Knowing God in Difficult times

I want you to turn with me this morning in your Bible to Genesis chapter thirty-nine.

I want to get you ready.

Because right before I preach, this next few minutes is an awesome, awesome video that we're pro headquarters.

And let me say this about David.

David what in fact everybody would ask Benji ever so often, why does Pastor Danny call David Doc?

I always called him Doc.

I did.

And I gave him that name a long time ago.

I called him the rug doctor with Surpris.

That's how I got started.

So I always would call him Doc, Doc, Doc, Doc.

And uh, but God took a young man that left Marson's cafeteria to step out on faith, to really deny one of the largest promotions he could have gotten in Marsons, taking over a huge cafeteria in Mobile, because his wife, Christy at the time, was uh definitely uh teaching for us in our Christian school we had started.

And they were our best friends.

They were helping me.

David was had come alongside of me there at Open Door Baptist Church, having a spill.

He was over the couples class, and we had almost 80 to 100 people in that young couples class, and that's something we're praying about right now, Paul.

Uh uh the start of young couples class.

I meant just like we got a lot of young couples.

I want you, I want you to have what we all had at Open Door during those years as young couples with our children coming together.

And we're really looking how to do that right now, seriously.

And uh so with that said, he said, I gotta move.

I don't know anything else.

I said, Well, have you prayed about it?

He said, Well, not really, because that's what we do in Morrisons, we just move.

So long story short, I said, Well, you talked to a man in my in our uh church, his name is Barry Bowen.

Barry Bowen had bought the, I think Benji, maybe it, I know it, was that the first franchise of SurPro in Alabama when he bought that one?

I think it was.

We did a little anyway, SurPro 30 years ago was just really getting started.

So, so basically, in fact, they just had their 50th anniversary, I think, but but in that area, so Barry Bowen was one of my deacons in the church, and I'd gotten to know Barry real well, and Barry kept saying, I think I'm gonna sell SERPRO.

I think I'm gonna Barry Barry was a people's person, but not an administrator.

So I said, Well, have you ever thought about a partner?

I said, Hey, he, I know a guy that's maybe looking to buy a business or would like to have an opportunity to stay.

And then I told him who he was, and he had gotten to know David extremely well.

He loved David.

Long story short, they got together, they became partners.

Then they went on to build.

Got all the surpros in Tuscaloosa, all the surpros in Montgomery, all the franchises in Birmingham, then they bought the trainerships of Mississippi, Alabama.

I'm talking about, they became, I call one of the premier surpros of now, over 1,500 surpros, the number one restoration and fire and water damage company in America.

And guess who when corporate had a problem, or every time they did something new, David Wilson initiated.

So I nicknamed him from Doc to Mr.

Surpro.

And this video will show you what everybody thought of David Wilson in the Surpro organization.

That's a that's a big question.

Dad was a I mean he was a he was everywhere.

David was a um very positive, energetic guy.

I would tell you, probably one of the smartest men I know.

Uh caring, very persistent.

David was the hardest worker that I've ever met.

A man of of character that would reach out and help anyone in need.

That's the David Wilson I know.

When I think about David, there are many outstanding attributes.

But most important to me was his servant leadership.

He didn't have a lot growing up.

And everything that God gave him, he wanted to give back.

When we met him, he was a um manager of a Morrison cafeteria, and um they didn't have much, and um he would buy people's lunch.

And I remember um right after he got into Surf Pro, he gave away to a family in our church that needed a van.

And he gave their van to them.

And I'm, you know, I'm thinking, David, you're driving around in an ugly green truck.

Somebody needs to give you a vehicle.

Up until when he when he passed away, it was he was a man that helped me learn how to trust again.

He helped me learn how to forgive.

He really invested not only in my kids, but in me.

And I see that in him.

He invests his his life in our kids, in me, and our kids' friends.

David was the kind of person that would ask a franchise into his home, and the franchise would spend six months with David and Christy when they didn't have the resources to provide for themselves.

Everywhere that he went, he taught SurfPro.

Everywhere that he went, he he preached Christ.

Everywhere that he went, everything that he did, he just wanted to be an influence to people.

He wanted to make sure that you know they were following the system.

He wanted to make sure that they could help them succeed in ways that they never dreamed they could they could do.

David was ultimately my mentor, you know, next to my father.

I learned more from David than uh anybody on the planet.

I just think he had an eye for um finding the right person for the job, whether it was within his franchise or selecting new franchise owners.

Um he was able to surround himself uh with people that were an extension of his philosophy.

That's what he meant to me.

He he showed me the way a man should lead his life from giving and loving people and investing in people.

I don't know that I've ever met uh anyone else that um loved what they did more than David did.

I mean, if you look at SurPro in the dictionary, uh, you know, his face would be right.

He cares so much about this organization.

He never really let mediocrity be okay.

At the core of SurfPro's DNA, there's a portion of David Wilson that lives inside of it.

I'm part of the Wilson family.

I think we all are.

Um, all of the employees feel that way.

We just, you know, we we unite, we work together, the leadership um has changed, but the the the message and uh that BG and Brady carry now is is um a lot the same.

Oh, there's no doubt David's left an incredible legacy, not only with the entire franchise system, but more specifically with the boys.

