Tempted and Tried

All right, well take the Word of God with me if you would and turn to Genesis chapter 39.

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 39. While you are turning there, I've got some good news for you. Last Sunday we

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

collected over $3,000 in hurricane relief for that special offering that came in. So I am grateful

for your participation in that and was glad to hear of your generosity toward those who are going

through some very difficult times out in the Carolinas and the Florida. And so we will split

that offering evenly between Texas Baptist, Texans on Mission is their disaster relief arm,

and Samaritan's Purse. And you can actually still give this Sunday. That line item is still open

online. So if you'd like to give through our church app, you can do that by going online and

giving through the app. Take your Bibles and turn to Genesis 39. We are continuing on in our series

on Joseph meant for good principles from the life of Joseph. Our series text is found in Genesis 50.

You meant evil against me, but God meant for good to save many people. That's kind of the theme

of how God used Joseph as a type of Christ, a picture of he who would come many, many years later

to save many people from their sins. And last Sunday in week one, we looked at Joseph, the favored but

fallen son. And our takeaway was that pride and envy are warning signs. But the start of Joseph's story

points us to Jesus. Joseph perhaps being the most effective type of Christ that we find in the Old

Testament. And what is a type of Christ? It is simply someone we find in the Old Testament that points us

to Jesus. Someone who is an example of who we would see later coming, which is the Son of God,

Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. We saw in week one that Joseph was betrayed by his own people.

He was the favored son. And those are two ways that points us straight to Jesus. So let's get into it

for today. Week two, we're looking at Joseph tempted and tried. Tempted and tried. Let's look at Genesis 39

beginning in verse 1. Genesis 39 beginning in verse 1. Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt.

An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, and the captain of the guards bought him from the

Ishmaelites who had brought him there. The Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man,

serving in the household of his Egyptian master, Pharaoh. When his master saw that the Lord was with him

and the Lord made everything he did successful, then Joseph found favor with his master and became his

personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his

authority. From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord

blessed the Egyptian's house because of Joseph. The Lord's blessing was on all that he owned in his house

and in his fields. He left all that he owned under Joseph's authority. He did not concern himself with

anything except the food that he ate. My, how Joseph's fortunes have turned. My, how the turntables

have turned. It's a reference to it. Never mind. Anyway, all right. Possibly in the very first year,

it would seem, of Joseph's service to his master Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's royal guard, and by the way,

chief executioner, we don't need to get any more graphic than that, right? This was a tough, scary guy

that Joseph was sold as slave to serve under. Joseph rises through the ranks of the slave from probably

working outside in the most undesirable of conditions to then getting to come inside the house,

was probably a lot less hot over there in Egypt, until all of a sudden he gets promoted to Pharaoh's

personal assistant. I'm sorry, Potiphar's personal assistant. Wrong guy. Potiphar's personal assistant.

Now I would imagine he's kept pretty busy running around doing all the errands that Potiphar needs done.

You jump. I say jump. You say how high? I snap my fingers. You're there. You do whatever I need.

But he does so well in this job that eventually he gets placed in charge of the whole household.

You couldn't really get any higher for a slave. He has reached his pinnacle as a slave,

seemingly within his first year of service to Potiphar. What a meteoric rise. I mean, the guy is just

flying through the slave ranks. And I'm sure other slaves are looking at him like, man, you just got here.

How in the world did you get promoted so fast? Well, we know how he got promoted so fast because verse 2 tells us,

what does it say? Somebody tell me verse 2. Y'all can do better than that. Come on.

The Lord was with Joseph. I'm pretty sure all our translations say it the same way, don't they?

The Lord was with Joseph. That is the secret to his success. So there are two questions here.

How did Joseph rise so quickly? How was he so successful? Because God was with him.

And our reminder, friends, is God is with us too. God is with us too. No matter how dreary or small

the task you're facing may seem, God is with you. No matter if you're cleaning up you-know-what at home,

all right, because your baby had an accident. No matter if you're doing home health and you're

struggling through difficult conditions. No matter if you are going through financial problems and you

are struggling through a difficult stage of life. No matter what your condition is. No matter if you

are struggling through personal sickness or personal pain or physical conditions. No matter what stage of

life you're in. God is with you. No matter if you're under personal attack. No matter if life seems

menial or dreary or small or meaningless or you're stuck at a dead-end job. God is with you.

Now he might cause your star to rise fast like he did with Joseph.

