In God's Timing | JOSEPH: From Pit to Palace (Part Five)

Thank you so much for listening to Riverbend Churches podcast.

Riverbend Church exists to bring people to Jesus, grow

generations in Jesus, and send disciples for Jesus.

We hope that you enjoy this message.

We are in the middle of a series about the life of a man by the

name of Joseph Joseph. And let me go ahead and start

off with a question that I think will probably resonate with

most, if not all of us. Have you ever found yourself in

a position to where you were convinced, you were 100%

convinced that you were ready to be used beyond where you're

currently being used or you are you're ready to be used beyond

how you're currently being used or, or or maybe you're ready to

to take that step up, you're ready for that promotion.

You are 100% convinced that you are ready now for what you're

next is. However, the person or the

people that are responsible for that elevation, for that

promotion, they either you feel like they either don't see you

or they go in a different direction.

So like, for example, if you're, if you're, if you're an employee

and you've been with your company for, for a number of

years, you, you put the work in and you're 100% convinced that

you would be the perfect fit for that promotion.

You would be the guy, you would be the woman.

You're the perfect fit for that promotion.

Yet for whatever reason, your supervisor or the manager passed

you over and they went with a different person or, or maybe

your student. Maybe you're an athlete to where

you've put the work in and the offseason and you're ready to

take that step up and to take on an an additional role and

responsibility and leadership on your team or or in your cast.

But your coach or your director went with somebody else.

Or maybe maybe you have put the dreams and the aspirations and

the goals of the other people in your family.

You've placed them at the forefront and now's the time to

where you feel that now's the perfect time for you to be able

to chase your dreams. Yet due to current finances and

busy schedules, that seems like an impossibility.

You, you see, all of those things are, are frustrations

that we certainly feel. And I would tell you that it's

really hard when we find ourselves in a position to where

we're convinced that we're ready to be used beyond how we're

currently being used. That's so frustrating, isn't it?

And, and, and if you, if you understand what I mean, you know

just how frustrating that can be.

But I, I would tell you that's not a new phenomenon and that's

certainly not a new feeling. As a matter of fact, we can turn

to the Bible, we can turn to the word of God to help us navigate

what we are to do in the midst of those frustrations and what

we're to do with those frustrated feelings.

And one of the one of the sections that I would advise us

to look at just kind of in this stream in this series over the

life of Joseph is a guy found in the his life is found for us in

the book of Genesis, a guy by the name of Joseph.

You see this guy he understood frustration like nobody else

did. If you're new to the.

Series, let me kind of bring you up on the on the same page.

Make sure that we're all on the same page this morning.

This guy's a 17 year old, was betrayed by his brother and sold

into slavery and he was carted off over 300 miles away from

from his from his own nation and his own culture.

And he found himself right smack dab in the middle of Egypt.

And then he was sold again as a slave to a wealthy businessman

by the name of Potiphar. And then he's falsely accused of

of sexual misconduct by Potiphar's wife.

Potiphar believes her. And then Potiphar throws Joseph

into prison. And while he's in prison, he

seems like his life is over. He thinks that like that he's

forgotten that his life is is over.

And one of the things that we see through the life of Joseph

is every step of the way we see different situations and

circumstances. And we can look because we have

the benefit of reading Joseph's life from start to finish.

We can look at different stages and seasons and we can see how

each and every one of those, much less all of them combined

could very easily break Joseph. But by going through the life of

Joseph, we have been discovering a truth that's been guiding us

throughout this series. And it's actually been a big

idea throughout this series. So if you're taking notes with

us here, it is just as a reminder to you is what can

easily break you, God turns in to breakthrough.

What can easily break you, God turns in to breakthrough.

And we see this playing out, Tom and Tom and Tom again in the

life of Joseph. And what we have been learning,

what God has been teaching us together collectively, whether

you're in the room or whether you're joining us online, is

this thought. It's what threatens us the most.

What threatens to break us. God can actually turn for the

good. And, and, and those instances of

betrayal and hurt and pain, God can turn those into redemption

and blessing and favor. And it, it's a beautiful thing

to where when, when we come at life with, with, with a sense of

frustration and feelings, like we're kind of kind of in a room

with a low hanging ceiling to where we're convinced that we're

ready to be used beyond how we're currently being used.

That there's somebody else whose life is given to us in Scripture

that we can sit there and go, OK, how did he navigate it?

