February 2, 2025 • 47 mins
When life feels discouraging, it’s easy to wonder how God is at work. But even in the midst of pain and rejection, God is preparing you for something greater.
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Scripture References:
Genesis 50, verse 20
Genesis 37, verses 2-4, 18-20
Genesis 39, verses 2-4, 6-7
Genesis 40, verses 14-15
Genesis 41, verses 1, 14-16, 39-40, 50-52
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
see God as moving in your life.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Our key passage today is going to be Genesis fifty twenty.
Genesis fifty twenty says this you intended to harm me,
but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is
now being done, the saving of many lives.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thank you Lord for this word.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Thank you that it can get down inside of us,
rearrange some thoughts that we have, motivate us to trust
you more. God, you are faithful, You are good. In
your Holy name. We pray and everyone said Amen. When
I read this verse, I am absolutely struck by this reality,
(01:05):
this person, this group, this entity.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
You intended to harm me.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
At the same time, God also has an intention.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
And God's intention is.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
To take whatever has happened and to use it for good,
for the saving of many lives. You see, with God,
there's always two things happening at the same time. There
is the physical reality of what we see, and there
is the certainty of the good that God is eventually
(01:43):
going to do no matter what we walk through.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Amen. Amen, you guys can have a seat.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I thought I would start off today by showing you
some pictures of my family. My family has changed quite
a bit, grown quite a bit, and so since you
guys are such an important part, I wanted to go
ahead and throw up some pictures here. Okay, So this
picture is my whole family. And many of you know
(02:11):
my story. I walked through a really, really devastating divorce
many years ago, and in God's goodness and to my amazement,
I learned.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
To trust again. And that was really hard.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
But God brought an incredible man into my life. And
so in January of last year, we got married. And
so there's my family. I know. Now I want to
tell you something really fun. So this is my husband, Chaz.
He's right here on the front row. Hey, babe. So
when Chaz and I were getting together and learning about
(02:55):
one another, I quickly learned he has two children. We
have five children. Okay, So I just want you to
help me do the math here. No, I have five children.
His two children are younger than mine, and so at
this point, it's just two children. I have five children
who are a little bit older. Four of my five
(03:15):
kids are married, one has a significant girlfriend. So when
you add all of that up, now I'm bringing ten
people to the table, right. I also had three grandkids
at the time, so now I'm bringing how many thirteen
people to the table?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
And then in twenty twenty four, after we were married,
but very shortly something miraculous and beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Started to happening.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I had five grandchildren born last year alone.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Okay, So now I'm bringing how.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Many people to the table? Eighteen and et rings two,
so between the two of us we have twenty people. Okay, great,
all right, I want to show you a couple other
pictures really quickly.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Okay. So these are my three.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Grandchildren I started off with at our wedding, and that's
Susie Selena Unriiser precious, amazing gifts from God. And then
my son had twins born in February. That's legend in
London and today is their birthday, first birthday. Have your
birthday legend London, okay. And then my daughter had sweet
(04:22):
little windsor l who is in the middle. We call
her Winnie and then my youngest or my oldest daughter
and my middle daughter had little boys in November, and
their names are River and Percy.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
So that's my clan, right.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
So it's very, very easy though to look at those
pictures of us all smiling and just go, Wow, what
a neat family, right, And I am so blessed. I
think I do have a really neat family. But make
no mistake, my family's been through a lot, a lot.
(05:02):
I don't have to tell you that because I would
imagine in your own way and different circumstances that have happened,
your family has been through a lot too, because there's
really no one that gets.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Through this life unscathed, right.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And part of a big part of my story was
that I'd had my trust so broken, so shattered, that
I started transferring the trust issues I had with another
person and even other people. I started transferring those trust
issues into my relationship with God. Trust is the oxygen
(05:40):
of all human relationships. You starve a relationship of trust,
and you starve at a vibrancy, You possibly even starve
it to death. And what can so easily happen when
we are struggling in trust with another human is it
can start to feel like, God, if you are really good,
(06:01):
why aren't you fixing that situation? Why aren't you showing
that person that they shouldn't be doing this? Why why
aren't you taking care of things that you could prevent?