Or you might be on the slow track. We certainly see those in other situations in Scripture.

And I'm sure when the brothers had kidnapped Joseph, threw him in a well, didn't feel like his star was

shining that brightly. I'm sure when he was on the back of a camel having been sold to slave traders,

it didn't feel like his star was shining that brightly. When he was first sold as a slave and he was out

working in the hot Egyptian sun, it didn't feel like his star was shining that brightly. There were

probably days after days after days when his flesh would wonder if God Almighty, Jehovah God, had forgotten

about him. But the Lord was always with him. Always with him. And God is with us too.

So, how did it happen? God was with him. Why was God with Joseph? The Abrahamic covenant.

The Abrahamic covenant. The Lord was with Joseph. We read it there in Genesis 39, 21. So no matter how

small the task, God was with him. No matter what stage of life he was in, God was with him. Why? Because

God promised he would be with him. And God never goes back on his promises. How do we know that God

promised to be with him? Well, we'll get into it in just a moment. You see, Joseph was the favored

servant. Joseph was the favored servant. And really, this is another type of Christ. Because Jesus himself

was a servant. The Bible even says that Jesus took upon him the form of a servant. And took on the

likeness of men. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,

even the death of a cross. So Jesus was, like Joseph, a servant. And he was, of course, favored of God.

But you see, Joseph was under the Abrahamic covenant. What do we mean when we say the Abrahamic covenant?

Let's look at Genesis chapter 12. If you don't want to turn there all the way back to the,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

toward the beginning of the book, I've got it on the screen for you here. We're just going to look

at verse 3. Really, it contains more than that. But let's look at this part of it here. I will bless

those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt. All the peoples on earth

will be blessed through you. This was the specific part of the Abrahamic covenant that would keep

Joseph safe. So the Abrahamic covenant was a promise or a covenant, a guarantee that God made with

Joseph's ancestor Abraham. Abraham was God's chosen man from whom God's seed would come. God's chosen seed

would come through Abraham. The line of Abraham would come generations after Jesus Christ.

And so because Joseph came in the line of Abraham as Jacob's son, then Joseph was under the protection,

so to speak, of the Abrahamic covenant. So he was under God's promise, God's guarantee,

that God would bless those who blessed Joseph. And God would curse anyone who treated Joseph with

contempt. And all the peoples on earth would be blessed through Joseph. So what does that have to do

with the people at First Baptist Church, Henrietta, Texas?

Are we under the Abrahamic covenant? We're under something called the New Covenant.

You see, there was a new covenant established when the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, laid down his life as the

final sacrifice for all of our sins. And so all those Old Testament sacrifices that Abraham and all his

children had to make to pay for the sins of the people, all that had to stop. Because finally, the one and forever Lamb,

Jesus, laid down his life and said, I will be the sacrifice for all those who came before, and all those now

alive, and all of us who would come after. And he said, I will be the atonement, the payment for all of their sins.

And my blood is sufficient. My blood is enough to cover for all of it.

So we can all have relationship with God. We can all have restoration of the relationship with God

because of Jesus. So we can all now be in a covenant relationship with God. We can all have this promise,

this special relationship, this father-son, this family of God relationship because of Jesus Christ.

So now we can claim these promises of God that we read in the Old Testament. We're like, man,

he was given these promises to these Old Testament people. Does that mean anything for us? Yes, because God

broke down the bridge. He built the bridge. He broke down the wall. Now he established one family,

one people, his people for all of us because of his death on the cross and his resurrection.

And so he said, now you're all under this covenant, this new covenant for me. So now we can claim

these promises for ourselves. And so Joseph could claim this promise of God and say, I know God is

with me. And I know even though times are tough and things look bad and I'm a slave. Now I pray that

no one in here, because I know that human slavery still exists in the world today, in the dark corners

of this world and kidnapping and the sex trade and terrible things still happen in the world today.

I pray that no one in this room has been a victim of that kind of thing.

But I know we all go through tough times, but here's Joseph staring a real tragedy in the face,

real trouble. The guy's a slave. He could end up dead. It happened all the time.

The lives of slaves were not valued highly, especially in those days. So he's in deep water

and he didn't have a life jacket, except he had God and he had God's covenant and the Lord was with him.

And church, the Lord is with you. Not just Joseph, the Lord is with you too.