Uh the boys have been mentored so well.

They're carrying on the legacy of of Survey and spiritual life and love of God and um all the things that David stood for.

Uh they're continuing that legacy.

And we're very proud of.

When you when you wake up every morning and your feet hit the ground, and you're going to XYZ place, could be SurfPro, could be wherever.

You know, why why do you do that?

And if you can't answer that question, then why do you go there?

But he woke up every single day and loved it.

Whether it was David individually, David's team, the trainership, the the direct business, storm team, extreme team.

He was in it to win it, man.

That's that's David.

He was in it to win it.

Each and every day, no matter what that meant.

That's one of the things I take away is uh we joke about it, but he had a term.

I'm in it to win it.

And everything that he did, he w he wanted to win.

I do think he's proud.

That's something that I think about every single day is you know dad, am I making you proud?

Um I think it's every boy's dream, every kid's dream to make their parents proud, and and the type of person the dad was, you want to make him proud.

Because he he was the type of person that really believed in people.

He loved people, he loved being around people.

He he he really loved seeing what success they could have.

Not not just in business, but in life.

And he taught me so many things that I'm hoping I can pass on to my kids.

So yeah, I think he's proud.

I knew love.

I knew how love fell.

I knew love.

Oh love knew me.

When I'll give up with me.

But I got no hate and I got no pride.

So much low that I cannot hide.

David was in it to win it.

What a man.

And Benji and Brady, that was Bingy's brother.

For you that didn't know that at the end.

I think you probably most of you did.

I'm sure your dad's very proud of you.

Both of you.

Genesis 39.

You remember the story of Joseph?

Well, some of you do.

You know, what's sad in America today is that we are no longer living in a Christian nation.

All the recent statistical data from Barner to everyone else, and Hugh, you would understand this.

Our country now is no longer known as the, as it once was, the Christian nation.

So a lot of pastors get up in the pulpit and they said, Oh, you remember the story when 50% or more of the congregation maybe has never heard the story.

And so when I started ministry 40 years plus ago, people were brought up in Sunday school.

People were brought up in hearing all the Bible stories.

Thank God that this church still does that.

Can I get an amen?

All the Bible stories of all the Bible characters.

Where Joseph was one of the best Old Testament Bible characters ever.

Between him and Daniel.

Nothing was really ever said negatively about them.

Even though we know Joseph sinned, because all sin, but you really don't see any evidence, same way with Daniel, those two guys.

Now the rest of them kind of messed up.

From Moses losing his temper and for David having an affair, and I mean all the.

But these two, you don't hear anything negative about them.

And what's so unique about Joseph, Joseph had major difficult times in his life.

Major.

Spent ten years in prison.

How many of you like to spend ten years in prison?

None of us.

But guess what?

He spent ten years in prison for doing right.

Who says it's gotta be fair?

Hello, help me here.

Come on now.

So today, I want us to look at a character named Joseph.

And the title of the message is in this first message of the series, knowing the God that we love through difficult times.

And next week we'll be knowing the God we love and worship.

I mean, it's gonna be a great series as I'm parallel, parallel, uh, should I say parallel working with Experiencing God through Dr.

Blackaby's book?

And again, they're just getting started in Sunday school.

Get in, but you gotta go through this Experiencing God workbook.

It's phenomenal.

It'll change your life.

I promise you.

So, with that said, I thought a little bit about people in the world.

What do you do when everything goes wrong?

What do you do?

Have you ever had one of those days where everything went wrong?

I had one recently.

From a flooding to a several things.

It was just two, I actually had two days, just everything went wrong.

And you know, for the first time, I just looked at myself and looked in the mirror and smiled.

Because there wasn't a thing I could do about it except clean it up.

Amen?

Have you ever had a maybe a work a whole year that everything went wrong?

And as I was working on this during my vacation and studying, I thought to myself, what a what a testimony.

Because starting back way before June, last year, we had David's mother die.

And then what, three months later he dies?

I mean, it was, it, we've had a year of difficult times in this ministry.

But God's also been blessing in this ministry.

But what do you do?

Hey, how do you know God through difficult times?

When everything goes wrong, what do you do?

Don't you love the advice of the worldly people?

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

I used to say that because on the football field.

But in a Christian, when someone's hurting, that's not the most encouraging thing.

Amen.

You think about that.

Somebody's heart's broken, then you go up to them and you say, hey, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

And they're falling apart.

That's real encouraging, isn't it?

Then here's another one.

I love this one.

Here's another one that really blesses your heart.

When you get to the end of your rope, just tie a knot and hang on.

I thought about that one.

That's really kind of stupid.

Because you gotta let go of the rope to tie a knot.

What are you gonna do?

You're gone.

Hello?

Whoever wrote that didn't even think through that one.

Then I love this one.

One of your friends comes along, puts his arm around you, and I've had this.

Happen to me.

And they say, things could get worse.

So sure enough, I sure enough, hey, sure enough, they got worse.

So what do you do?

That's a lot of comfort.

Isn't it?

But there are times when you and I, as children of God, will also find ourselves in difficult, dark, discouraging times.

Would you not agree?

Can I get an amen?

And guess what?

We won't understand why.