And I don't understand why you didn't prevent it, and
it can really start to mess you up. You see,
our brain is wired for the confidence of knowing. Our
(06:22):
brain is always scanning what we see, and we are
depending on our brain to say you're safe or you're
not safe. Right, And so as my brain sometimes scans
what I'm seeing, if I don't remember that what I'm
seeing is not the full story, then I can start
(06:42):
to judge whether or not God is faithful based on
the circumstances that are right in front of me. Right,
that's right. So we've got to find a different way
to look at what we're facing. I want to know
what's going to happen. I want to know how it's
going to turn out, and I want to know that
(07:02):
it will eventually be really good. God just wants me
to know him. God wants me to know Him and
his faithfulness and his goodness. Part of my morning prayer
that I pray every morning. You've probably heard me say
this before I intentionally verbalize out loud. God you are good.
(07:23):
God you are good to me, and God you are
good at being God. Even if people aren't good, circumstances
aren't good, finances aren't good, situations aren't good. But God,
I've got to approach every day, and I've got to
make the lens through which I look at my day
and all that i'll face today. God, you are good,
(07:46):
You are good to me, and you are good at
being God. But sometimes, right that's all true. We can
celebrate that, yes, absolutely, but sometimes it's really really hard
to trust that God really does have it all under
control when suddenly situations go from hard to more hard,
(08:13):
to even harder to more hard, to more heart to
more hard. And I don't know if any of you
guys have been in that place, or if you're in
that place today, but I pray that this is a
word for you. You see this verse Genesis fifty twenty.
It's not where Joseph's life starts. Joseph is saying these
(08:35):
words to his brother, but this is toward the very
end of his story, or to a place of this
story where things were more resolved than they are when
we begin. And so Joseph has gone through a lot,
and going through a lot has built a resilience in
(08:56):
Joseph that has enabled him to say these words with
absolute confidence. You intended to harm me, brothers, but God
intends it for good, for the saving of many lives,
to accomplish a purpose that is now being done.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So let's turn back to.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Earlier in Joseph's story, because I think when we turn
back earlier in Joseph's story, we're going to get a
better understanding of all that Joseph had to go through before.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
He said those amazing words.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
We go back to Genesis thirty seven, and in Genesis
thirty seven, verse two, it says this, this is the
account of Jacob's family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen,
was tending his flocks with his brothers, the sons of
hard Word and the sons of another hard word, his
father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report
(09:52):
about them. Now, Israel, this is the father. Israel loved
Joe Joseph more than any of his other sons because
he'd been born to him in his old age, and
he made an ornate robe for him. And when his
brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than any
(10:12):
of them, they hated him and could not speak a
kind word to him. Now, let me explain something here
about this robe. This was not just a lavish gift.
It was also an outward sign that Joseph was not
going to have to work hard or as hard like
(10:35):
his other brothers, because you don't put on an ornate
robe and go out into the fields and do the
kind of work that all of his brothers were doing.
So when job would put on, when Joseph would put
on this fancy robe, how do you think the brothers
felt day after.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Day after day.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
It wasn't just that they hated him the day that
he got the gift. It's that they hated him every
other day that they had to go out into the fields.
And Joe Joseph is sitting at home just chilling in
he fancy wrote right now. The other dynamic that's happening
here is that the father, when he would send his
(11:15):
sons out to work, sometimes he would send Joseph out
to go and spy on the brothers. And so what's
happened here is that he is going out and he
is spying on their brothers, and he brings the father
back a bad report, and so they hated him and
(11:35):
literally could not speak a kind word to him. Now,
the next thing we see here is that Joseph starts
to have a dream, and basically he has two dreams,
and these dreams that he has basically is kind of
showing the brothers that Joseph believes the interpretation of this
dream is that one day he's going to rise up
(11:56):
and be their leader and they're all going to bow
down to him. He's saying this to brothers who already
hate him. So how do you think the brothers feel
when Joseph says, eventually, I'm about to be the boss
of all you people, right, they.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Hate him even more. Then there comes a day that.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
The father sends the brothers out to go and work
and again says to Joseph, go out and check on
your brothers. So I just wants you to remember this
is a human dynamic happening in a very divine story.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Okay, these people.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Have real feelings, they have real anks, they have real
stuff that's happening all around them. So the brothers go
out and they're out in the field working and from
a distance they see Joseph coming.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Wherein he fancy Rowe. I don't know what he'd been
doing at home.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Maybe he was playing Nintendo, eating cheetohs, looking his cheesy fingers.
I don't know. But what I do know is the
brothers were not doing that. The brothers were out there
working and from a distance Genesis thirty seven eighteen. The
brothers see Joseph, it says, but they saw him in
the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to
(13:09):
kill him. There's never just a little bit of anger.