So whatever you find yourself in, all the way up to human slavery and beyond, the Lord will not

abandon you. All the peoples of the earth would be blessed through Joseph. We see it unfold later

in the story. So my question to you is, are those around you blessed because of your faithfulness

to God? Are those around you blessed because of your faithfulness to God? God's promise to his

people would be. If you are faithful to me and walk with me, then the people of around you will be

faithful, will be blessed because of you. And we see that happen through Joseph's life. Genesis 39,

back to our text, verses 6b through 9. Now, can I jump in here real quick for a second?

Before we jump back into Genesis 39, can I share something with you?

Second Timothy chapter 3 teaches us something that the very words of the Bible are inspired by God.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

How many of y'all believe that the words that we read in the Bible come from God himself?

I would hope we can all agree on that. I believe that, absolutely.

The Bible tells us that every word of God that we read in the Bible is inspired by God. However,

the chapter and verse divisions that are in the Bible are not inspired by God, okay?

And we've got a really annoying chapter and verse division right here in Genesis 39.

Now, you might be looking at me like, what are you talking about, man?

Um, they are helpful, no doubt. It would be really hard to read and find things in the Bible if we

didn't have the chapter and verse divisions. Uh, they actually didn't show up fully in the Bible

until the Geneva Bible in 1560. Uh, there was a Jewish rabbi named Nathan who broke up the Old Testament

into verses back in the 1400s. And I'm very grateful to Nathan. That must have been a really hard thing to do.

It probably took him a lot of time, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why he split up

verse six here. Look at Genesis 39 and verse six.

He left all that he owned under Joseph's authority. He did not concern himself with anything except the

food he ate. That should have been the end of verse six right here. But he put the part about

Joseph being handsome at the end of verse six. It should have been verse seven. That's my opinion.

Doesn't have to be yours. You can choose to be wrong if you'd like. All right,

we can move on now. Here we go. That got that off my chest.

Now, I wanted to share that with you just to let you know, some of you may not have been aware,

the chapter and verse divisions did not come from the biblical writers. Those were added later.

by people, scholars who helpfully came through and added those so we can find things in the word of

God, which is very helpful. Verse seven. Well, verse six B. Okay, six B. Here we go. We read six A.

Now, Joseph was well built and handsome. Okay, guys, we all aspire to be like that, right?

We all want to be like Joseph. Verse seven. It gives context to verse seven. After some time,

his master's wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, parents, cover your kids' ears if you need to.

Sleep with me. But he refused. Look, he said to his master's wife.

With me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house.

He's put all that he owns under my authority. No one in this house is greater than I am.

He's withheld nothing from me except you because you're his wife. How could I do this immense evil

and how could I sin against God? So, Joseph reminded Potiphar's wife of his position in her husband's

house. And I believe he was very wise in the way he did this. He appealed to her respect,

not for her husband. Clearly, she didn't respect her husband. He appealed to her respect for her place

in Egyptian society as the wife of an important member of Pharaoh's court. You see, Egyptians did not

take adultery lightly. Adultery was a serious crime, punishable by up to the sentence of death, actually.

At least divorce. And usually divorce would be followed by the woman then entering the world's

oldest profession, if you know what I mean. So, her life would very much fall apart.

And so, Joseph seems to be appealing to her reality check, so to speak. Like, hey, do you really

want to do this? I know I don't. Like, come on now. I can't do this and really neither can you.

But Joseph ultimately professed his respect for God as the reason for denying her.

So, here's the question. Do your principles come from your respect of God or man? Do your principles

come from your respect of God or man? Because if it hasn't come already, you will be tested.

And if it has come already, you'll be tested again. All of us do. All of us are tested in some way or

another. Might be your boss's wife like Joseph, or it might be something completely different in

another stratosphere. But listen, the day will come when you are tested and your principles are tested,

and your principles will be shown and revealed to be whether they come out of respect of God or man.

We see it time and time again. When famous Christian leaders are revealed that perhaps somewhere along

the way, whether it was from the beginning or whether it was somewhere along the way, their principles may

be shifted. And I just pray to God that he would keep me focused with my principles, grounded on him and his word,

and not the fear of man. Because at some point, you're going to stop caring what other people think.

