The Story of Joseph - Our Circumstances and the Bible | Chris Osburn

We are thankful for everybody who has made it here this

morning to worship with us today, to worship together as

just a few of just believing servants for God.

We're so thankful for each and everyone that is here this

morning. We've been singing about Jesus

and how he helps us and how what he does for us and all the

blessings that we have in him. And those are true words, and

we're going to study a little bit about that and how He helps

us this morning. If you haven't been with us,

I've been going through some sermons on the story of Joseph

in the Old Testament in Genesis. We covered a little bit of his

early life before he really came into the picture, and we studied

through chapter 37. We're going to skip chapter 38

because it really doesn't deal with him much.

And we're going to dive right into chapter 39 of Genesis.

So if you want to have your Bibles open at that place, we're

just going to be in the 1st 6 verses of chapter 39.

And up to this point, Joseph really has had a fairly decent

life. If you want to say.

He was, of course, shown favouritism by his father.

He was the object of his father's favourable love, giving

gifts from his father, treated differently than his other

siblings. And at the end of chapter 37, we

saw some despicable things happened that his brothers did

to him, sold him into slavery and treated him very unkindly,

tried to kill him. And at this point, here in

chapter 39, we are really introduced to a new chapter in

his life. And at this point in his life,

Joseph is now experiencing quite the downfall in his life, quite

the change of events, quite the the difference in lifestyle that

he has been used to. And some of our circumstances

have maybe changed in our life, you know, that we may not look

very kindly upon, you know, maybe we're going through this

hard time, but or we're dealing with this, we're dealing with

that. But I can guarantee that none of

us has ever gone through the type of experience of Joseph has

gone through at this moment. Joseph is in the is in the

depths of something that he never asked for, never expected.

And without a doubt, the things that he dealt with were

distasteful, humiliating and of course, cruel.

And it opens this chapter with kind of like an auction of

slaves, if you want to say. And I just kind of pictured in

my mind, you know, maybe a cattle auction is what I have in

my mind is an auction of slaves. You know, it's a pretty

despicable scene. You know, you have the cow come

in, you have a group of people sitting kind of in a tiered

seating animal comes in, people nod, wave, say they want to bid

on this animal. And then that's done off to the

next one. Just kind of move the cattle

through as quickly as possible. And I think that's the picture

here for Joseph. You know, the dreamer is really,

he's a dreamer. He's hit a low part in his life.

He's far removed from the security of his family home.

He's been placed probably on a platform, maybe, maybe chained

to a stump if you want to say or think about it.

You know, he is not in the position that he would like to

be. And here he is, a teenager, 17

years old, on the auction block, subjected to maybe

investigations or prodding or, or people asking questions of

who is this guy Joseph? What can he offer me?

What am I going to get out of him?

What is the purpose of this guy? How can he benefit me?

And I think of Joseph, they're standing as a boy, as a 17 year

old, just kind of maybe stripped of his clothes and just

thinking, how did I end up at this spot in my life?

How did I get here? Humiliating and I hope it to try

to help us understand the pain and the confusion that he

understood and or he was experiencing happening to him in

the course of these events. Of course, he couldn't

understand what was being said to him.

He was in Egypt now. He didn't understand the

language. He couldn't figure out what

people asking of him. He couldn't figure out what was

being said of him. Maybe good, maybe bad.

He didn't know, had no clue what was being said.

So maybe he just kind of looked at the eyes, looked at people's

body language. Maybe he was trying to figure

out, is this going to be the guy that maybe gets me?

Is he going to be the one that finally bids high enough for me

to serve him? You're not understanding what's

going on there and trying to figure out.

And then the ordeal would have been over and would have been

escorted probably by some kind of guard, if you want to say,

and into the servant ship of this man called Potiphar that

were introduced to here. And Potiphar, we're told here in

the verse, was the captain of the guard.

And if we want to put that in today's terms, he was basically

the commander of the US Army. If you want to say he was the

top dog before Pharaoh. He was in control of everything

that happened before it got to Pharaoh's table.

If you want to say, Potiphar was a very powerful man.

He was an officer of Pharaoh and a captain of the guard.

You know, those who may be sought to be an insurrectionist

to Pharaoh, they would have to deal with Potiphar at that

point. My understanding is, is he

basically had the last word before it got to before it got

to the Pharaoh of Egypt. So very powerful man.