How did God call this person to navigate it?

And what can I learn from this person's life?

And that's what we've been through the life of Joseph.

If you were with us last week, we talked about how there's,

there's, there's God's promises to us and those are, those are

true, those are certain, but then there's a time, a future

coming of God's pay off of those promises.

But in the middle between the promise and the payoff is God's

process. And a key component to God's

process is God's timing. It's God's timing.

And I will tell you as a follower of Jesus, waiting and

resting in God's timing is one of the most difficult things

that you and I will ever do. It's one of the most difficult

things that you and I will ever do.

But in hindsight, we see the blessing and the favor of God

when we rest and we have peace in God's timing.

Here's what I want to do. I want to go ahead and invite

you, if you have a Bible with you this morning, invite you to

find Genesis chapter 40, Genesis chapter 40, and we're going to

Genesis 40 · chapter mention Genesis 40 · chapter mention

do just a little bit of an overlap of where we left off

last week. Genesis chapter 40, we find

Genesis 40 · chapter mention

Joseph in the prison. Joseph's in prison.

He's been falsely accused. There's no judge, there's no

jury. A Potiphar basically believes

his wife when she said that Joseph's the one that made

advances towards her, has Joseph thrown into prison.

And there Joseph is for years and then Joseph is introduced,

he gets 2 new cell mates, 1 is the royal Baker and one is the

royal cupbearer. And last week we talked about

it's important to know what those guys roles were so that we

don't falsely assume that it was just like the chef, the palace

chef and the and the palace Butler.

These guys actually had national security clearance level

clearance to them and they did something wrong.

They did something to offend Pharaoh, the king of Egypt to

where Pharaoh threw both of them into prison.

And on one night, both of these two guys in prison had a dream

that so disturbed them in the morning that they went to Joseph

and, and, and they asked Joseph. They're like, hey, listen, we

had these, we had these weird dreams last night and we don't

know what to make of them. And Joseph tells them, listen,

my God can interpret dreams through me.

So tell me your dream and and hopefully God will give you the

interpretation and and he does so they tell them they tell

Joseph the dreams. He interprets the dreams.

But look at what Joseph? The only thing that Joseph asked

in return, look with me at. Verse Verse 14.

Genesis chapter 40 verse 14, he says only Remember Me when it is

Genesis 40:14

well with you and please do me the kindness to mention me to

Pharaoh and so Get Me Out of this house, for I was indeed

stolen out of the land of the Hebrews.

And here also I've done nothing that they should put me into the

pit. It's the only thing that he

asked. Hey, I'll interpret your dream

for you. Just Remember Me.

Just mention my name, mention my case to Pharaoh, because to the

cupbearer's dream, the interpretation is, hey, in three

days time on Pharaoh's birthday, Pharaoh's going to call you up

out of the prison into the palace, and he's going to

reinstate you to the Baker, the royal Baker.

The royal Baker's probably excited like, hey, do me next,

do me next. And Joe's like, all right, your

dream means in three days time on Pharaoh's birthday, he's

going to call you up out of the prison into the palace, and he's

going to hang you. He's going to execute you.

So obviously the cupbearer was much happier with his

interpretation, right? But check out how how Genesis

Genesis 40 · chapter mention

chapter 40 ends verse 23 yet the chief cupbearer did not remember

Joseph but forgot him. And then if you.

Go down to the beginning part of 41, verse one.

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed.

Now, after Pharaoh dreamed, he had a series of dreams.

That greatly confused him. They, they confused him.

They perplexed him. He couldn't shake him.

You ever have one of those dreams to where you wake up in

the morning and they were, they were so vivid and you just swear

to yourself, I'll never eat Taco Bell late at night again.

It was beyond that. It was beyond one of those Taco

Bell or crystals dreams, right? It was one of those dreams that

he couldn't shake that it really rattled him.

It was so. They were so vivid.

And Pharaoh being the king of Egypt, what he did is because he

couldn't get him off of his mind, he called his chief

religious leaders. And the Bible tells us that his

chief religious leaders, they were very, very skilled in

sorcery and knowledge of the occult, and they couldn't

interpret the dreams. And then he called for his

wisest advisers and they couldn't interpret the dreams.