At some point, it might seem worth it to you. At some point, you just might get in the emotional spot,

the emotional state, that your fear of everything else except God will fail. So if your principles come

from anything except your fear of God, it will fail. Psalm 75 puts this so well. Exaltation does not come

from the east. It does not come from the west or the desert. God is the judge. He brings down one and

exalts another. Joseph knew that. Joseph had his head screwed on right. He had his perspective right. He said,

look, look, I didn't get this. I didn't earn this on my own. I was in deep water. I was in trouble. And God

lifted me up. God saved me. God put me on the track to get in this good situation. God brought me out of

the pit and set my feet on solid ground. Why in the world am I going to turn around and slap God in the

face? I'm not going to do that. And that's what he was saying to this man's wife. Now let's look at

verse 10. Genesis 39 and verse 10. Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed

with her. He refused it. Day after day, how strong are you? How strong am I? Are we strong enough to turn

it down day after day after day? When I was studying this out, my mind went back to the sermon I preached

just a few weeks ago when Jesus said, I think that's why he told his disciples to do this, daily take up

your cross and follow me. We got to put ourselves to death daily. And so many years before Jesus told

his disciples to do this, Joseph learned the lesson of daily putting himself to death every day and

saying, it's not my will, but yours be done. Man, every day he was in a position where he probably could

have gotten away with it. The master was gone. Nobody else in the house, just him and the wife. He probably

could have pulled it off. But God, he had too much respect for God. He said, no, day after day after day.

He couldn't get away. He was a slave.

He couldn't get away. He couldn't get away. He couldn't get away. He couldn't get away. He couldn't

just quit his job. They owned him. He had to keep showing up and fighting temptation day after day after day

and saying, no. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test,

he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

God knew that with his strength, with God's strength, Joseph could stand this trial.

God would never allow it to get to the place that Joseph could not bear it with God's strength.

God is sufficient. Joseph was not sufficient. Men, you and I are not sufficient. Women, you're not

sufficient either. But with the Lord of God, with God himself, with the Lord God, Jehovah, creator of

the universe, we can have the victory just like Joseph did. So let's look at it. Chapter 39, verses 11

through 13. And we're nearly done. You know we're nearly done because you know how the story ends. Here we go.

Ready? Verse 11. What does it say?

Something hath no fury like a woman scorned. Here we go.

Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there.

She grabbed him by his garment and said,

Sleep with me. I mean, she was insistent. She was going to have her way. She was used to getting her

way. She was not used to being told no. She was going to force him to do this. But leaving his garment

in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. There came the point when he said, I don't care if it means

they throw me in prison or they kill me. The more likely scenario here is he gets put to death.

He's a slave, but he's willing to die for his convictions.

When she's asking him, he tells her no. When she puts her hands on him and tries to force him,

he runs. He says, I will not. I will not. And he runs. Verse 13. When she saw that he had left his

garment with her and had run outside, she went into damage control mode. She called her household

servants. Look, she said to them, my husband brought a Hebrew man in to make fools of us. He came to me so

he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could. He heard me screaming for help, and he left his

garment beside me and ran outside. She put Joseph's garment beside her until his master came home.

Then she told him the same story. Hebrew slave he brought to us came to make a fool of me. I screamed

for help. He left his garment beside me and ran outside, and his master heard the story. His wife told

him, these are the things your slave did to me. He was furious and had him thrown into prison. So

before we get into the master's reaction, let's take a moment and just remind ourselves of the warning

about this kind of woman. Proverbs chapter 23 verses 27 and 8. Bad women. Now we use some different

Proverbs 23:27

versions up here sometimes, and I know there's a lot of different versions of the Bible that are used in

this crowd. This is the contemporary English version, which I don't frequently use, but I love how it

phrased these verses, okay? Can we look at this together? Bad women and unfaithful wives are like a deep pit.

They are waiting to attack you like a gang of robbers with victim after victim. I just thought that tied in

with this story, I mean that woman, Potiphar's wife, embodied this verse.

She was like a deep pit trying to entice Joseph to fall into it. And when he did it, she tried to attack him

like a gang of robbers. But she couldn't get to him. She couldn't get to him. He was protected

by Jehovah God. So what happened? We see another type of Christ here in Joseph. He was unjustly accused.

You think of somebody else who was unjustly accused? Jesus Christ himself, yeah. Jesus was unjustly accused.

They tried to level all kinds of accusations against Jesus.

Tried to accuse him of breaking the law. Every time they tried to accuse him, he put it into perspective

and came back and showed them how they were twisting the law to use it for their own advantage.

Every time they tried to accuse him of sin, he came back and showed them how they were wrong.

He was unjustly accused, even to the point of suffering to death. But that was all part of the plan.

Matthew chapter 5 and verse 11. God blesses you when you mock, when people mock you and persecute you

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.