He was a powerful man. He probably had the potential

potential to be cruel, but he was able to maybe subdue that

and control it to. He was very in control of his

own feelings, of his own power, and he didn't abuse it, from

what we're understanding. So it's underestimated to say

that the circumstances in which Joseph found himself are less

than ideal. And I want to say that there is

no ideal place to serve God except for the place that God

has put us. Exactly where we're at is the

exact place that we are to serve God regardless of our

circumstances of life, regardless of where we're at.

So years later when his father was reflect, reflecting upon the

circumstances of Joseph, his life, and we see in Genesis

chapter 4923, Jacob was reflecting on what all had

happened. He says with bitterness.

Archers attacked him. They shot at him with hostility.

It's a very graphic picture that Jacob mentions about Joseph, of

how vulnerable Joseph was at that time.

Basically given the picture of, you know, Joseph was in a

position where Archers were basically shooting at him or

taking potshots at him, you know, as best as they could,

leaving him exposed and alone, disappointed, fearful, kind of

wondering what was going to happen.

And we discover here again and on oftenly, we discover

frequently in the Bible, an essential, a vital simple truth

that has something to say in which our lives with with our

lives this morning that we're experiencing.

And that is there's no ideal place to serve God except the

place that we are at. There's no ideal job, there's no

ideal location, there's no ideal office.

And those who may be constantly searching for the perfect, for

the, for the ideal place, for the ideal situation, you know,

that's only left for one place. That perfect place is heaven.

That's the only place that we're going to find perfection.

And here we discover again the essential truth that for Joseph,

his situation was not ideal. And yet he would have had all

kinds of emotions. Maybe the emotions he wanted to

run away, to hide, maybe to be problematic to his servants,

maybe to just fight everything that was in front of him there

in Egypt. And somehow another God, as we

will see, takes him through the valleys as well as over the

mountaintops during his life. The psalmist responding to

similar circumstances in his life and Psalm 11/1 says to

himself, he says in the Lord, I take refuge.

Then how then can you say to me flee like a bird to the

mountain? You know, maybe we've had a bad

week. Maybe we've had terrible week to

where we're thinking, you know, man, it's been such a heavy week

at the office or whatever we're doing.

Man, I just I can't wait to get to the weekend to.

I need to get up to the mountains.

I need to get out and some fresh air.

I need to get to the beach. I want to get on the golf

course. I need I need that little bit of

break from the heavy week. If I could only get to that

place. And while all these things may

be temporary and soothing to us, in the matter of fact is the

psalmist says in the Lord, I take my refuge in the Lord.

That's where the refuge is AT. And then he says, how can you

say to me flee like a bird to the mountain?

You know, we can go to those places, we can flee to those

locations, we can go there. But the problem is we take

ourselves and I don't know about you, but I'm my biggest problem

most the time. So when we create our own

problems, we want to get away, but we take ourselves with us.

We can flee to those places and we still have ourselves, you

know, not our circumstances, not our colleagues, not our bosses,

not our, not our, you know, anybody else that we're

associated with. Those aren't the problems.

We are our own problem most of the time.

And Joseph looks at his environment and we look at his

environment and we look at our own, and we might find ourselves

saying, you know, I never signed up for this.

This is what's happened to me. I didn't ask for this situation.

I didn't ask for this problem. I never would have thought he

would ever become like this. And presumably that's a little

of how Joseph was feeling. So I want to work through these

first few verses of chapter 39. I want to notice 4 things about

Joseph. Joseph, number one was

protected. He was protected by God's

presence in all, of course, of this.

The protecting hand of God was upon him in a very, very

remarkable way. We saw last time in a way which

we was, he was almost dead. He was in a pit.

His brothers were trying to kill him.

Then he got out of the pit, but then, you know, find himself on

his way, chained, going to Egypt to be sold as a slave, but he's

still alive. He's been protected.

Now, He hasn't been protected from the circumstances.

However, He has been protected in the circumstances.

And that's a big difference. And so often we make it sad,

make it a sad thing for ourselves by asking God

constantly to change the circumstances, remove the

circumstances, remove this from us, get it, get it out of my

life. When in fact, most of the time

God seems to do with His children is that he doesn't

change the circumstances for us, but most of the time he changes

our attitude toward the circumstances.

And when we start to pray for somebody who maybe is a Burr

under our saddle, if you want to say for somebody who just gets

on our nerves, we start to pray for that person.