Especially, and I wrote this to myself, especially when you're doing everything you know to do that's right.

I meant there's no rhyme or reason why you ought to be having all this difficulty in your thinking.

None.

Now, if you're in sin and running from God, away from God, that's different.

God's gonna get your attention.

He chases the ones that he loves, he's gonna get you and bring you back.

And if you don't really, hey, if you really are messed up and don't listen to him, and hey, if you don't come back, he may take you home.

1 Corinthians 11.

You can't make a mockery of God.

Can I get an amen?

So here we are.

Joseph is a great example.

Things don't make sense.

There will seem to be no rhyme, no reason, no explanation for your trouble, or everything seems to go wrong.

Why?

Well, here it is.

Look at Joseph.

Joseph was doing right.

When all his difficulties started, even from the moment he was 17 years old, and his brothers threw him into a pit that really were gonna kill him, then decided not to kill him, and they sold him to an Ishmaelite caravan of traitors that ended up taking him to Egypt and putting him on, hey, hey, selling him as slave, as a slave to Potiphar, who bought him and took him in as a slave.

Went back and told his dad, their father, that a wild beast had killed him.

Wow.

They sold him for 20 pieces of silver.

Potiphar was the ruler of the Egyptian KGB.

Potiphar was over the FBI, the CIA.

I meant he was in charge of taking care of the king, investigating, making sure that the king was protected, anything going wrong.

He was over the secret police, basically.

So Joseph was working in his house, Potiford's house, where Potiphar's wife one day saw Joseph being a good-looking man, decided that she wanted to have an affair with Joseph.

But Joseph, being the pure, righteous man that he was, says, No, how could I do something like that?

And I love what Joseph says in Genesis.

He says, How can I hurt my master?

Now he wasn't just talking about the master of God, but he's talking about Potiphar.

He says, He's entrusting me.

Remember, he was such a hard worker.

Okay?

He was diligent in using his giftiness, his character, his industry.

Hey, everywhere he was.

And so he had been promoted as over everything of Potiphar's house.

I mean, he was in charge of everything.

Everything.

Now that takes trust, and only trust can come from someone that sees a man or a woman of character.

You've got to have character to be trusted.

Can I get an amen?

So he had character.

You with me?

Say, uh-huh.

He had character.

And now this wife decides, whoo, I like him.

Make a good series on TV today, wouldn't it?

It's all you see.

But what did he do?

He literally ran away from her and she grabbed his clothes and he ran out of his clothes.

Don't look at though!

Nothing but his tennis is on.

For you don't know that, Ray Stevens made a lot of money off that song.

But listen, listen.

Here's a man that did write, but yet ended up in prison.

He ended up in prison.

Why?

Write this down.

He ended up being thrown in prison daring to be different.

I'm gonna preach.

I got a mini-series I've already been thinking about.

It's gonna be titled Dare to Be Different.

And look at the characters that dared to be different.

Not a whole lot of them in there.

But Joseph was one of them.

He dared to be different.

Dared to be different.

What a man.

I come to the story of Joseph and I ask myself, what is the lesson God has for us here?

Here it is.

In fact, let me tell you what you can do in your outline.

You can put in there prison principles.

These are principles that we can learn how to apply to our life in difficult times when everything we're doing is right.

Everything we're doing is right.

This is awesome.

Unbelievable.

So, truths can be applied to our hearts and lives when nothing seems to be going right.

Look at Genesis 39, verse 20.

Genesis 39:20

Joseph's master took him and put him into prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound.

Now, a lot of Bible scholars tell us that this was not a prison as we think of it.

The word prison here is a word it's ba ba yes.

By yes.

It's spelled kind of B-A-H-Yes.

By yes.

By yes.

And it means one or two things.

It can mean one or one or two things.

One, it can mean a hole, a dungeon, just somebody been thrown into a hole.

But it also, another synonym, in fact, that hole, the dungeon in this case, is not used near as many times as the other word for the same word is house.

Okay?

So this is, and a lot of theologians vary on whether he was thrown in a dungeon or he was in a house connected to Potifort's house, because the king, this prison that he was thrown in, was just for the servants of the king when they messed up.

They were not in the other prison with all the other, the rapists, the murderers, the killers, or whatever.

Even though Joseph would have been accused of trying to rape or have sex with Potiphar's wife.

But isn't it interesting that Potiphar never believed that?

Hello, that's good, preacher.

Because if he'd have been accused of that, forget prison, he'd have been executed.

Hello?

Why?

Potiphar knew there was something different about Joseph.

I don't think he, I think he knew his wife was shrewd.

He may even knew his wife like the hanky panky.

I don't know.

But he didn't throw him in, or not only did he not have him executed, he didn't put him where the murderers and the rapists and all were put.

He was put in a different prison.

I kind of think, with the context of the passage, that it might have been the house of Jacob where, you know, he still used those prisoners because they were very gifted servants for his purpose to carry on what he needed to be carried on.

So I think he still was using Joseph because he knew the character and the work ethic that Joseph had.

Now, the moral of that story, well, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's go.

Keep it, keep, I don't, I don't want to miss, I yeah, I don't want to, I don't want to you miss a blank.

Okay.

Now, what's this?

So here we see Joseph.