So sometime during that day, the chief cupbearer is providing

Pharaoh his his drink. And he overhears this, this this

quandary that Pharaoh's in his religious leaders can't solve

the problem. His advisors can't solve the

problem. And check out what the what the

cupbearer tells him. He goes, oh, yeah, Pharaoh.

Man, I feel bad. I forgot about this guy.

It was OK two years ago. Check out what he says in verse

12. There was a young Hebrew there

with us. Hey, favorite remember when like

we won't mention what I did, but remember when the Baker like

really like did you wrong and he threw us in prison.

There was a young. Hebrew, who was there with us, a

servant of the captain of the guard.

And when we told him our dreams, he interpreted our dreams to us,

giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream.

So basically this cupbearer comes on to the scene and he

goes, hey, Pharaoh, listen, I know that you're religious

leaders, they can't handle it. They can't interpret.

I know that your advisors, they can't give you the

interpretation. There was a guy that we

encountered in prison and we had these weird dreams.

The Baker and I, we had these weird dreams and he interpreted

our dreams for us. You may you may want to give it

a shot. So Pharaoh calls for Joseph to

be brought up out of prison into the palace.

And Pharaoh tells Joseph, hey, I understand that you can

interpret dreams. I had two dreams.

Can you interpret my dreams? I want you to look at what

Joseph said in verse 16 because this is.

Going to be key. For us to say Joseph answered

Pharaoh, it is not in me. The ability to interpret dreams,

it's not in me. God will give Pharaoh A

favorable answer. So then Pharaoh tells Joseph

about these two dreams and they're weird dreams like you

can read on into Genesis chapter 41.

Genesis 41 · chapter mention

Pharaoh goes, OK, Joseph, my first dream, I dreamed of seven

good looking, healthy cows. And Joseph's probably sitting

there going, all right, that's weird.

But I dreamed of seven good looking, healthy cows.

And then beside the cows, there were seven like ugly, like

malnourished cows. And the seven ugly, malnourished

cows, they come up to the seven good looking, healthy cows and

they eat the seven healthy, good looking cows.

They just devour them. And Joseph, this is probably

like too much information, but I woke up and I thought, man, that

was weird. And I went back to bed.

I went back to sleep and then as soon as I started going to sleep

I had another dream. And in this dream I dreamed of I

dreamed of stalks of grain. And there was 1 stalk that had

seven healthy ears of grain coming out of 1 stalk.

And then there was another stalk that it had 7 withered and

diseased ears of grain coming up out of that stalk.

And the seven, the the, the stalk with the seven withered

and diseased heads of grain went and devoured the other stalk

with a healthy and the the the the flourishing ears of grain.

So Joseph, I know that that's I didn't really give you a whole

lot to go on there. It's just really weird.

Dreams, but I can't, I can't shake them.

I can't get them off my mind. What do they mean?

Joseph goes on to tell Pharaoh he goes Pharaoh.

You need to know this in verse 24 or 25, Joseph said to

Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one.

God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

So he starts off and he tells Pharaoh he goes, listen, they're

two separate dreams, but they mean the same thing.

They mean the same thing. And then he goes on to tell

Pharaoh, This is what God told me to tell you that your dreams

mean. Pharaoh, there's going to be 7

years. The next seven years are going

to be marked by prosperity. We're going to have more grain

than we know what to do with. We're going to be prosperous.

Everything's going to go great. Plant a seed bear.

Fruit. It's going to be clockwork.

We're going to have seven years of prosperity, but after those

seven years there's going to be a global famine to where

nobody's going to be able to grow anything.

And Pharaoh, what God wants me to tell you is we need to take

steps now, or you need to take steps now to store up some of

the grain during the years of prosperity so that we have

enough grain to get us through and get this entire region

through the seven years of famine that are to come.

Look down at verse 32, Joseph said in the doubling of

Pharaoh's dream. Means.

That The thing is fixed by God and God will shortly bring it

about. In other words, hey Pharaoh,

this is going to happen. This is absolutely going to

happen. So then Pharaoh starts to make a

plan. Flash over to verse 38, says

Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find a man like this in

whom? The Spirit in whom is the Spirit

of God. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph,

Since God has shown you all this, there is none so

discerning and wise as you are, You shall be over my house, and

all my people shall order themselves as you command.

Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I've set you over all the land

of Egypt. So that morning, Joseph wakes up

in his prison cell like he had for years.

By that night, he's been tucked into his palace bed.