Or or when we start to be kind to one who maybe has been a

disappointment in the past, we start changing our attitude

towards the way the circumstances are.

We're finding ourselves making that change.

You know, God could have done things very differently in the

life of Joseph, but God allowed these events to happen and God

purpose that it would be through many dangers, toils and snares

that he would bring his servant in order that he may fashion him

and deal with the blemishes in his character.

God deals with our blemishes and our character.

And I think he was maybe dealing with a potential pride here in

in Joseph's because Joseph could have been a could have been a

proud person. He could have pride dealing with

that thing. I think God was kind of dealing

with that. So we find Joseph protective

first of all, by God's presence. He's protected by the presence

of God. Joseph left his earthly father

back in Canaan, but his heavenly father accompanied him to Egypt.

His presence with him was a source of his protection.

I think Joseph would have been happy with the words of Psalmist

says, and I just want to quote a few for you, few for you.

We can turn them if you want. I'll put them up here on the

board. Psalms 99.

It says the Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in

times of trouble. Those who know your name will

trust in you, for you Lord, have never forsaken those who seek

you. Psalms 27 five says, For in the

day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling, He will

hide me in the shelter of his Tabernacle, and set me on high

rock. Chapter 46 verse one says, God

is our refuge and our strength and ever present help in

trouble. Psalm 138, verse 7, Though I

Psalms 138:7

walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life.

And sometimes when we're going through our days, when we find

ourselves disappointed, maybe unslaved, enslaved or or broken,

I am unable to change the circumstances that we're in.

We do ourselves a very good justice to go to the book of

Psalms and read some of the what the psalmist says about his

situations. It's kind of a kind of an

uplifting scriptures that we can read in the Psalms.

It's a very good thing to do In the book of Exodus, when Moses

was talking to God about the prospect of leading the the

children of Israel, Moses was afraid.

He was fearful to do so. He was not happy about the

situation, about leading all these people.

And it says in Exodus 32 or 33, beginning in verse 12, Moses

said to the Lord, See, you say to me, bring up these this

people, but you have not let me know whom you're going to send

with me yet. You have said, I know you by

name, and you have also found favor in my sight.

Now, therefore I have found favor in your sight.

Please show me now your ways that I may know, that I may know

you in order to find favor in your sight.

Consider too that this nation is your people.

And he said, my presence will go with you and I will give you

rest. Moses was afraid.

He didn't want to do this on his own.

He didn't want to go try to lead people on his own.

He was asking for some help. You're going to give me some

help, right, God? God says, no, you're going to go

ahead and do it. I'll be with you.

And look at how Moses replies in verse 15 here.

And he said to him, if your presence will not go with me, do

not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I

have found favor in your sight, I and your people, is it not?

You're going with us so that we are distinct, I and your people

from every other people on the face of this earth.

In other words, it was the accompanying presence of God in

the life of a servant that made the servant distinctive and

identifiable and purposeful. It was not ultimately the

servants ability to articulate theology or it's not ultimately

our ability pronounced certain things about the way the world

works and all that stuff. No, it's it's the presence of

God in our lives that help us, helps us to do so.

In some strange way. It becomes apparent to people

that there is a an effect on the life of a child of God in which

is evident that God is with us in some way, some way that maybe

we can't explain, maybe we're not able to explain and we get

the same thing. God speaks through his servant,

the prophet. In Isaiah 43 verse two, he says

when you pass through the waters, I will be with you.

Matthew 28 and verse 20, the words of Jesus telling his

disciples, if I'm going to heaven, you're staying here.

Jesus says, go into all the world, preach the gospel, making

disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and

the Holy Spirit. And as he's telling his

disciples, you know, I'm going to leave this place, but you're

going to go ahead and do this. I can just imagine the disciples

kind of going, well, wait a minute, how are we going to do

this without you, Jesus? Maybe their eyes are widening

and widening a little bit and kind of wondering what are we

going to do? And Jesus responds to them and

says, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the

age, protected by God's presence.

Secondly, he was protected from the protection of God was not

only made clear to him in his presence with him, but was also

clear, as we see Joseph was actually protected for some from

some certain things. It may not be evident or obvious

here in the text, but I think there's some underlying

circumstances here that we can really pull out of the story

these first few verses here. And I think we can understand

that God protected Joseph from what I would call maybe some

silent killers, some silent killers, three of which are

resentment, self pity and bitterness.