But because he dared to be different, because he purposed to be pure, Joseph found himself in prison.

Now, I'm certain that the devil must have come along to Joseph.

Where's your God now, Joseph?

Ever been there when you hit Brock Bottom for doing right and you say, Is God even there?

Are you hearing my prayers, Lord?

Sure doesn't seem like you are.

I mean, man, how long do I have to do this?

And we've only been doing it for maybe a week or two.

But here he is, ten years.

You gotta get this, folks.

This will help us.

So here he is.

Hey, okay, you gotta, oh, you believe in Jehovah, huh?

Oh, what a God.

Hey, maybe he is real, but what a weak, puny God he is.

See, if you'd have served me, if you would have gone, hey, if you'd have gone ahead and had sex with Potiford's wife, you would still be the servant and in charge of Potiford's house.

Hello?

Don't look at me like that.

You've been tempted that way.

Man, I'd been better off if I just stayed doing what I was doing instead of trying to serve God.

Seems like I get saved and try to serve God and all hell breaks loose.

Hello.

Why would Satan want to do anything, hey, hey, against you when he's got you?

He's not gonna do anything to turn you to Christ.

He's gonna do everything he can to turn you away from Christ.

So we see this.

So, let me give you some powerful principles.

Number one.

And this is so good.

By the way, let me just say though, before I give you number one, and all those verses, I gave you a lot of verses for introduction so you can go back and read them, the whole story.

But but here's something that really got my attention.

What happened?

Why was Satan?

Look what Satan kind of did to Joseph to try to get him to turn on God.

First of all, I call it three little things he did.

Number one, you know what he did to Joseph?

He made Joseph lose his freedom.

Joseph had freedom even though he was a slave in Potterford's House.

He had power.

He had a good thing going.

Say that with me.

He had a good thing going.

See, when you're serving God, you got a good thing going.

Amen.

So what he wants is to take away that good thing you got going, being, why?

Hey, since you are serving God, say this with me.

I got a good thing going when I'm serving God.

Ready?

I got a good thing going when I'm serving God.

So he lost that.

Notice the second thing he lost.

Not only did he lose his freedom, he lost, I'm sure he lost his feelings.

Now let me tell you what feelings.

Do you ever get your feelings hurt?

Seven, eight, nine of us.

The rest of your line.

Excuse me, that's a bad word.

Not telling the truth.

Do you ever get your feelings hurt?

That's better.

That's better.

Don't you think he lost?

Can't you imagine?

He's human.

He gets this for doing right, trying to protect his master's reputation, trying to take protect his, now this is very important.

Don't miss it.

Protect his reputation.

So he runs out of the bedroom, and now he's accused of committing something that he did everything he could, even literally running out of the bedroom for committing, and now he's thrown in prison probably forever, the sentence.

Now, do you not think that would hurt his feelings?

God, I don't understand.

I'm doing everything right.

This I'm here's me.

When I have stuff like that, Lord, what what am I doing?

Wrong.

I uh my feelings are hurt.

Third thing he lost.

You ready for this?

He lost this, and I did else so I can remember it.

He lost this freedom, he lost his feelings, and lost his faith.

And what I mean by that, he lost his reputation.

Hello?

Can you imagine the news?

Joseph attempts rape, and I'm sure she said that.

She wouldn't have said, Oh, I seduced him.

Hello.

So now his reputation is gone.

In Potiford's eyes, but not totally in Potiford's eyes, I don't believe.

But Pharaoh, you know, in his eye, hey, he's hey, here's a guy attempted rape.

His reputation's gone.

But listen to this.

Thank God he did not lose his character.

He lost his reputation, but he didn't lose his character.

Watch this.

Whoo, this is so good.

Hey, hey, I'm not, yes, I'm interested in my reputation.

Hey, I, but listen, I'm more interested in my character toward God because I can't control my reputation, but I can control my character.

Amen.

I've got people all over the world that there's no doubt things have been said about me that were not true.

I'm not worried about those.

I'm worrying about the ones that are true.

Hello.

That's the ones you ought to be worried about.

So you gotta understand that.

Now, so here we go.

Number one.

Man, this is okay.

Don't demand to know why.

Mm-mm.

That's liberating me.

If I stop the message right there, that's it.

Don't ask, hey, don't demand from God why is this happening?

Now, sometimes it's okay to ask the question, and it's okay to do a thorough investigation of your heart.

Search me, O God, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts, see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting.

You need to search your heart and see if you're off the if you're off the rail, you need to get back on the rail, headed in the right direction.

Can I get an amen?

Or you may be on the rail going in the wrong direction, you need to turn around, ask for repentance.

Can I get an amen?

So you need to search your heart.

But when you are doing right and everything's coming against you, you're having bad days, you've had a bad year, you have I mean nothing's going right.

Don't always demand why.

Amen.

Got too excited.

Time out.

Don't demand why.

Now let me tell you why.

This is so good.

Don't demand to understand.

God teaches us lessons.

He wants us to understand fully, but sometimes there's lessons that we will never understand.

Look at Isaiah 55, 10.

This is powerful.

Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light?

Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God.

Now I want you to notice right here three things.

Actually, four.

Number one, notice how God describes this man.