He has a room in the palace. He's second command of all of

Egypt. Now, if you've been with us

throughout this series, we've been looking at the stages of

Joseph's life and we've been examining, We've been asking

ourselves three main questions. What does it tell us about

Joseph? What does it tell us about God?

And what does this tell us about ourselves?

So if you're taking notes with us this morning, let's start

with that first one. What does this tell me about

Joseph? Everything that we just talked

about, what does it tell us about Joseph?

The first thing Joseph may have been wise, but he did not

deserve the palace. Joseph may have been wise, but

he didn't deserve the palace. If you were with us over the

past for, for the past two weeks or not the past two weeks for

the first two weeks, the first week when we started looking at

the life of Joseph, we started looking at the dysfunctional

roots, Josephs highly dysfunctional, messed up family

tree. And, and, and we looked at how

Joseph's dad, a God by the name of Jacob and God's going to

change his name to Israel, was just a complete scoundrel.

He was a deceiver. He was a defrauder.

And we talked about that just because his dad and his

grandmother had made some mistakes and had, had, had, had

committed some sins, that didn't mean that Joseph was necessarily

destined to repeat the same mistakes.

But then in Week 2, we talked about how Joseph was was thrown

into a pit by his brothers. And the point that we made there

is Joseph may have been unwise, but he didn't deserve the pit.

And if you remember, if you were with us Week 2 of this series,

we talked about how a 17 year old Joseph is setting sitting

around the table, the family table.

He knows that he's highly disliked by his brothers and his

wife has four wives and three of the four can't stand Joseph

because their dad, Jacob, has made it very clear that Joseph

the favorite. We can question the wisdom of a

17 year old kid sitting around a table to where the family

dynamics are really tense going. Hey, did I tell you about a

couple of dreams I had the other night?

Yeah, y'all are all going to bow down to me one day.

We can question that wisdom. We can question the wisdom of a

17 year old being being daddy's favorite, being given a coat of

many colors. And every time that Joseph wore

that coat, it was a reminder to his other brothers and to

Jacob's other wives and their kids that Joseph was the

favorite. We can question the wisdom of a

17 year old always wearing that coat.

But listen, just because we can question his wisdom there, that

doesn't mean that he deserved the pit.

Now, in the same way we can look at the life of Joseph, we go,

man, Joseph was betrayed by his brothers.

He was thrown into a pit. He was sold into slavery.

He was falsely accused of sexual misconduct.

He was in prison and he was forgotten in prison.

Man, that guy had it rough. And that's all certainly true.

But that does not all equal the fact that he deserved to be in

the palace. Joseph may have been wise, but

that didn't necessarily mean that he deserved to be in the

palace. And we're going to come back to

that truth in just a second because it's going to have

massive ramifications on you and I in our lives in the way that

we view the seasons of storms and trials in prisons in our

lives. But the second thing that we

know about Joseph, if Joseph knew his gifts came from God to

be used for God, Joseph knew that his gifts came from God to

be used for God. The gift of interpreting dreams,

that was not something that Joseph went to school to study

and he got a PhD in like mastering, like interpretation

of dreams, right? He knew that this gift came from

God. And like any gift that comes

from God, the reason that it is given to us from God is to be

used to bring people and to show people God.

Is think about it for a second. Any point in time Joseph could

have taken this God-given gift and used it for selfish gain.

How easy would it have been while Joseph is in prison and

he's interpreting the dream of of the cupbearer and the and the

Baker and he gains this reputation.

Hey, this guy, he can interpret dreams.

How easy would it have been for Joseph to like?

Set up his own private LLC while in prison and call it like

Sleepy time. You know Dreams or DreamWorks

like Ancient edition. He could have used it for for

selfish gain. How easy would it have been?

Think about this when he's called from the prison to the

palace and Pharaoh goes, hey, I understand that you can

interpret dreams. If I tell you my dream, can you

interpret them? It would have been so.

Easy for Joseph to go. If I do.

This for you. You've got to promise to release

me from prison or. If I do this for you, Pharaoh,

not only do I want to be released from prison, I want a

spot in your religious entourage.

It would have been so easy for Joseph to use his God-given

gifts for selfish gain, for personal gain.

Yet three times the one of the reasons that we read so many

different passages and verses this morning.