If there was ever a candidate for any one of these, I think

Joseph was a prime candidate. I think he maybe he would have

been justified in having one of these characteristics in his

life, maybe feeling sorry for himself, being coming resentful

to what others had done to him or becoming bitter about the

whole deal. Joseph was a number one

candidate for any one of these and in those early days, maybe

in under the House of Potiphar, maybe as he was a dreaming, you

know, he was a dreamer. Maybe he would dream of all the

things that had happened to him. Maybe he would dream of his

father's home, wanted to be back home.

Maybe he was dreaming of the bad things that his brothers did to

him. Maybe nightmares, maybe dreams

of wanting to go back home and having a meal with his family.

Dreams of his dad, no doubt. Maybe dreams of his brother

Benjamin. All these things he would have

dreams about. And then suddenly he would have

wake up and realize, hey, I'm still on this imprisonment with

Potiphar, not where I want to be.

And then maybe in his mind or all the temptations to maybe

have resentment or self pity or bitterness.

And I think some of us can kind of feel that same situation this

morning. Maybe we've maybe that this

period in our lives or in the past, you know, we've realized

that the circumstances are not what we like physically.

We're not where we want to be. Maybe we've we're unsettled

about a medical prognosis that we've had.

Maybe we're not happy about that.

Maybe our personal or family relationships are not what we

would like them to be employment wise.

We don't have the job that we want.

We're not getting paid what we think we ought to get paid.

And it's though there's these strong temptations maybe in our

life that we just, you know, man, I just don't want to deal

with this anymore. I don't want this job anymore.

I'm just sick of the circumstances.

You know, I'm just going to bury myself in self pity.

I'm going to be mad about the whole thing.

I'm going to be bitter about the whole experience.

Those are temptations that I think all of us have faced or

are facing. And what do we do?

Well, we need the protection of God, not only the protection

that comes by way of his presence, but also protection

from those things, from those temptations.

And Joseph did not allow himself to become imprisoned by the

walls of bitterness that he very well could have.

And in the circumstances that each one of us face, not only to

us and of course known to God as well, we need to ask God to

enable us that we might not, that we can resolve that we're

not going to have these types of feelings no matter what is

thrown in front of us. We have to have that resolve

that no matter what, we're going to have a a different spirit of

bitterness, self pity and resentment.

Ephesians kind of deals with this in Ephesians 4, 29 and 30,

where Paul says to the believers there in Ephesus, he says, let

no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for

necessary of edification that it might, it may impart grace to

the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy

Spirit by whom you were sealed for in that for the day of

redemption. Well, how do we do that?

Paul says. He says get rid of all

bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander.

Just get rid of them. OK, Just as easy as that, Paul.

No, not that easy, but just very clear, very straightforward as

that. He said, well, I can't get rid

of this thing. Well, it can't.

Kind of a scapegoat for us, that word can't.

Most of the time it's the word won't.

We won't get rid of it. We, we won't.

The problem is that we can't. The problem is that we won't.

And there's never a commandment in the Word of God that we are

unable to answer. I can't.

If there's a commandment that God gives, I can't is not an

answer. It's always I won't because he

never calls us to an action that he does not enable us to

complete that action. So if he says get rid of

something, we can absolutely count and be certain that

however he does it, he applies the spirit, spirit in our lives

to be able to do so. We are able to overcome whatever

God tells us in the scriptures. And so when we live with

bitterness, resentment, self pity, usually I or we make that

choice for ourselves. It's not that we can't, it's

that we won't get rid of them. We cannot lay that charge to God

because God enables us to do so. And that's why we wonder of

Joseph here. It's so marvellous how he

responds. He was protected by God's

presence. He was protected from the silent

killers. And he is and protected from for

a unique purpose. Because we've seen before that

God is at work in the life of Joseph's planning him, preparing

him for something yet to come, preparing him for the future.

Somehow or another in his mind, the dreams plus the disasters

were leading somewhere in Joseph's life.

I think maybe he had a little bit of inkling to maybe what

Solomon said tells us in Proverbs 3 verses 11 and 12.

Proverbs 3:11

It says, my son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be wary

of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a

father, the son, and whom he delights.

I think any parent here can agree that one of the greatest

tragedies is for a parent to not discipline their child because

they love them. It is a great responsibility.