There's never just a little bit of hatred. There's never
just a little bit of bitterness. You see, Bitterness gets
down inside of this and it doesn't want to just
be a feeling. It wants to be our consuming feeling.
Here comes that dreamer. They said to each other, Come now,
let's kill him and throw him into one of these
(13:31):
cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then
we'll see what comes of his dreams. And then one
of the other brothers speaks up and says, actually, what
will it profit us if we kill him?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Why don't we sell him and at least we'll get
money and.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
So their plan was to throw Joseph in the cistern,
which that absolutely happens, and then wait for the merchants
to come by, and then they pull him out of
the cistern. They sell him to merchants headed toward Egypt.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
And they go home and they.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Tell their father that a ferocious animal has killed Joseph.
They take that fancy robe they stripped off of Joseph
before they sold him. They tear it into shreds, dip
it in animal's blood, give it to the father. So
the father has no clue that Joseph is still alive.
(14:21):
So I want you to vert just a minute, put
yourself in Joseph's shoes. When his brothers betray him in
such a horrific way, This isn't just an event in
his life. This is the event of his life that
(14:42):
will change everything for Joseph.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
So here's Joseph. He's been sold.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
And I don't know the condition of these merchants, with
the condition they put Joseph in. I don't know if
his hands are bound. I don't know if there's a
bag of her said, I don't know, But what I
do know is that Joseph had to be terrified.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Joseph had to be terrified.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
And also Joseph had to be thinking about those dreams
that he had that he truly felt like were visions
from God that one day he was going to rise
up and be a leader.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
But now now.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
He's a slave, and he's headed to a foreign land
with foreign people, things that he doesn't know. And if
I were Joseph, I would surely be thinking, God, this
sure doesn't look like that vision that you gave me
for my life. How could a good God let this happen?
Like if I were Joseph, I would assume I would
(15:41):
be sent to some leadership academy, some big training. I
would have had no idea that this awful circumstance would
eventually prove to be the perfect training. But it doesn't
start out looking that way at all. So there's two
things happening simultaneous, slee right here. God has destined Joseph
(16:03):
to be a leader, But in the circumstances that he
was in with his brother and the hatred that his
brothers had for him, do you think that anytime soon
in that dynamic, that Joseph could really rise up and
be a leader. Absolutely not. So God is going to
take the rejection of those brothers and actually use it.
(16:26):
God didn't cause it, but God is going to take it.
He's going to take the rejection of the brothers and
actually use it as a protection of the calling that
he is absolutely placed on Joseph's life. But Joseph doesn't
see that at all. All Joseph sees is what's awful
around him, and of course that's all he sees. So
(16:47):
then Joseph gets to Egypt and he's sold into Potiphar's house,
the captain of the guard. And when he's sold into
Potiphar's house house, things are not great because joseph life
doesn't look anything like he thought it was going to look.
But things aren't horrible either. If we look at Genesis
thirty nine, I'll go ahead and read you starting in
(17:08):
verse two.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
The Lord was with Joseph so that he.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master, Potiphar.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
And when his master saw.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
That the Lord was with him, and that the Lord
gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor
in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him
in charge of his household and he entrusted to.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
His care, everything he owned.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Is Joseph in the ideal situation that he assumed that
he would be in when God give them the vision
that he would be leader.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Oh no, absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And I would imagine many of us are in this
in between place right now too. It's like we had
a hope, we had a dream, we have really trusted God.
But then we're sitting there thinking, me, trusting God has
gotten me to this place and I don't understand this place.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
But at the.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Same time, we can see in Joseph's story that God
is with him, that God is prospering him, that God
is helping Potiphar to get a vision for Joseph that
Joseph doesn't even have for himself.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
And so Joseph rises up.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
And now he is a leader, not leading the way
he assumed he would be leading, but he is a
leader in this small dynamic of Potiphar's house.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Now there is this one.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Complication that's sort of going to mess everything up for
him in Potiphar's house.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
And you're not going to believe me when I say it.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
That's why I have my scripture prepared that I'm going
to back it up okay, so are you ready for this?
The complication was that Joseph was hot. I know, I know,
I told you you were not going to believe me.