So I want to show you 3 times Joseph pointed Pharaoh back to

the sources of his of his gifting and goes hey Pharaoh,

listen my God is the one that can interpret dreams and as a

result. If you look at the end of

chapter 41, notice how Pharaoh identified Joseph.

He didn't identify Joseph when he's talking to his chief

advisors. Man, who among us is the wisest

advisor? Or who among us can interpret

dreams like Joseph? That's not what he said.

If you look at the end of chapter 41, Pharaoh said who

among us has the Spirit of God in them?

Because Joseph knew that his giftedness came from God to be

used for God. So Speaking of God, what does

this passage tell us about God? First thing I want to get you a

jot down. People's forgetfulness does not

delay God's timing. People's forgetfulness, and now

we get into the tough part of our walk with with God is God's

timing. People's forgetfulness does not

delay God's timing. As a matter of fact, I would

argue that the cup bears forgetfulness of Joseph.

As painful as it must have been, as painful as it must have been,

was not a delay in God's timing. It was a part of God's timing.

And, and here's what I mean, in those two years, two whole

years, Joseph was forgotten in prison.

But in those two years, God is fast at work.

God is at work in Joseph's heart.

God is at work in Pharaoh's heart.

And God is at work navigating and setting the stage, setting

the table, working in all the variables to set up the exact

perfect time, to exalt Joseph in the exact perfect time in the

exact perfect fashion. And not just to exalt him, but

to position and place him in an era to where it can be

sustained. You see, here's where I would

tell you is I think every single one of us, we probably all have

stories of where we feel forgotten by people.

And that can be so hurtful. Can it, Whether it's at work or

whether it's at sports related or, or whatever it may be, it,

it really is hurtful. And, and I don't know about you,

but sometimes I get so far into my own head to where I wonder,

did did they just forget me or did they just not see me?

Like am I unseen or am I forgotten?

And I don't know which is worse, you with me on that you ever

felt that way to where you're asking yourself, am I just

unseen or am I forgotten and I don't know which is worse?

Can I give you a word of encouragement this morning?

People's forgetfulness. People's forgetfulness does not

delay God's timing because God's timing, God's perfect will,

never rested on them remembering or recognizing you to begin

with. It's not about other people,

it's about God's perfect timing and this.

So it's very easy to to assume that people's forgetfulness

delays God's timing, but it never does.

Second thing that tells us about God is when God promotes us

higher, promotes us higher. It is so his gospel can reach

further when God promotes us higher is so that his gospel can

reach further. If you've been with us

throughout the last several weeks, we've used that word,

that verb promote a good bit and it, it, it's not some like

prosperity gospel type of thing. As a matter of fact, we've used

it in some weird ways or some weird context.

So for example, if you were with us a couple weeks ago and last

week, certainly we talked about how God promoted Joseph to the

prison. It's not typically a place that

we think of of a promotion taking place, right?

But we talked about for the purposes of God where we know

that God wanted to use Joseph the most.

He actually promoted Joseph to the prison.

Listen, when God promotes us higher, it is so that his gospel

can reach further. Think about it from the context

of of Joseph. What was Joseph's mission?

It's the same as our mission today.

Do you know that every single one of us in the room online,

whether you're new to church, where you've been in church for

like 80 something years, Did you know every single one of us, We

had the same twofold mission to know God and to make him known,

to know God and to make him known That mission for for all

of us, that mission never changes.

To know God and to make him known when God promotes us

higher is so that our mission so that the gospel can reach

further. Think about it from the life of

Joseph in Potiphar's house. When he was a slave.

In Potiphar's house, Joseph could reach a few slaves.

When Joseph was in prison, he probably had the ability to

reach many prisoners. We got promoted Joseph out of

the prison into the palace. Now, Joseph had the ability to

reach an entire empire. You see how that works?

That when God promotes us, it's always so that promotes us

higher. It's always so that His mission

can reach further. It's always so that his mission

can reach further. So this is what it tells us

about Joseph. This is what it tells us about

God. What does this entire passage

tell me about me #1 This is so true, but I hate it so much.

God's timing is never delayed, never forced, but always

perfect, never delayed, never forced, always perfect.

Let me tell you why I hate that so much.

We found, we found ourselves at a, at a point in time.

There's a, there's a mentor that got brought into my life, This

is probably early 90s. He brought into my life.

We were at a we were at a kind of a one of those in between

times and and I go talk. His name's Doug and I go talk to

Doug. One afternoon.

