didn't do anything wrong. And church, I'm just going to tell you, sometimes church, your difficulties that you walk with you in your life, the sticky situations, the adverse adverse situations in your life, the hate that is thrown at you, they come not because you've done something wrong. They come because you've chosen to honor God in your life. And our culture can't stand that. Satan can't stand that. And he wants to steal, kill, and destroy. And he will throw accusations at you even though you have chose to do the right thing. But listen, when you choose the right, do the right thing. Here's what we know about our God. He will honor it. He'll honor it. And this is what he does in Joseph's life. And Joseph shows us this incredible idea that we can honor God even when we know consequences are going to come. In fact, write this principle down to Joseph teaches us our true character is revealed and our choices that come under pressure, our true character, who we really are, is revealed in our choices under pressure. You say, Matt, what does that mean? That means this. It is in the now or never moments of my life that you and I have to choose at that moment who our God is and what we really value. That you can tell me all you want about who you worship. You can post online all you want about who God is to you, but you really want to know who God is to you.

It is in the now or never, have to make a decision right now, moments. And let me just beg you to know that in those moments you have the chance to prove the faithfulness of God in your lives. That's what Joseph shows us. In those moments. It's going to cost you in those moments when other people have a voice in your life, in those moments, you're going to have the temporary gain or eternal gain. Let me beg you, do the right thing. So what happens to Joseph? He's thrown into prison because he does the right thing. Do you realize he probably would have got away with it if he really just slept with her. But he didn't because he honored God and his commitment to his family. Then the Bible reminds us of such an incredible truth of Joseph. He was thrown into prison. He's in prison. But in Genesis 39:21, it says this, but while Joseph was there in prison, the Lord was with him. You might want to circle those words because four times in this chapter, this statement is made that the Lord was with Joseph. And what would happen if we grabbed on to the fact that no matter what was happening around us and no matter the situations we're in, no matter the suffering that we walk in, no matter what people say or accuse us of, that if we know Jesus, the Lord is with us, the Lord is walking with us, God can carry us. In fact, write this next principle down, when others believe the worst about you is God that stands with and for you. When God stands with Him for you. Christ followers, listen please. It's such a comfort to know that in times when people are coming at you that God knows the real story and He wants to deliver you. So Joseph, he was rejected by his brothers. He was sold into slavery. He has now been falsely accused of something that he has never done. But it gets even worse. Number three, he is then earthly abandoned. He's been earthly abandoned. Joseph is in prison in our story right here. He knows that he has no one. He has no contacts. But the Lord is with Joseph. And just as he rose through Potiphar's house to be the head of that house, now, Joseph rises up in the prison system of Egypt.

Right. And he is now the head prisoner of all of Egypt. And somehow, somehow, he makes these two friends while he is in prison. The king gets mad at his baker and mad at his cupbearer. I love it. Sounds like a Disney movie, right? He gets mad at these two people. He throws them into prison. Long story short, I'm telling you, you got to read it this week. Long story short, these two guys have dreams. Then, now Joseph steps in and says, Hey, I can interpret your dream for you. He looks at the baker and he says, "It's not going to be a good day for you.” And it wasn't a good day for the baker. He died right? He was killed by the pharaoh. He looks at the cupbearer, and he says, Hey, it's going to be a good day for you. You are going to rise back up into your position and you are going to be the cupbearer again. And then Joseph thinks, because actually those two things happen, he correctly interprets this dream. He thinks this is my ticket out of this prison. I know this is going to be my way out of here. The cupbearer is now in this position to tell the king, Hey, this guy, get him out of here. We need him. But the Bible says in Genesis 40, verse 23, Listen to this. The cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph. He forgot him. Oh, that's right. He's right. He forgot him. And for two years the cupbearer does not remember Joseph. He never brings him up. You won't talk about waiting.

Can I just be honest and transparent with you for a minute? I hate to wait. I hate it. I hate it with a burning passion. School started this week and I left at the wrong time one morning and I was not a good human being. I was not. I hate when there's a person in my family that is not ready to go and I'm ready to go. I'm not going to name any names and have to wait. I hate when the Chick-Fil-A line is out the door and it is all the way back to the road. I will go to McDonald's. I don't even care if it isn't Christian. I'm going, I hate to wait. But you know what this tells us right here? What is this showing us right here? That like it or not, waiting is part of the Christian experience. It's part of following Jesus. And can I show you what Joseph is trying to tell us right here when we're waiting on God? It's not that God has abandoned us, it's that God has just asked us to wait. And he's teaching us something in the wait. That's where Joseph is. He's waiting. He seems to be forgotten. He seems to be abandoned, but he's not.