It is a tough responsibility, but it's out of love.

You know, if if one of our kids is is playing in the front yard

young and doesn't know any better and they run into the

street, we tell them no, stop. Do not do that.

Not because I don't want you to have fun, but because I know the

dangers that are out there. That's a great tragedy for for

parents to not discipline their children.

You know, when the kids get to maybe teenage life and they know

that whatever they're choosing to do is going to be wrong.

And maybe they're thinking, well, if I know this is wrong,

my parents know this is wrong. And my parents don't step in to

stop me. Maybe they'll resent the father

or the mother in that point, but they're going to respect it at

some point in the future. Great responsibility so he was

protected by God's presence. Joseph thirdly was prospered.

He was prospered in verse 2 it says the Lord was with Joseph

and he prospered simple clear little phrase.

He prospered in less than favorable circumstances.

Joseph was discovering that God was caring for him.

You know, the Lord could have obviously returned Joseph to

back to his home in Canaan with his father.

God could have done whatever you want to do God.

He could have had Jacob cut a deal with Potiphar and Joseph

could have returned back to his family.

There's a number of ways that could have happened, but the

Lord chose not to do that. He chose not to.

Joseph had lessons to learn. He had discoveries to make, and

there was discoveries that only could be made in the

circumstances that Joseph was in.

In Egypt. Joseph had lost his coat, as we

mentioned before, but he had not lost his character.

And if that's all he had was a coat, then he would be done.

If his coat was his identity, he'd be finished.

But Joseph had character. His character was inside that

coat, and his character was being formed.

It was being framed under the watch of Potiphar's control.

And somewhere along the line, I would assume, sooner rather than

later, that Joseph may have sat down and made a resolve with

himself. I think Joseph maybe just kind

of came to grips with where he was at, where what was out

looking for him, and maybe he came to himself.

He goes, you know what? I'm going to make the most of

this situation. I'm going to make the most of

it. And when we say that to

ourselves, I think it's a great day when we save that to

ourselves, make the most of it. I think it's a day of

liberation. If you want to say a huge

turning point in somebody's life.

When we say that, we say, OK, this is where I'm at.

This is what I do. These are the these are the the

things in front of me. This is the job that I'm at.

This is the face I have. You know, the job that I have.

This is what's coming in front of me.

I don't have any options. I don't have, I can hardly say

any any good things, but guess what?

I'm going to make the most of it.

I'm going to make the most of it because I think it's right to do

so. And I'm going to make the most

of it because I believe this is what God will help me and enable

me to do. And so Joseph probably and would

have gone against most of what else would probably do when we

were in this situation. You know, Joseph didn't speak

Egyptian. He didn't understand what was

being said back and forth. Like we mentioned already, he

couldn't answer any questions that may have been asked to him.

He couldn't and be involved in in a conversation with anybody.

So maybe he said, you know what, OK, fine.

I'm going to learn Egyptian. I'm going to make the most of

it. I'm going to do the best I can

with the situation I have. I'm going to learn how to speak

Egyptian. And that's exactly what he did.

And so he says, you know what? This is what I've got.

I'm Potiphar's slave. That's who I am.

I used to be Jacob's son. I'm still Jacob's son, but

nobody cares. I'm Jacob's son, but I'm going

to make the most of it. Everybody knows me.

And now only as Potiphar's slave.

And although I'm Potiphar's slave, I'm actually God's slave.

And since I'm God's slaves serving Potiphar, I'm going to

be the best slave Potiphar ever had.

And I think that's what Joseph resolved in his mind.

There's no other way he had that resolve in his mind to do so.

Potter's not an ideal boss, not a perfect place.

This is not what I was looking for.

I didn't ask for any of this. Nothing along the lines of what

I was planning, but here I am. I'm going to make the most of

it. And the same discipline

commitment, when we look at him when he went to go search out

for his brothers, I think he's having that same discipline here

and now moving forward as Potiphar Slate.

There's a ton, there's a ton of stuff to be learned from this,

just as these few verses that we're studying this morning.

It is in the place of most undesirable circumstances, not

in protesting the paganism of Egypt, not in resenting the

mastership of Potiphar, not in to reorient the whole court

culture of which he was leaving or living.

None of that was open to him as a potential, you know, he wasn't

about to do all those things. The only opportunity he had for

himself was to display the glory of God, and the only way for him

to do that was to be a good slave.