I was like, hey, listen, let me kind of lay things out for you.

This is where we are. I don't know kind of what's

next. And he just looks at me as like,

that sounds tough. And I was like, yeah, that's why

I'm here. Doug, it is tough.

And he goes, well, he takes a sip of his Diet Coke and he

said, well, I can tell you is God's never early, God's never

late. He's always on time.

And I was like, or you could offer me a job.

There's that. And I got to be honest with you,

I walked away from my meeting with with Doug and I was very

frustrated. I was kind of ticked off.

But you know, the more I've thought back on that

conversation with my mentor, with Doug, he's so right.

Did you know that whenever we pray for something, God, God

gives us one of three answers. Yes, no, wait, yes, no, wait.

I don't know about you. I love the yes, I can deal with

a no. I hate the wait because in my

own mind, I'm sitting there going, OK, God wait means not

no, but not yet. But it.

Could be. Now you see, I think that I

think that all of us, we want to be, we want to be living in the

midst of God's perfect will for our lives, and we want to live

in God's perfect will for our lives, like right.

Now, and I'm not even saying that's a bad thing.

What I am saying is that's not necessarily how God's timing

works. And let me explain to you why

one of the things that God has taught us the the why behind it.

If you've been at Riverbend for any amount of time, we we've

told like bits and pieces and some of them long, some of them

short, but a part of the journey that God's had us on the Julie

and and myself and and our kids. But you know, it is it started

when I was born, but when Julie and I we graduated College in

May. We got married in June.

This is all one year we moved to Raleigh, NC in July to our

started seminary or cemetery up there.

I'm up there in cemetery and there there's a church in

Raleigh that contacts me. I had no idea about this church

never sent my resume to this church.

They contact me to become to interview to become their

children's pastor because what you may or may not know, my

undergrad in college is early childhood education.

So yes, I can color with the best of them.

All right, can't do fractions. So if your kid needs help with

fractions, go find somebody else.

But early childhood education major contacted by church in

Raleigh to interview to become their children's pastor.

I interviewed with this church for four months, which you may

be wondering, I didn't know that.

That's how long churches typically interview.

It's not. So at the end of four months, I

get a phone call one morning by the senior pastor of this

church. And he told me, he said, hey,

listen, our leadership team, we met last night.

And thank you so much for talking with them, sharing your

heart, sharing your vision. But we decided not to have the

position. And I was like, well, that's not

the variable. And then, you know, that was a

long night loading the back of tractor trailer trucks at UPSA.

Month to the day, I get a voicemail from the senior pastor

of a church in Jacksonville Beach, FL wanting to know if I

was interested in having a conversation with them about

working with their students, being being their student

pastor. So I prayed about it a little

bit and then I heard the word beach and then I prayed about it

and I remembered the word beach and you know, obviously God was

in it. So anyway, again, never sent my

resume to this church. Had no idea Jacksonville had a

beach, much less the First Baptist Jack's Beach.

We end up moving down there. Ultimately, I become the the

lead pastor of this church and let me tell you something, there

were some really, really dark times.

Those were some of the darkest times.

Personally, those are some of the darkest times that I've ever

walked through those 10 years in Jacksonville Beach.

But you want to know one of the things that really got me

through it is realizing I'm not the one that took a crowbar and

open this door for me to get down to Jax Beach.

That was God's doing. Now, there's a lot of in between

chapters there, but God ultimately LED us here to

Riverbend Church. I had Riverbend Church was not

on my radar. A seemingly random phone call on

a Saturday morning in October of 2018.

And if you've been a part of River Bend, you know that we've

had, we've had a series of highs and lows together, right?

And in the midst of those highs and in the midst of those lows,

you know that there's an undercurrent of peace knowing

that it's God that brought us here.

One of the. Blessings of God's weight.

His answer of weight is He's not just setting the stage for

what's to come. He's also setting the stage in

our heart to give us a peace when times get dark.

Because I don't know about you and maybe maybe you have enough

years and experience under your belt where you know this.

There's no such thing as a perfect scenario that walking

very much in the footsteps in the will of God.

Many times those footsteps will lead you through the valley of

the shadow of death. And they'll lead you.

Through some dark and some challenging times, what holds

you in those dark and challenging times many times is

the peace of knowing that God's the one that orchestrated our

steps being there, that we're not the ones that tried to take

a crowbar and open the door ourself.