But I'm going to read it straight from God's words
Genesis thirty nine, halfway through verse six, and it says,
now Joseph was well build and handsome. I do not
(19:02):
have to take it back to the Hebrew to understand
that that means Joseph was in fact, thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Okay, I'm just reading the Bible. Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
So Joseph was well build and handsome. And after a
while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said,
come to bed with me. I'm sorry, but what like
if I ever had five words in the Bible, which
I won't because God's word is complete. But if I
ever did have five words in the Bible, I just
(19:33):
probably don't ever want it to be those five words.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
So she starts making advances toward Joseph. Now this is
Joseph's boss's wife, right, and she won't stop. Joseph says no,
and she doesn't take kindly to being told no, and
so she keeps trying and keeps trying, and one day
she literally throws him herself onto Joseph. Joseph turns to
flee away from her. She grabs his cloak, takes it
(20:02):
to Potiphar and says, Joseph has been making advances toward me,
and who is Potiphar going.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
To believe his wife? That's right.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
So now Joseph is about to get a promotion, but
it is not going to look like any kind of
promotion Joseph ever thought that he would ever have. He's
about to get promoted to prison.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Now, I want you to notice what's happening here. With God,
there's always a meanwhile. With God, there is always a meanwhile.
There is the physical reality of what we see and
what we're experiencing. And at the same time, there is
the reality of what God is doing, and God is arranging,
(20:46):
and God is really taking care of what we cannot see.
So it started off the rejection of Joseph's brother actually
proved to be a protection of his calling. He gets
into Potiphar's house and Potiphar promotes him to be a leader.
Now he's leading, he's learning leadership strategies and all of
that not at all the way he thought it would,
(21:08):
but still it was a protection of his calling. Now
Joseph's about to get a promotion to prison, but that
is not what Joseph is seeing at all. Joseph is
seeing an unfair accusation and God is going to use
that unfair accusation to give.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Him a promotion to prison.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
You see, once he gets to prison, the prison guard
takes notice of Joseph, and the lord's favor was on Joseph.
So now Joseph is in prison and he's in charge
of leading a much larger group of people. He's learning
leadership skills in a much larger way, and he's having
developed systems and strategies and all things that leaders need
(21:47):
to know. But at the same time, he's still going
to bed in a dungeon every night. So what is
Joseph seeing. Joseph is seeing those present circumstances, the hardship,
and how unfair it is that he is there. But
God is seeing a development, a preparation, a vision that
(22:14):
he's going to carry out.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
And it's not just.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Going to be for Joseph's good, It's going to be
for the good of so many other people. So now
Joseph is in prison, and while he's in prison, he
meets two other prisoners, the cup Bear and the Baker.
Now the cup Bear and the Baker there in prison.
They used to work for Pharaoh, but something happened, and
(22:37):
now they're in prison. And these two, the cup Bear
and the Baker, they have a dream. And who can
interpret dreams?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Joseph.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
That's right, And so Joseph is able to interpret their dreams.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Now things don't go so well for the Baker.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
It's actually kind of gross what happens, and terrible, but
I'll let you read that on your own time. But
I am going to tell you what happens with the Cupbear.
The cup Bear has a dream, and Joseph interprets the
dream and says, in three days, you're going.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
To get out.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
And I want you to listen to the words that
Joseph says to the Cupbear, so that you can have
a deep insight of exactly what Joseph was thinking at
this time. Genesis forty, verse fourteen. Joseph says to the cupbear,
when all goes well with you, remember me and show
me kindness, Mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out
(23:31):
of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the
lands of the Hebrews, and even here, I've done nothing
to deserve being put in a dungeon. This is such
a good snapshot where we can see is Joseph happy
with his current circumstances.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
No?
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Is Joseph thinking that his current circumstances are going to
work an eventual good. Probably not right? Is Joseph does
he have any clue of how God is going to
use a circumstance to do something really good in the future.
Probably not right, because his circumstances were so hard he
was calling them a dungeon. Get me out of this dungeon.
(24:13):
Joseph wants relief. Joseph wants relief. How many of you
in here. You don't have to raise your hand, but
are you in a season where you just need some relief?
When I'm in that place, I love to think of
this story and I literally will say to myself, I
(24:37):
don't know the whole story of my life. That's why
it builds my fate to get into God's word and
read someone else's story who I can read from beginning
to end. And I'm telling you, sometimes when I go
through a hard time, can I just be absolutely human
with you for a minute? Sometimes when I'm going through
a hard time, the last thing I feel like doing
(25:00):
picking up the Bible. The last thing I feel like
doing is going to church. I don't know why, but
I just get so physically exhausted that it becomes spiritually discouraged.
And if I don't catch it, I'll become spiritually disillusioned.