Be happy about it for a great reward awaits you in heaven. Man, it's being just like Jesus

when people unjustly accuse you of something. So don't get all bent out of shape. Don't get all high

and mighty and sit on your high horse. I can't believe people would say things about me. Why? Jesus

said they would. You just get to be a little bit more like Jesus when people come at you with false

accusations. I understand it hurts. I understand there's moments when it's disappointing when people

would do that. I understand that. But then take a moment and turn to God and say, God, thank you.

Thank you that I get to suffer a little bit for your name. I get to be a little bit, taste a little bit

of what you tasted so much. Do we respond in anger or do we respond in joy when we are unjustly

accused? That's a convicting question, isn't it? Our flesh wants to respond in anger,

but that Holy Spirit that walks with us and guides us and goes everywhere with us and is always

influencing us and leading us and comfort us, that comfort is supposed to respond to us in joy and say,

hey, this is an opportunity for growth. This is an opportunity to say, hey, we get to be like Jesus here.

First Peter chapter three, if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don't worry

or be afraid of their threats. Y'all, nobody can threaten you when you're a child of God. You know that?

You ever think about that? Nobody can threaten you when you're a child of God. What are they going

to threaten you with? Losing your job? Think God can't handle that? Killing you so you get to wake

up in heaven with Jesus? See all those who have gone before? Hurting you? Think God can't handle pain?

causing sorrow? God can't heal? There is nothing anyone can do to you that God can't handle

and that God doesn't allow or not allow.

So don't worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks you about that hope,

as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way and keep your conscience clear in that way.

If people speak against you, then they'll be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.

Not just a good life because you're a wonderful person. Look at me.

No, it's a good life because you belong to Christ.

Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good if that is what God wants than to suffer for doing wrong.

That is the theme of chapter 39 of Joseph of Genesis here. The story of Joseph in chapter 39.

This segment, we find it right here at the end of 1 Peter 3 verse 17.

1 Peter 3:17

It is better to suffer for doing good than to suffer for doing wrong.

And God gave Joseph that wisdom so many years before we read this in 1 Peter.

Joseph knew. He cracked that code by the power of God.

It's better to suffer for doing right than to suffer for doing wrong.

Suffering would have come for doing wrong.

But instead, he knew he had to do what was right.

Did he suffer for it? Oh, absolutely.

Let's look at verse 20 now.

Look at verse 20.

The master was furious and he had him thrown into prison where the king's prisoners were confined.

So Joseph was there in prison.

Now, interesting thing is, God was testing Joseph's character.

Every step of the way, he had been testing Joseph's character.

And Psalm 105 19 tells us that the Lord was testing Joseph's character and he passed every test day after day.

We don't always pass every test, do we?

But thankfully, God is in the forgiving business.

1 John 119 tells us if we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us our sins.

But Joseph had been passing these tests time and time again.

His master had seen that.

That Joseph was thriving.

He was doing so well.

So we don't see specifically that the master was angry with Joseph.

Now, he may have been.

We see that the master was furious.

But he may have had his doubts about his wife's story.

Because it was fully expected and typical that if a slave and the master's wife were caught in this situation in which Joseph was accused of forcing himself on the master's wife,

he would instantly be put to death.

But he wasn't.

He was thrown into prison.

His life was spared.

So it seems like the master had his doubts.

Could have maybe been the first, not maybe the first time that he had his doubts about his wife's faithfulness.

So, he was angry at the situation.

He was furious.

Maybe he didn't know who to believe.

Though we don't have any record of Joseph defending himself.

But against all odds, God protected Joseph yet again.

Verse 21, through the end of the chapter, we're done.

The Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.

Back at the beginning of the chapter, we read those words.

The Lord was with Joseph.

And here again, unjustly accused, thrown into prison, the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.

He granted him favor with the prison warden.

The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph's authority.

Here we go again.

Joseph's in charge.

The guy just has the golden touch.

And he was responsible for everything that was done there.

The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph's authority because the Lord was with him.

And the Lord made everything that he did successful.

The administrative skills that Joseph had learned in Potiphar's house now served him so well in this prison.

In Pharaoh's prison.

So, this was now Pharaoh's prison.

The Egyptian leader, supreme leader.

The king, basically, of Egypt.

He's in Pharaoh's prison.

And now, God has elevated him yet again.

God was prospering him in the face of seeming defeat.

This brings us to a lesson.