So the first thing that it tells us that this entire passage

about God's timing tells us about ourselves is.

We've. Got to learn to rest in God's

perfect timing because he's setting the stage while at the

same time he's installing a piece, a future piece that he

knows that we'll need later on down the tracks.

Second thing that this passage tells us about God is the palace

is not the end of our journey, but the platform for our

mission. The palace is not the end of our

journey. Let me ask you a question.

Last week, we talked about, you know, prisons in our lives.

And I asked you like for you define what your prison is.

Nobody can define your prison for you define what your prison

is or your prison season or a stage of being in prison right

now. It could be it could be a storm,

it could be a trial. It could be it could be a

feeling like kind of held back. It could be a feeling of of

being forgotten. It could be the feeling of stuck

that that could be your prison. Now I want to ask you, what is

your palace like? What does it look like for you

for God to answer your prayers? What does it look like for you

to for God to answer your prayers?

What does it look like when you pray?

God, I feel that you have prepared me for what you have

prepared me for. Does that make sense?

You have prepared me for what you've prepared for me, so I'm

ready for that. I'm ready to get out of this

prison for you to promote me to my next.

What does that next look like for you?

Whatever that looks like for you, I can't define it for you.

Nobody can define it for you. That's something that you've got

to define for you. But whatever that definition is,

that is not the end of your journey.

It's actually the platform for your mission.

Going back to the life of Joseph.

Remember how we've said that in the book of Genesis, more real

estate is given to us about the life of Joseph than any other

person In any other event, is it more real estate is devoted to

the life of Joseph than creation, than Adam and Eve,

than Noah, than the flood, than Abraham?

Life of Joseph takes up more real.

Estate in the book of Genesis than any other person, any other

event. 13 chapters in the book of Genesis, as a matter of fact.

But of those 13 chapters, did you know that only four of those

13 chapters are devoted to Joseph's pre palace life?

Let me say that again, 13 chapters devoted to the life of

Joseph, only four are devoted to Joseph's pre palace life, which

means that the palace was not the end destination, that the

palace was actually where the mission really started to take

off and one of the things that we're going to see later.

On in the weeks to come is this actually in the palace that

Joseph is going to face his his most difficult challenges and

his greatest temptations. And that's going to be so true

for you and I as well, is typically in those palace

seasons, in those palace stages that we typically face our most

difficult challenges and they're sneaky and our greatest

temptations and they're sneaky, but they will train.

Wreck us like like no other challenges or temptations ever

will while we're in the pit or in the prism.

Our two fold purpose to know God and to make Him known.

The reason that God exalts us to the palaces or promotes us to

the palaces is it gives us a greater platform for the

mission. But in order to seize that

platform, in order for us to fully surrender and go, OK, God,

what are you doing in my life? How do you want to use me?

We've got to get really, really real and really, really honest

with ourselves about ourselves. So as we come to an end this

morning, I want to point your attention.

There are four key questions that I want us to walk through

this morning. And these are four key questions

that I want to ask that that that we wrestle with this

morning, that we wrestle with this afternoon, this evening,

this week to come. Here's the first one.

First key question, what in what areas of my life has a sense of

entitlement crept into? Now you may think, man, that

came out of left field. When were we talking about

entitlement? Well, remember how we said that

just because Joseph may have been unwise as a 17 year old,

that didn't mean that he necessarily deserved the pit.

And just because Joseph was wise as a young man, that doesn't

necessarily mean that he deserved the palace.

Isn't it so easy for us to try to justify ourselves in front of

God and go, God, I have been through so much, man.

I deserve this. I deserve your blessing.

I deserve your favor and let me tell you, when we get into a

point or when we start to enter into the territory of God, I

deserve blank. I deserve this favor.

I deserve this blessing. Man.

Pride starting to creep in and pride will take us out like

nothing else. So in what areas of my life has

a sense of entitlement crept into second question?

In what ways has God gifted me and how am I using that

giftedness for Him? Every single one of us, if

you're a follower of Jesus, every single one of us.

We'll talk about this in our next series about the unseen

world. Every single one of us have been

given spiritual gifts. Every single one of us have been

given talents and abilities. And those talents and those

abilities, that's actually what makes you a successful mom or a

successful dad, a successful homemaker, a successful husband

or wife and a successful employee or a successful

employer. But one of the things that's so

easy for us to miss is God, what you have gifted me to do that

makes me successful Monday through Friday or Monday through

Saturday. And we fail to recognize that.