First of all, hey, he fears the Lord.

Now, we're not talking about here that, in fact, Proverbs 9:10 says, He that fears the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Proverbs 9:10

So we know this is a wise man.

Now, when we talk about the fear of the Lord, we're not talking about we're frightened to death of God that he's going to strike us dead or no.

The word fear there brings the connotation that we honor and respect him.

In other words, we love him with so much love that we can't help but obey him.

That's the fear.

That's it's an honor, it's a privilege, it's a pleasure to serve God.

That's what we're talking about.

Which brings me to the second point.

Not only did he fear, but notice.

Notice the second thing.

We know that, hey, notice what he says.

And I love it.

He says he obeyed in verse 10.

Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant?

If you love me, you're gonna what?

Keep my commandments.

John 14.

So it's so true, right there.

John 14.

He says, if you're willing and obedient, now listen, if you're willing and obedient, you should eat the good of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you should be devoured by the sword.

Isaiah 119 and 20.

So we see that he honored God, he loved God.

In fact, honoring God and being obedient to God, the fear of God and obedience of God go hand in hand.

You can't really separate them.

You can't separate them.

And then notice the third thing.

And this is the good one.

But he also is a man wise.

This is, now this could be very confusing and confusing if you're not understanding the context.

Walking in darkness.

We wouldn't expect that, would we?

That we're gonna walk in darkness?

Now, now darkness can come to the child of God, and I mean a child of God who's doing everything right.

Remember, Joseph was doing everything right when the darkness overtook him.

Now, I'm not talking about darkness of you walking in personal sin, but I'm talking about the darkness that can come around you that's sent really by Satan himself.

Absolutely.

In fact, the greatest example is Joseph, because I call it the Romans 8:28 verse of the old, but the verse in the Bible in the Old Testament, where in Genesis 50, 20, remember what he said?

Romans 8:28

Joseph's talking to his brothers when his brothers finally realized that now he's the prime minister, he's the prince.

And he said, Yes, you meant what you did to me for evil, but God meant it for good.

So what you've got to realize that when this darkness is allowed to come upon you, that doesn't mean you can't still be a light in the darkness.

Can I get an amen?

Because Joseph was.

But what we're talking about, you remember why I'm doing everything right and bad things are happening.

I'm in difficult times.

Why is that?

Because I really believe with all my heart God has a purpose, God has a reason, God has a situation that he knows that you need in order to get you where he wants you to be so he can use you in a greater way.

And that's exactly what he did with Joseph.

Exactly.

Does that sound good?

Makes sense?

Habakkuk was, hey, listen to this.

The prophet Habakkuk was God's man, but there came some things that he just couldn't understand.

John the Baptist.

None greater than John the Baptist, but yet he was thrown in prison and ultimately lost his head.

He was thrown in prison for preaching the truth.

What about Paul?

Remember Paul?

Go to 2 Corinthians.

Well, no, throw that up there.

Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier, Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2.3.

And then you go over to chapter 3, verse 12, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution too.

You with me?

Think it not strange concerning the fiery trials that are going to try you, as some strange things happen to you.

1 Peter 4 12.

Why did he have to use fiery trials?

Why couldn't he just say trials?

Hello.

Because there's a lot of junk needs burned off of us.

Can I get an amen?

Woo! Gotta put us through the purifying fire.

So we see that here.

We see it.

So what is the answer?

And for you to see this verse, 2 Corinthians 4, 8 and 9.

They're there.

Hey, Paul said, listen to what Paul said.

I am hard pressed on every side.

Ever been there, folks?

I watch, we are hard pressed on every side.

Hey, that's not one side, that's every side.

In other words, everywhere you turn around, bam, you're just getting hit.

Satan just punching.

You're a punching bag for Satan.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Every side, every way.

From your wife to your boss to your children.

And when it's really bad, the dog's even against you.

That's bad.

If Bear turned to me, that'd be bad.

I mean, he follows me like a kid.

I can't go anywhere without that dog right there.

But really, and then notice, now watch what he said.

Paul's got it right.

Hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.

Woo! Hey, then notice verse 9.

Persecuted, been there, but not forsaken.

He'll never leave us or forsake us.

Struck down, bend down, righteous fall seven times, but to get back up.

Proverbs 16.

But not destroyed.

I know Joseph had to feel every bit of that.

Every bit of that.

But this means God's plan, I wrote this to Danny Lovett.

This means God's plan, God's will, God's way, and God's wisdom for God's purposes has ordained that you be in that darkness.

Is that not good?

He's got it.

Which brings me to that fourth point in that one verse, 55-10.

Trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God.

He says, Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light?

Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God.

The word stay there is stay shine.

Stay shine.

It means to lean upon God, trust upon God, support upon God.

It's the same Hebrew word used in Psalms 23, 4.

Thy rod and thy staff, they what?

Say it.

Comfort me.

So when you're in these difficult, depressing, discouraging times, that's when you lean upon him.

Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all thy heart, lean not on thy own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he'll direct your paths.

That's what he's trying to say.

Casting all your care upon him, hey, he cares for you.

1 Peter 5, 7.

Listen to another one.

Psalms 55, 22.

Cast your burden upon the Lord.

Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you.

That had to be one of Joseph's most powerful verses.