And I saw this, and I wanted to share this with you.

I read this online, and I wanted to share this with you.

Joseph went from privilege in his father's house to the pit his brothers threw him into.

To being property in the slave market.

To the privilege of managing Potiphar's house.

To his principled stand against temptation.

To the perjury of false accusation.

To the prison of Pharaoh.

Joseph's testimony could only be one thing.

When my brothers left me to die.

God was the only one with me.

When they sold me to slavery.

God was the only one with me.

When my master's wife betrayed me.

God was the only one with me.

When I was thrown into prison.

God was the only one with me.

God was the one who never left me.

Never once.

And that is our testimony too.

That's your testimony.

And it's mine.

And that's what these trials do.

They make us depend on God.

They recenter us on God.

They make us refocus on the one who never leaves.

So, our takeaway today.

Before we get to the takeaway.

I want to share this with you.

God's delays are not God's denials.

God's delays are not God's denials.

You ever thought about that?

How many of you times.

If you're not ashamed to raise your hand.

How many times have you prayed for something.

And you didn't get it right away.

Anybody?

I suspected there would be a lot of hands up.

It's true.

We pray for things.

And we don't always get them.

But God's delays are not always God's denials.

Sometimes we pray for things.

And they're not good for us.

And we're never going to get them.

Because we shouldn't.

But sometimes just because God doesn't say yes right away.

Doesn't mean that it's never going to come.

I'm sure that Joseph prayed for deliverance.

But it didn't come right away.

I'm sure he prayed for God to take that woman away.

Or at least have her stop asking him to sin.

But she never did.

And it got worse.

Far worse.

Before it got any better.

God had a weird way of delivering him from that, didn't he?

Had him arrested and thrown into prison.

It's like, thanks God.

That's how you delivered me from that?

God had a plan.

Oh, God had a plan.

So our takeaway today is the trials that God allows are always designed to draw us into closer relationship with him.

James 1, 2 through 4 says,

Let endurance have its full effect so you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

That's what we mean.

When God allows trials to happen in our lives or Joseph's life,

it's always designed to draw us into closer relationship with him.

He wants to get us to that place where we are in perfect, complete, full relationship with him.

Would you bow your heads with me?

God, every one of us is going through something right now.

I don't think anybody's life in here is perfect.

Joseph is an extreme example.

And I love that because no matter what anybody here is going through or has gone through,

Joseph trials probably match or eclipse what we have endured.

Complete separation and loss of family, everyone that we know and love.

Betrayal, imprisonment, false accusations, unjust suffering.

Time and time again.

Feeling abandoned.

Storms just getting worse before they get better.

Feeling like it's piling on.

God, why do you do these things?

Boy, it's easy for us to look back centuries later and say,

Joseph, just hang in there, buddy.

It's all going to get a whole lot better for you.

But it's hard for us in the middle of it to say that to our souls.

To say that to our spouses.

Say that to ourselves.

Just hang in there.

We have the same God that Joseph had.

The same God that delivered Joseph will deliver us.

Why does he allow us to endure these things?

Because it draws us into closer relationship.

Because it reveals who he is.

God, whoever is going through something right now,

would you reveal to them yourself,

that it's your purpose, it's your strength made known

in their suffering,

that you are enough, God.

Make that truth so real,

so vibrant to them,

that you are enough.

So loud to drown out the lies,

to drown out the voices of Satan,

that you are enough.

That you will not leave.

Your covenant will not go away.

Your promise will not go away.

You are their child.

I'm sorry, they are your children

and you are their father.

Church, with our heads bowed,

how many of you would say,

I'm not a child of God,

but I want to be today?

I heard the gospel message

about Jesus dying on the cross for my sin

and I want to put my faith in him

to forgive my sins and make me his child.

Would you slip your hand up?

I don't want to close this service

without giving somebody a chance to do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You can put your hand down.

Thank you.

We've asked a follow-up question.

How many of you say,

I'm going through something right now?

Maybe it's not as bad as what Joseph was going through,

but I'm going through my own storm

and I just need prayer right now.

Would you pray for me

in the storm I'm going through in my life?

Would you slip your hand up

and I'll pray for you?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

God, hands all over this auditorium

and you know what every situation is

as well as those who just couldn't lift their hand,

but they need your strength right now.

I pray for them, God.

Intervene on their behalf.

Wrap them up in your arms.

Be their father.

Be their safety.

Be their strength.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Church, would you join me?

Amen.