No, listen, if we apply that giftedness to the Kingdom of God

and to the body of Christ, the church man, he can, he can use

us beyond all of our comprehension.

So what areas of, of your life has God gifted you and how are

you using that giftedness? How are you using that

giftedness to bring glory and honor to him?

If you were with us last week, we, we, we put out kind of an

all call, not out of desperation, but out of

invitation. If you've been a part of

Riverbend Church for six months or more, but you haven't found a

place to plug in and serve, we're going to.

Encourage you to look for a place to plug in and serve.

You can start with that connect card at the bottom of that

connect card. Listen, that's not because of of

desperation. Is for your own benefit because

listen, we need you and your giftedness in the way that God

has gifted you. And we don't believe that God

has brought anybody here by accident.

God has brought you uniquely here to us at this unique time

for a unique purpose. So we need you.

But guess what? You need us as well.

And we grow in that relationship together by serving one another

in the giftedness that He has given us, because we are gifted

from God to be you. Accused for God.

Third thing, third key question. I want to ask this that we

wrestle with. Where in my life do I need to

trust in God's timing? I'll go ahead and tell you I

hate this question with a passion.

I hate it. Where in my life do I need to

trust in God's timing? God's timing never delayed,

never forced, always perfect. You know, there's some of us in

here that we have been praying the same prayer for years.

God hasn't answered that prayer yet.

Don't give up praying. Don't give up praying.

There's some of you that, that, that, that are praying for a

husband or, or a wife and, and God hasn't brought a husband or

a wife to you. Don't, don't give up praying.

It's in God's perfect timing. There's some of you that are

praying for, for a new opportunity in a, whether it's

in the same career or different career path, don't give up.

Pray it like continue to trust in God's timing, but you got to

identify the areas that you need to trust in God's timing to

where you can continually bring that back to God and God and

say, God, you know that I'm struggling with patients here.

You know that I'm struggling with trusting in your timing.

Would you just remind me that your timing is perfect?

And that you are doing a work in my life, you're doing a work in

other people's life, you're doing a work in setting the

table, setting the stage for future success. 4th question, am

I being faithful to the mission that God has placed directly in

front of me? Listen, we all want to be

promoted to that next, don't we? But one of the things that I

found to be true is until I am faithful where God has placed me

now, I'm not ready to be used in the next.

Am I being? Faithful to where God has me

Now, you see, I'm convinced. I'm convinced that Joseph was

faithful in Potiphar's house telling a few slaves about God.

I'm convinced that Joseph was faithful while in prison telling

many prisoners about God. And I'm convinced we're able to

read and we're able to dive into this later on.

Joseph was faithful and pointing an entire empire to God.

Am I being faithful to where God has called me right now?

Here's what we're about to do. I want to pray over us and this

is the time to where we're going to be able to stand.

We're going to be able to sing, but ultimately it's the time to

where we're going to be able to do some business with God.

If there's any one of these four questions that has really hit

home and kind of struck a chord in your life this morning, I'm

going to ask like just come down and pray over it.

Tell God. Like allow God, pour your heart

out to God and allow him to fill you with his peace and with his

patience and with his love and with his comfort, with his

timing this morning. So we're going to pray, we'll

stand, we'll sing, you respond how God calls you to respond.

God, we love you. We thank you for who you are.

God, you not only know what we know, God, you know it all.

God, you know the past, you know the present, you know the

future. God in, in, in situations to

where it seems like your timing for us is delayed and it seems

like maybe that that we have to take matters into our own hands

and to to force your perfect will to come about.

God, would you remind us that you are always in charge,

especially in those seasons to where we feel unseen or we feel

forgotten. God, remind us that your timing

is never delayed. It's never forced, but it is

always perfect. So God, I pray that you would

help us to really take a look in ourselves and analyze our heart.

God, is there any part of us that feels entitled to your

blessing and to your favor? God, is there any part of us

that is not using the ways in which you have gifted us for

your glory? God, is there any part of us

that is not currently being faithful to where you have

currently placed us? God, I pray that this would be a

time to where you continue a work in some.

God that you begin a work in others and it's in Jesus name

that we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast.

To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church,

connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.