I mean, he's been forgotten by his evil brothers. He's been forgotten by Potiphar, Patiphar's wife. He's forgotten by her, which is probably a good thing. Right? He's forgotten by the cupbearer and he's by himself. Let's see what King David said about waiting in Psalms 13. He said, How long, Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts day after day and have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemies triumph over me? Man, have those been your words before? David said, Don't forget me, God. And God says, I'm not going to forget you. In fact, write this principle down. God knows exactly where you are. He knows exactly where you are. God knows your heart. He hears you, He knows what you're walking through and you will never be forgotten by God. Those of you that know Jesus, he is yours. In fact, the Bible says this in Isaiah 49, God says, I've engraved you into the palm of my hand. Not that I'd taken a pencil and wrote it. Or a pen. No, he has engraved you. It is there forever.

Isaiah 41:10 says Do not fear for I am with you and do not be dismayed. For I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will hold you. Uphold you with my righteous right hand. Hebrews 13:5 says, Never will I leave you and never will I forsake you. Believer, when you feel like you are forgotten. You're not, You're not. He knows you. He is with you. He's walking with you. Matt, How can you say that? I can say that because we serve the same God that Joseph serves. In fact, Hebrews 13:8 tells that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And I know that because Jesus, He knows the beginning. He knows the end, He knows the backside and the middle side. He knows it all. And I've read the end of the book and we are going to win. We're going to win. Even in the moments we feel like we're a band and we're not abandoned, even in the moments we feel like God is silent. He's showing us and he's teaching us. I say all of this because God will never allow our suffering to not be redeemed in some way for His glory. He won't do it. I say that because of this. I read this verse last week. I say that because Paul says in Romans, and we know that in all things God works together for those who love him and called according to his purpose.

You see, God takes the evil of this world and he turns it into his redeemed good. We see it all over the Bible and we see it in our lives. But Matt Joseph is in jail. You're talking about a guy who's in jail. How are we seeing redeemed good in Joseph's life? I'm glad you asked, because remember, I told you, there are some incredibly low lows. There's also some incredibly high highs. See, Joseph led a life of rejection. He lived a life of false accusation. He lived a life of abandonment, but also just the number four. He lives a life of ultimate victory. Ultimate victory. I can tell you this believer, you can too. You can too. Look, I can't get into all the details. You're going to have to read it this week because it's so good. But Joseph is in prison. All right? He's in prison. Oh, Joe is still in prison. And Pharaoh, Pharaoh has a dream. Pharaoh has a dream and he doesn't know what to do with this dream. All of his officials, none of them can decipher it. None of them can do anything about it. The cupbearer, One day hears that he is struggling with his dream, and then all of a sudden the cup bearer has an aha moment. You know where the story's going. He's like, Wait a minute, there's this Hebrew kid down in the prison that can interpret your dream. The Pharaoh was like, What? A Hebrew kid? And he's like, Yes, God has given him a special favor. He says, Well, then bring him up. So what do they do? They go over to Joseph, they save him. They get him in shape. They probably bathe him. He's been in prison for a minute, right? Last time you were there, it was a rough time. Right? They bring him up into the Pharaoh's court and Pharaoh speaks the dream over Joseph. And God gives Joseph the ability to interpret this dream. And Joseph looks at the Pharaoh, and he's like. Hey, Pharaoh, listen. What that means is that there's going to be seven years of plenty in the land of Egypt, and then there's going to be seven years of famine in the land of Egypt. So if we get ready now, we will make it through the second seven years because of the first seven years.

And God will save us and make Egypt into an incredibly great society. And the pharaoh looks at Joseph and he throws him back in prison. No, that's not what happens, okay? That's not what happens. Pharaoh, that would be a story. That's not what happens. Pharaoh looks at Joseph and says, This Genesis 41:39, the Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all of this known to you, Hold on. Here it goes. There is no one so discerning and as wise as you. Verse fourty, you shall be in charge of my palace. Watch. And all of my people are to submit to your orders only with respect to the throne, the Pharaoh says, I will be greater than you. What just happened? Joseph has now gone from prisoner to Prince, the pauper's house to the palace. He has now been elevated to being number two in all of Egypt. In one moment, God moves him from being in despair to living out the total playing of God for his life. And Joseph is able to not only save himself, not only save all of Egypt, but also save his family and do it all in the name of God Almighty. When you feel like you're about to give up, don't. Your next move may just be God saying, Let's go. And think about how all of this has happened. Think about it. If he wasn't disregarded by his family and sold, he would have never made his way into the hand of the Ishmaelites. You never met the Ishmaelites, never ended up all the way walking to Egypt. Never got to Egypt, he would have never met the guard that he worked for, Potiphar. If you had never known Potiphar, Never known his wife. Never knew his wife. Almost. He would have never been thrown into prison. Never been in prison, never met him at the cupbearer. Never met the cupbearer, never would have interpreted his dream. Never interpreted his dream, never to be put into the life of Pharaoh. Never met Pharaoh, never, would have ever, ever made it out of the prison and saved his life. Listen, God uses everything in our lives. And write this principle down. It is in times of challenge when we really learn to trust God. And I can tell you in my life, it's not the good times that God has made himself known the most to me. It's when I've been in the prison of life, not the literal prison, the prisons of life. Right? It's in the times when I didn't have anywhere else to go. It's in the times I had nobody else to turn to I felt like. It's in the times that I did not know what to say, that God stepped in and I began to run to him. So what happens to Joseph? Joseph begins to store up the food. In fact, you can go to Egypt today and find the silos that Joseph built to do this. It's the only ones in all of Egypt that was built in the Hebrew way of using the stone, the clay, and the straw. He does it. He stores it up for seven years. For the second seven years, he is divvying out all of the portions to all of Egypt and he is saving Egypt. He's basically getting all the wealth of all the land around him. And Egypt begins to rise up. It gets so bad that Joseph's brothers all the way back in Canaan hear that Egypt has food, they come with money, they come with treasures to come and beg the Egyptians for some food.