When we want to read the Bible the least is
(25:24):
often when we absolutely need to read it.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
The most right. Amen. So here's what Joseph does.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
He asks the cup bearer to please mention to him
when you'll get out of this prison, cup bear, and
you're going to get out soon. When you get out,
please go mention me to Pharaoh and get me out
of this prison.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
I should not be here. Give Pharaoh a good word. Now.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Again, I don't know for sure because I'm not Joseph,
but I'm just going to tell you something based on
my own human experience of what can happen to me.
When I start assuming that I know what a good
God should do, I start attaching my hope on what
I assume a.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Good God should do.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
But then if God does not follow my plan, I
start to get super agitated, super frustrated, and even sometimes doubtful.
Why isn't God doing what I assume a good God
should do.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I have a plan, and then.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
I'm trying to hold God accountable to the plan of
my own making. When I get this situation, it is
just like what Joseph was facing when I get when
you get out of prison, cut bear, mention me to
Pharaoh and get me out of prison. So if I'm Joseph,
I have developed my plan and I just want to
hold God accountable, like this is the plan.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
This is what the plan should be.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Don't you see It'll make you look good, God, whole
nine yards right, because what we we don't trust, we
will try to control. What we don't trust, we will
try to control. Surely God, this is the plan. So
imagine being Joseph. Now Joseph is in prison and the
cup bear gets out, And if I'm Joseph, I'm like, yes, ma'am,
(27:19):
sam i am, he is going to get me out
of this prison. And so the cup bear gets released.
In day one, Joseph's like, yes, anytime now, Day two,
day three, Day four, Maybe the paperwork's taken a little while.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Day five, Day six, Day.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Seven, Day one hundred, two hundred three hundred, four hundred,
five hundred, six hundred. What do you think is happening
inside of a human heart that is attached their outcome
to something that they suggested to God rather than trusting God.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
What do you think happening in Joseph's heart? If it
was me?
Speaker 3 (28:02):
If it was me, this is where that discouragement and
disillusionment starts to happen.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Right here.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
The scriptures say when two full years had passed Genesis
forty one, two full years, you'all, two years is a
really long time. It's a really long time when you're
looking at your circumstances and your circumstances don't at all
feel fair. Your circumstances at all don't look good. Your
circumstances at all don't look like how could anything positive
(28:33):
ever come out of so much negative? When two full
years had passed, Pharaoh has a dream and suddenly the
cup bear is like, should out of E eight? I
know you young people don't understand that, but I'm just
telling you if you know, you.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Know, right?
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Okay, So the cup air is like, oh man, I
totally forgot, I totally forgo God. There's this Hebrew man
in prison that can interpret dreams. Nobody else was able
to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. And so they go and Pharaoh
calls for Joseph. Look at what it says in Genesis
forty one fourteen. So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he
(29:14):
was quickly brought up from that dungeon. Because when it
is God's time, it's the right time. It becomes quick time, okay, Sophid.
So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought
from the dungeon. And when he shaved and changed his
clothes and hopefully put on some of deodorant, he came
before Pharaoh. And so here he is, right here, and
(29:37):
this is his big moment. This is his big moment.
This is the opportunity that Joseph has been waiting for.
All he has to say is yes, Pharaoh, I can
interpret your dreams. And then surely Pharaoh will let him go.
But this is how I know that all throughout Joseph's story,
(29:58):
God has been developing his character to match his calling.
When we first read about Joseph and God gives him
a vision, he couldn't wait to brag to his brothers.
But now I want you to see the humility that
Joseph puts on display. Pharah says to Joseph verse fifteen.
I had a dream and no one can interpret it.
(30:19):
But I've heard it said of you that you can
interpret it, and Joseph says, I cannot do it.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
I cannot do.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
It, Joseph replied to Pharaoh, but God will give Pharaoh
the answer he desires. I cannot interpret the dream, but
my God surely can.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Do.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
You see the difference of how Joseph's character had been
developed to match his calling, And I'm telling you, God
has had to do a lot of development in my
character in order for me to be prepared and not
be crushed by my calling. So then Joseph interprets the dream,
(31:02):
and basically what he says to Pharaoh is there's going
to be seven years of plenty, and during those seven
years of plenty, you need to store up because behind
those seven years is going to be seven years of famine.
And if you don't want your people to starve, you've
got to get some systems in place to save up
the food. Farah replies back to Joseph verse thirty nine.