During this 10 year tenure.

Powerful.

Powerful.

Powerful.

Now why is that?

Ready for this?

I found some verses that really listen to Isaiah 55.

Let's put these up there, Jason, 8 and 9.

Listen.

Why is that?

Why is it?

Why does God allow darkness to overshadow shatter our life?

And why is that?

Watch this.

God says, Isaiah 55, verse 8 and 9.

Isaiah 55:8

For my thoughts are not your thoughts.

Nor are your ways my ways.

Mmm, saith the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

In other words, when we demand to understand everything, we're asking God for something that is totally beyond our capacity.

That's good.

We couldn't understand it if he told us.

There is no under, let me give you the greatest example.

There is no rhyme and reason or purpose you could tell me to make me understand why Susan and I, our little baby boy, was born dead in my arms.

You can't, you can't make me, there's nothing you can say.

There's nothing you could say when my wife died in my arms.

Me doing CPR.

You can't, there's nothing you can say to make me understand that.

Really, would you take him my best friend?

You saw what God did with David's life a year ago at age 61.

I think I came to the summation and I told you the only thing I can have peace with is God needed him more than we did because he's getting ready to build the new Jerusalem.

Because we're fixing to go there.

And David's helping him get it ready for us.

Amen.

Does that make sense?

It's kind of like this.

Woo! See, here's the difference.

God sees the end from the beginning.

And the beginning from the end.

He sees the whole picture.

You and I just see the here and now.

It's like New York, Macy Day's Parade, we've been twice.

I love it.

You have people up on the way up 15, 20 stories.

When the parade's coming down 44th Street, they see the whole thing.

They see the beginning from the ending where Susan and I are standing, I just see what's in front of me.

God sees the whole thing.

And He knows what you need when you need it at the right time.

No.

No way.

So, but God saw it all.

Hey, you know what I thought?

Woo-hoo! All Joseph could see was prison.

God saw the palace.

All Joseph could see.

I'm about to have a spell.

All that Joseph could see was him being a prisoner when God saw him as prime minister.

Are you with me, church?

If listen, hey, when it looks like you're going down, you're going up.

If Joseph hadn't been thrown into pit, he'd have never been sold into slavery.

Had he never been sold into slavery, he would have never made it into Potiphar's house.

Had he never made it into Potiphar's house, he'd have never been the head of Potiphar's servant.

Had he never been the head of Potiphar's servant, he'd have never been falsely accused.

Had he never been falsely accused, he'd never been thrown in prison.

Had he never been thrown in prison, he'd never met the baker and the butler.

Had he never met the baker and the butler, he had never interpreted their dreams.

Had he never interpreted their dreams, he'd never been brought before Pharaoh.

Had he never been brought before Pharaoh, he'd never interpreted his dreams.

And if he had never interpreted his dreams, he'd never been made prime minister.

When it looks like you're going down, you're going up.

Take that, Satan.

That's it, folks.

That's it.

His techniques, his thoughts are so far different than ours.

So far different.

So far different.

Number two.

Don't fail to be faithful.

Verse 21.

Genesis 39.

But the Lord was with Joseph.

Mm-mm.

And showed him mercy.

And gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

Everywhere Joseph went, God gave him favor.

He gave him favor with Potiford.

He gave him favor now with the jailer.

Why?

Character.

Character.

Young people, you want to be successful, you have character.

Adults, you want to be successful.

You want to be a living testimony to your kids and to your people that you work with.

Have character.

Don't cheat.

Don't lie.

Don't steal.

And when they try to get you to get in on it, say, I can't do that.

Hey, I've got a higher calling, and it's to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The eyes of the Lord in every place behold the evil and the good.

In fact, I there's scriptures I gave you one that says you can go to, hey, you can go to heaven, you can go to hell, you can go everywhere, and I'm still there.

He sees it all.

And not only that, he knows it all.

He knows your thoughts even before you think them.

I don't know about you, I don't like that verse.

Because I have some bad thoughts sometimes.

But I know you don't.

You're Baptist.

That was a joke.

But now watch.

Watch.

Mm-mm-mm.

Look at verse 22.

And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison.

And whosoever, whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.

The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord was with Joseph, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.

When the Lord is with you, it will prosper.

Even in prison.

So next time don't cry about being where you are, just start working where you are for God.

Woo! I had a preacher say, Well, I think God is calling me to another church.

He said, I said, What are you having problems?

Well, yeah.

I said, Well, you know the grass is, hey, hey, not any greener on the other side than it is right here.

And my granddaddy used to say, and the same cows do what they do in that field just like your field.

Amen.

There's sister fluffy heads and deacon potato heads in all the fields.

I'm not joking.

I didn't really.

I know.

I've been doing this 42 years.

Ask you.

They're there.

God puts, hey, Satan, hey, God allowed Satan to put them there.

Hey, because we need that.

Because we need to learn to work through the situations, and hopefully we can reach a few of them.

Come on.

You know why?

Here we go.

What's this?

Joseph took over the prison.

What does that tell me?

Here's what it tells me.

Even in prison, Joseph just, hey, Joseph just kept doing what the Lord had called him to do.

Here's what he called him to do.

A.