That was the only way for him to display the goodness of God in

his life because that's what he was, He said.

So OK, that's what I'm going to be.

I'm going to be the best slave. I'm going to be diligent, I'm

going to be obedient, I'm going to be industrious, and I'm being

conscientious of everything going around me.

And if any of us have the responsibility of being an

employer, those are 4 qualities that we look for in every single

potential applicant. Diligent, obedient, reliable,

industrious and conscientious. Those are the people that we can

rely on. If there's every time, oh man,

we got to put in some extra hours, you guess what?

I'm going to that guy first because I know he's going to say

yes to work extra hours every time.

Those are the people that we want working for us.

And that's exactly what Potiphar starts to get from Joseph.

He starts picking up upon these little characteristics like

Joseph has in his life. And you see, all of a sudden

Potiphar is recognizing that there's a measure of favor, that

there's a measure of favor upon Joseph, and there's a blessing,

which is on this young teenage boy, 17 year old boy.

And we want to notice that Joseph didn't tell Potiphar that

there was a blessing on him. Potiphar saw that there was a

blessing on him. Potiphar saw that there was

something happening. And in verse 3 it says when his

master saw that the Lord was with him, when his master saw

that the Lord was with him. See, Joseph wasn't going around

saying, hey, the Lord's with me. Potiphar, you better be careful.

I got the Lord on my side. So watch what you say.

Watch what you do, Potiphar, because the Lords are not.

No, Joseph did not do that. He didn't have to.

That would have been actually insurrection.

He probably would have got taken out for saying stuff like that

to his boss, to his master. No, he's doing it.

What the slave does. He's sweeping, he's mopping,

he's taking out the trash. He's he's doing what needs to be

done. Maybe with the animals that

Potiphar maybe they had. He's just doing the things that

a slave does. And then Potiphar says himself,

you know what? There's something about this

guy. There's something about this

kid, there's something different maybe he says, you know, I've

had a lot of slaves in my life, but nothing like this guy

Joseph, Something different about him.

I came across these little 4 lines that express it kind of

fairly well. It says it isn't the style nor

the stuff in the coat, nor is it the length of the tailor's bill.

It's just it's the stuff inside the chap inside the coat that

counts for good. Or I'll so you can dress up, you

know, if you want to say, OK, let's say this.

We dress up like John the Baptist being wearing a big

hairy coat, eating locusts and wild honey, trying to grow

beard, walk up and down. We can yell roar like a lion.

We can dress up like him without any influence of God coming

through us. But we cannot speak like him

without the hand of God or the help of God or the presence of

God. And some of us have rely on the

outward looks that we have to present a good image of what we

think God wants us to be. We rely on the clothes.

We rely on the length of the bill if you want to say, as the

quote says, and we're missing the fact that it's the man or

the woman inside the clothes that matters.

Not the outward appearance, not how sharp we can look on a

particular day of the week. Do we give our best for God?

Absolutely, 100% of the time. But it's the person inside the

clothes, whether they look rugged, whether they come in the

back door looking for just a place to sit for a while.

We had a guy come in last week who just wanted to charge his

phone for a few minutes. Fine.

You know, we're accepting to those people regardless of what

they look like, good or bad. And Potiphar was smart enough to

pick up that it was somebody, this character of Joseph that

was more important than what he looked like on the outside.

So we can ask ourselves this morning, are we making the most

of our situations? Are we making the most of it?

Are we making the most of what? Well are we making the most of?

Are we making the most of our singleness?

If you're single, are you know you weren't probably planning on

being single for as long as you are, but I we understand that.

Are you making the most of it? Are you making the most of your

job? Are you making the most of your

employment? Are you making the most of your

schooling? Are you making the most of

retirement? Whatever it may be, are you

making the most of it? There's a story told of two

grasshoppers which were thrown into a pail of milk. 2

grasshoppers and a pail of milk. The first one just gets thrown

in there, sulks in it, ends up drowning.

The second grasshopper gets in there, fights like he could his

life depending on it. Keeps kicking and and and moving

his legs back and forth and before he knows it he turns the

milk into butter and he walks out of there.

Are you making the most of it? Two guys in jail behind the same

bars. One guy looks out and says, man,

I'm never going to get out of here.

I'm never going to see the the light of day anymore.