Well, Joseph has been there so long, they don't even know who Joseph is. They come before him through the course of a lot of crazy stories. Joseph supplies their needs, brings them back into Egypt, Joseph forgets them and brings them back to live in the land of Egypt and for God's glory. One man's faithfulness in the moments of the madness of light makes a difference and saves all of them. Church, this can be our lives. But in those moments that we feel like we're in despair, who are we going to turn to? Do you think Joseph wanted to give up at any moment? It's like, Oh yeah, he did. You better believe it. You think there's going to be moments in your life where you just want to throw in the towel and give up because you feel like God has given up on you? Yeah, they're going to be there. But listen, God will not leave you. He will not walk away from you. And church, don't forget that God is always working. And don't forget, no matter what is coming at you and no matter who is coming at you. Romans 8:38 says, I'm convinced that neither life nor death, nor angels nor demons, or things in the present, nor powers, nor height nor depth or anything else in all creation. Paul could have just said everything. And it would have worked. But listen to this. Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look, God is probably not asking you to save this country. Maybe He is, but he's probably not. But you know what he is asking you to do? He's asking you just to be faithful because he's faithful.

He's asking you to stand firm as he stands for you. He's asking you to say yes, Lord, because he always delivers. Look, I don't know what's going on in your life. I don't know what it is in your life that you are just about ready to say, Lord I'm done. But just know this when you feel like everybody else is done with you, he's not. Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, today God, I just pray God, that you're showing us, that no matter what we're walking through in life, that you're faithful. That you're working for your glory and our good. But God, in order to grab a hold of your goodness, God, we got to know you and we've got to have a relationship with you. Lord Jesus, if there are people here today that just need to trust you with their lives. If there are people in this church today, God that just are dealing with a moment where they know that you are calling them into a relationship today. God, I pray that today is the day that they respond and just say, yes, Jesus. They'd invite you to be their savior, invite you to be the Lord, and give you their lives. God for the rest of the people that do know you today, God show us that you're not done with us, no matter how disregarded we feel, no matter how accused we feel, no matter how abandoned we feel, you haven't abandoned us. Lord thank you for these next couple of moments of just contemplation, prayer and worship, Lord Jesus. Just let us respond. And it's in your name Amen.

Would you stand and sing with us this morning? Listen, I'm going to be over here by the next steps banner. There's a couple other guys that are going to be with me if you need to give your life to Christ today. Man, we'd love to talk to you. If maybe today you just want somebody to pray with because you feel like Joseph's life is your life. Man, we love to pray over you as well. Let's sing together.

Follow Along with the Message

God Intended It for Good! (Joseph)

August 6, 2023

PRINCIPLE: No matter the circumstance we find ourselves in today, God will be faithful. He is always working for our eternal good and His glory; therefore, we should live with an eternal focus versus a sin-stained, limited earthly perspective.

Genesis 50:18–20
18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. 19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Genesis 50:20–22
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. 22 Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years.”
Joseph Lived a Life of…

1. Hurtful

Genesis 37:18
But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

PRINCIPLE: Even if it seems all others have rejected you, God hasn’t, and God is !

2. accusation

Genesis 39:6–8
6 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.

PRINCIPLE: Sometimes difficulties come in our life not because we have done something wrong, but because we have done something .

PRINCIPLE: Our true character is revealed in under pressure.

Genesis 39:20–21
20 But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him…

PRINCIPLE: When others believe the worst about you, it’s God that stands and for you.

3. Earthly

Genesis 40:23
The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
Psalm 13:1–2
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

PRINCIPLE: God always knows where you are.

Isaiah 49:16
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…
Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Hebrews 13:5–6
5 “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

4. Ultimate

Genesis 41:39–40
39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. 40 You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”

PRINCIPLE: It’s in the times of challenge when we really learn to and to run to God.

Romans 8:38–39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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