He kept on serving the Lord.

Isn't it amazing when somebody offends you in church?

You ever been offended in church?

Wait before you raise your hand.

You ever been offended in church?

Don't raise your hand yet.

I'm going to answer that.

I'm the pastor.

Been a pastor of three churches.

I have severely been offended.

Now, have you ever been offended in church?

Okay, some of you have.

The ones that aren't raising your hand, you will be.

I'm telling you, Sister Fluffyhead, we'll meet you sooner or later.

If I had given up on the ministry for every time my feelings have been hurt, I've lost my freedom, and they've tried to malign my reputation, I wouldn't have lasted in the ministry very long.

Two weeks.

What I'm saying, folks, is listen, this is liberating.

Because this is the truth.

Joseph kept working.

Hey, you get offended, you know what you do?

You quit church.

And you say this, there's nothing but a bunch of hypocrites there.

We all are hypocrites.

There's none righteous.

No, not one.

There's none that understand it.

There's none that's seek it after God.

That's all of us.

Well, I'm just gonna be a hypocrite at home.

Oh, I deal with it all the time.

People tell me about why they're not in church.

So-and-so hurt me.

So-and-so hurt me.

And I know that's true.

I know it's true.

I'm not belittling that fact.

But you're not, I had a preacher tell me, you know, church got upset with him and ran him off.

And he kept telling his friend, he said, I don't understand how much I did so much for them, and I did this for them, and I did this for them.

You know what the friend finally said?

He said, That's your problem.

He said, What?

You were doing it for them and not for the Lord.

I work for the Lord, folks.

Now, do I love serving you?

Absolutely.

You're my family, but I don't do it for you.

I do it for him.

Because there's sometimes if I was doing it for you, I'd say, take this job and shove it.

Hello?

Did you hear what the Peter tell me?

Now don't tell me you hadn't thought about that about your job.

Because that's the way Satan attacks us.

He wants us to quit.

He wants us to give up on God.

But bless God, I'm not gonna do it.

My hands are fixed to the plow, and I'm not looking back because if I do, I'm not fit for the kingdom of God.

Luke 9.62.

I can see Joseph in prison.

A.

Joseph kept serving the Lord, number two.

B, he kept using his gifts and his abilities for the Lord.

Joseph didn't let his circumstance stop him.

You know what?

When you go over to chapter 40 in Genesis, when the when the um butlers about to leave and be called back to the palace, he says, please don't forget me.

Tell Pharaoh I'm still here.

Guess what?

He forgot him.

There's a good there's a good principle there.

Don't put your trust in people.

Hello.

Well, that's what hurt me early in my ministry.

I had some people very close to me that hurt me dearly.

I meant even some people that was on my staff.

Hurt me deeply.

And I about wanted to quit then.

Because I I didn't understand.

I didn't understand the principle, the prison principles.

Okay?

But when you understand them, you just get up, you shake the dust off your feet, and you say, Lord, thank you.

And let me make sure I learn what I need to learn so I don't have to get that same hit again.

Amen.

But here we see Joseph, and he didn't let circumstances stop him.

Didn't stop him.

Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and daughter.

All right, number three.

Don't bow to bitterness.

Don't bow to bitterness.

Don't demand to understand.

Keep being faithful wherever you are, wherever you are, how difficult it is, keep being faithful.

What I'm saying is, when, hey, Sister Fluffyhead or Deacon Potato Head offends you or whoever, don't quit church.

Don't give up on church.

Don't give up on your family.

If I gave up on my children every time they disappointed me, I wouldn't have been a very good father.

That's a good example.

That's a good example.

And now look at them.

They're doing well.

So remember that.

Don't bow to bitterness.

This is the third principle I find in Joseph's life.

Look at here.

Notice how Joseph describes his calamities to Pharaoh's baker.

This is really good.

Look at chapter 40, verses 14 and 15.

Think on me when it shall be well with thee.

Show kindness, I pray thee unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh and bring me out of the house.

For indeed I was, and by the way, for indeed, again the word house, so that's why I think the prison was like I think it was anyway.

For I indeed was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

Now notice that Joseph didn't say one word against his brothers.

Notice he didn't say one word against Potiphar.

Notice he didn't say one word against Potiphar's wife.

Now I don't know about you, but I've been saying that.

You know what that hubs he did to me?

You know what?

You know what my brothers did to me?

You wait till I see them, I'm gonna take them out.

It wasn't my fault.

It wasn't my fault.

I hear it all the time, and I've been guilty.

I didn't do it.

My wife said, Why are you trying to say you did it?

It's my flesh.

I don't want them to say I did it.

But I did.

But not one time did he blame people for his circumstances.

There's only one way you can explain that.

Because he had confidence and he had trust that God had him there for a purpose.

That's the hardest thing in Christian life to learn when you're in difficult times is knowing that God's placed you there.

Well, that's good.

I don't like it, but that's good.

I don't want to hear it, but it's good.

I need to hear it.

I need to hear it.

Now watch this.

This really gets good.

Here's what we see that Joseph didn't do.

One, A, he didn't have a spirit of revenge.

The average person would have said, let me tell you what that no good woman did to me.

Adam did.

He blamed the woman.

That woman, God, you gave me.