The other guy says, man, I can't wait to get out so I can sleep

under these stars one more time. Your glass half empty or is it

half full? Are you making the most of your

situation? When Anthony was younger, he

played baseball in a little Youth League.

I think it was 12 or 14. I can't remember the age, but I

had the privilege of coaching these boys and man, I thought,

you know, I didn't want to coach these kids at all.

Like it was not I'm not a coach. Well, guess who got elected to

be the coach I did. Well, I've had OK, we're going

to win every game. That's what our goal is.

We're going to win every single game.

Well, we went O and six out of a 12 game season and it was like

the bad news Bears kids were terrible and they were called

the Giants. What a terrible name for a

baseball team. I'm sure all you guys here could

agree being Dodger fans. But these kids, we realized how

bad we were and these kids and and the coaches and myself made

a resolve. You know, maybe it's not about

winning every single game. Maybe we got to focus

differently. These kids taught me that it's

not about winning every game. Let's work on personal

development, personal skill development, knowing each and

every position in the game of baseball.

We started rotating kids around. You're going to learn this

position, you're going to learn every single position in

baseball. And then we made a run

undefeated through the rest of the season and won the

championship. We didn't.

We were not planning on that, but it was the way that we had

the outlook on the on the game. We made the best of the

circumstances. We didn't expect to win every

game from that point on, but we did.

That was a bonus. But the kids learned baseball.

That was the most important thing.

It helped me tremendously in understanding where my thought

process should have been. Joseph prospered on the account

of God's goodness. Indeed, Joseph experienced the

daily grind. You know, the daily grind.

Everybody's got a daily grind. I mean, it doesn't matter what

you do, there's a daily grind. Get up, get ready, go to work,

come home, do the chores, make dinner, go to sleep, get up, do

it again, on and on and on. The daily grind, we all know

what that is. We all experience it.

Everybody has a routine to their days.

And the key to life that I believe a really key to

fulfillment of life is not managing to work ourselves into

position where we have that financial.

You know, we work so hard, we want to be financially stable to

maybe we can take ourselves get a little bit of relief, take

that vacation. We want to take that little

time. You know, those aren't bad, but

we shouldn't be working for those moments.

Those vacations are downtimes. They're good.

But we've have all seen that the most successful people in life

are those who are are who are able to take the routine

experiences of life, the daily grind, if you want to say the

potential for monotony and all that things.

Those people who can take those things and see the shining and

blessing of God upon themselves and where they are at from the

day-to-day experiences and circumstances.

And they just make them great. They make them great.

You know, Frank has given us the example and the story of Bob

Smith. You know, when they were

painting at A at a job site one day painting baseboard.

If you've ever painted baseboard on your knees, it is not a fun

time. And they were doing it for I

don't know how many hours. And Bob Smith was just singing

about Jesus all day long. He was making the most of it.

He wasn't happy about painting baseboard.

I can almost guarantee I know Bob.

He wasn't happy about painting baseboard on his knees, but he

was singing about Jesus while doing so, making the best of it.

George Herbert, writing in the 16th century a poem entitled The

Elixir deals with this in a very helpful way that I found.

It actually became an old hymn in England if I understand

right. It addresses the issue of seeing

our responsibilities and opportunities to reveal our

dependence upon God and the evidence of God's shining upon

us. Herbert writes Teach me my God

and King in all things the to see and what I do with anything.

To do it. As for the a servant with his

clause makes drudgery divine who sweeps a room.

As for thy laws makes that and the action fine.

Maybe we need to be reminded today that do we realize that we

are created for God's pleasure. We are created to serve Him, to

do His will to please Him were made for His glory.

We need to realize that every matter we deal with, every

moment that we spend, every move that we make, every breath that

we take is mattered and done for Him.

It's an all an opportunity to bring praise and glory to our

God. Joseph was promoted, protected,

prospered, and fourthly, he was promoted.

We see in verse 4, we're not surprised at this.

We're not surprised by Joseph being promoted.

Joseph found favour in his sight.

You know, in the same way that he didn't tell Potiphar that the

Lord was with him, but Potiphar saw that the Lord was with him.

He didn't ask for Potiphar's favours.

He found favours in Potiphar. Every person that would find

themselves in Potiphar situation would look to for the

opportunity to have some, someone he could delegate from

day-to-day. You know, if you're in a

position of Potiphar, you have that a position of authority.