What you smiling for, Paul?

Amen.

He blamed Eve.

My wife doesn't like that story.

Sounds good to me.

Without a spirit of revenge.

No, Adam willfully chose.

I agree, honey.

Now watch.

I was thinking about this one.

This is what Peter said.

This is so good.

It hurts.

I said, oh Lord, forgive me.

Because I am not patient.

See, the second thing is he took it patiently.

I have patience if you answer by tomorrow.

Listen to what 1 Peter 2.20 says.

This I don't understand this for I do understand it.

That's my problem.

I understand it very well.

I just don't do it.

Which is sin.

What glory is it?

Ooh.

If we that are buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently.

In other words, God's allowing this to happen for his purpose.

Now watch this.

If we get punished because we deserve it, it's no big deal.

But if when we do well we suffer it, he says, we take it patiently.

This is acceptable with God.

God says, look at another verse.

Hebrews 12.15.

But what God is saying is, I really like it when we are patient.

If you do good and then suffer for it, he says, I really like that.

But if we aren't careful, when we do good and suffer for it, we can become very bitter even at God.

And that's usually what happens.

Bitterness comes through blaming God.

But look at what Hebrews 12.15 says.

Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble at you.

If we're bitter today, he says, trouble's coming.

If you're bitter today, trouble is coming.

Last thing in them three.

Don't try to rush God.

Don't try to rush God.

Genesis 41, verse 46.

Genesis 41:46

In fact, verse 23, I read a while ago, said, Ye did not, the chief butler, remember Joseph, but forgot him.

In other words, Joseph was trying to tell, I think Joseph was trying to push it a little bit here.

In other words, go tell the Pharaoh I'm here so he can get me out.

He wasn't waiting on God.

Now look at verse 41, verse 46.

Joseph had done so much for the butler, but he completely forgot him.

Now turn over and we see here at verse 46, Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

By my calculations, people always ask me where I get the 10 years from.

Joseph was in prison about 10 years.

Maybe 10 to 12.

Why?

He was 17 when he was sold into slavery.

Let's say he was 20 to 21 years old when Miss Potiphar lied on him.

So he was in prison for about 10 to 12 years.

So here's a 30-year-old man, it seems like everyone has forgotten him.

His father, hey, thinks he's dead, his brother's forgotten him, Potiphar's forgotten him, Potiphar's wife's forgotten him, Pharaoh's forgotten him, the baker is dead, and the butler has forgotten him.

But now watch this.

But God had not forgotten Joseph.

And God was not late.

Can I get an amen?

1 Peter 5, 6, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you.

Now what does he say?

In due time.

In due time.

That means in God's time.

Learn to wait upon God.

Here's what I want to fill in the blanks.

One, don't try to push the providence of God.

And then B, God's not forgotten you, and he's never late.

Isaiah 40, 31.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and faint not.

Wow.

What a lesson.

From Joseph.

What a lesson.

I don't know about you.

I needed that.

I needed that.

That helped me more than I can say in a long time.

Because this summer, you know, when I get off like I do there in July, thinking about all that God's done for this anniversary, remembering David, I just needed that.

I needed that encouragement that we are right where God wants us right now.

Because God sees the end from the beginning, the beginning from the end.

And folks, I'm telling you, there's going to be some fantastic times here.

There already are.

David always will remind me.

He's doing something great right now.

But I have to, and I get guilty because I've been here before in a church.

Actually, two more churches.

And watch what God did from a start to the full ministry.

And I'm going to be honest with you, the most exciting times are right now.

When you're in you're involved in investing in doing it, building it.

It's more than you'll ever know.

It's so exciting.

Just to see what God's done with a handful of people in Westover, where's Naiva?

In Westover.

Where nobody could build a church.

You can see hundreds of kids as fall on soccer fields and flag football on the fields.

And you're going to see it coming from every direction.

Pickleball.

My wife's got, my wife has fallen in love with pickleball.

She's a brainiac.

She graduated Simicon Law.

She didn't even know how to play anything.

I graduated, thanked the Lord.

I played everything.

Except the books.

I didn't study.

But but just think what God's going to do.

What God's going to do.

And you're going to be a part of it.

You're going to be a part of it.

David's in heaven right now.

He was an integral part of this.

And he's up there telling God, hey, we got a hot line to Jesus with our prayers, and we got somebody right there nudging him if we need him.

My mama and papa's there nudging him.

All the times I've been in difficult situations.

I always go back and remember my papa.

He said, boy, just stay faithful.

Don't get bitter.

Stay faithful.

When anybody else quits you, just give me you keep being faithful.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, he used to quote this to me all the time, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for you know that your labor's not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15, 58.

Just stay faithful.

Just keep, yeah?

Just keep paying.

Hey, hey.

David had a great, I preached a sermon down at Surpro.

And it was on the pump.

I said, our problem is we just keep pumping.

Get off the pump, into the flow.

He used to say, why don't you preach that again?

It really spoke to his heart.

Because most of us spend our time on the pump, trying to do it ourselves.

We just need to get off the pump and get into the flow.

The flow of God's will.

The flow of what God wants us to.

And then you're going to see a difference.

Because God's going to promote you and you're going to prosper.

Just like Joseph.