You know, you want, you need and want somebody to delegate some

responsibilities to. And it's exactly what Potiphar

did to Joseph. He delegated some

responsibilities to him. And it's in my understanding

that archaeologists have found that on the tombs of prominent

people in the Egyptian culture, you know, on the when they

entombed the Egyptians, they would put the course, the name

of the one who's in tomb, but also they would put next to or

in the same area the servant of that one who is in tomb.

Because it was so important of who that person was, who

assisted, who dealt with who, who, who was helping that

prominent person be who they were.

They're very important people. To be that steward or that

intended was a vital development to the great person.

And I think that's exactly what Joseph became here, because

Potiphar recognized that a good servant or bad servant could

either make him or break him. And Joseph was a very good

servant and Potiphar realized that he had a very good one.

And so Potiphar very quickly expresses his confidence in in

Joseph as a young man, puts everything into his care,

everything into his care. He entrusts him with everything.

He only kept for himself the decision making as it related to

his food. Everything else, he let it go on

to Joseph. And he was delighted to do so

because actually the more that Potiphar delegated to Joseph,

the more Potiphar gained from that, the more blessing if you

want to say Potiphar, Saul. So Potiphar gave Joseph, if you

want to say gave him his portfolio, he said, Joseph, you

take My Portfolio, you do whatever you want to do with it

and you handle my investments and the way and his investments

and everything that he had just started going up in a way that

he'd never experienced before. Popper said you know, Joseph, I

want you to look after the fields and suddenly there were

more prosperous than they've ever been.

Why? Because God determined it for to

be so of his sovereign purpose that he would take this young

man Joseph and he would bless him.

And God does that. And it was because God

determined that this young fellow, Joseph, in responding

correctly to the most awful circumstances, would be the

recipient of God's favour and of God's blessings.

And as a result of that, Potiphar's eyes would be made to

see what could happen when a, when a life is given over to

God. You know, Potiphar was

recognizing that God was on Joseph's side.

He was seeing that. And it opens the possibility for

Potiphar to sit down with Joseph and to say, Joseph, can you

explain to me why this is Joseph?

Why am I seeing all these blessings come?

Because I'm putting you in charge.

I think there may be a conversation like that.

Potiphar would have asked him, You know, Matthew deals with

this a little bit. He says, let your light so shine

before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your

Father who is in heaven. So the story of Joseph, you know

what? Well, when we see, when they

see, when people see us and what we're doing, and if we're living

for Christ and for God, people are going to start asking.

People start asking. And when they don't see, then

there's nothing to ask. So the story of Joseph is saying

these, at least these three things to me #1 the story

reminds me that when we shun trials, we miss potential

blessings. That when you have, all you have

is sunshine, you have desert. And the more spiritual progress

is made through failure and tears, and is made through

success and laughter. I know I came across another

good quote that I thought was really, really good.

It says I walked a mile with pleasure and she chattered all

the way, but left me none the wiser for all she had to say.

And I walked a mile with sorrow and narrow word, said she.

But all the things I learned from her when sorrow walked with

me. Not that we're going out and

we're looking for sorrowful situations.

It's not what we're saying. We don't go looking for those

positions. We don't look for those

circumstances, but we want to recognize that in the progress

of life that that the inevitable human pain that we may go

through at some point of our lives, our experiences, our

relationships, that God is working in it, working on us,

putting us through fire, refining the fire, if you want

to say, and helping us be a better person for his glory.

So do we don't want to wrestle and fight and try to manipulate

the hand of God or even our circumstances.

You know, it's not stay awake at night trying to make it all work

for for differently. We want to take the question of

our hearts and not allow them to destroy our faith.

You know, we have those doubts. We don't want to let those

doubts destroy our faith. You know, why are we here?

What am I doing here? I just am in a miserable spot.

Don't let it destroy your faith. Look to God for the answers.

So how are you dealing with your circumstances this morning?

How are you dealing with them? Do you let your circumstances

determine how you view and approach God?

Or do you let your view and faith in God determine on how

you approach your circumstances? And when we have that mindset,

it makes it a lot clearer the decisions that we need to make

in our life, how we look about things, how we approach things,

how we approach people, how we approach problems.

Because when we view God and how we ought to live, it makes a

huge difference on how we view our life.

That's as far as we're going to make it this morning and next

week. Next month, Lord willing, we are

going to deal with the age-old temptation of sexual sin.