(31:22):
Pharah says to Joseph, since God has made all this
known to you.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
There is no one so discerning and wise as you.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Where did Joseph get that wisdom from God? But also
how did he develop the discernment to tap into the
wisdom of God. It was when he had to go
through the rejection of his brothers, and when he was
in Potiphar's house and had the accusation of what Potiphar's
wife accused him of, and when he got his promotion
(31:54):
to prison. You see, with God, there's always a meanwhile.
Joseph just sees hard stuff. God is seeing a preparation
in play, and Pharaoh sees it and calls it out.
Since God has made all this known to you, there
is no one so descerning and wise as you. You
shall be in charge of my palace, and all my
(32:15):
people are to submit to your orders only with respect
to the throne. Will I be greater than you been
an instant, Joseph goes from being a forgotten prisoner going
to sleep every night in a dungeon, just suddenly becoming
the second most powerful man in Egypt, possibly all the world.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
But God, with God, there is always a meanwhile.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
There's always a meanwhile. There's a meanwhile in my life.
There's the physical reality of what I see. And then
there's simultaneously there is what God is doing in your life.
There is the physical reality of what you see. Simultaneously
there's also what God is doing. Now, look what happens,
(33:03):
exactly as Joseph had interpreted. The famine eventually comes. There
is seven years of plenty, there is seven years of famine,
and eventually that famine reaches all the way to where
the brothers are in their homeland with their father, and
the father says, hey, here, Egypt has some food, so
(33:26):
you need to go. So he sends some of the
brothers to Egypt to get food. Who is in charge
of the food storage Joseph. Now the brothers don't recognize Joseph.
How could they? How could they? They could have never
fathomed where Joseph was today. And at first Joseph doesn't
(33:48):
recognize them, but eventually Joseph does, and then Joseph has
to make the excruciating choice to forgive or to not forgive,
And the story takes twists and turns, but it eventually
lands at Genesis fifty twenty, where Joseph says to his brothers,
you intended to harm me, but God intended it for
(34:13):
good to accomplish what is.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Now being done, the saving of many lives. Now, let
me ask you this question.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
If Joseph had gotten out of prison when he begged
God for relief, because that's what Joseph wanted, Remember the
cup brier and all this stuff. Right, if God had
listened to Joseph's plan and let him out of prison,
he would have never had an audience with Pharaoh.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
But in God's timing, in God's way, eventually.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Joseph has an audience with Pharaoh. And it was crucial
for Joseph to have an audience with Pharaoh. Otherwise he
would have been let out of prison and that would
have been the end of the story. And think of
the number of people who would have perished. I don't
understand the dynamics of exactly how this is going to
apply to your life, exactly how it applies to my life,
(35:13):
But I'm telling you I have seen this at play.
I think some of you probably know that in twenty
and seventeen that was the first time that I really
thought there's no way that my marriage at the time
(35:33):
was going to make it. And we had been in
counseling for eighteen months, and things were seemingly getting better,
and I was finally starting to have hope that my
family is going to be put back together. And then
after eighteen months of all that work, the rug got
ripped right out from underneath me, and I realized things
(35:57):
were not at all like I thought they were.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I was devastated.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I was devastated beyond what I could probably even describe
for you. And I just remember thinking, God, I don't understand.
I really don't understand how we could be at this place.
I thought I was at the finish line. I haven't
even crossed the starting line. So during that summer that
(36:26):
I took off in twenty seventeen, I couldn't I couldn't work,
I couldn't do ministry. I was just having a hard
time doing anything. But I decided to go and make
all the appointments that I needed to make that normally
I put off because I'm so busy all the time,
and so, you know, I did the teeth cleaning thing,
(36:49):
you know, all those but I.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Also though it was not time yet.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
I also went ahead and went and had a mammogram done.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
It's not time. I went and they ran that test
and then some more tests. I was diagnosed with breast cancer,
and my first thought was, how could a good God
let this happen to I was at a low place,
(37:18):
you know.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
But then as the diagnosis unfolded, the doctor told me
something that arrested my thought spiral.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
God said, or the doctor said, it is it's.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
A miracle that you came in to have this mammogram early,
because we've caught it early enough to where you can
have a dullnessectomy and you're going to be okay.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Was my marriage falling part again the absolute worst thing
that could have happened?
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Or was it the worst.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Thing but also something God was using to create the
best thing of saving my life? Right with God, there
is always a Meanwhile, now let me say this loud
and clear, especially after the tragedies that we have witnessed
this week, I cannot wrap my brain around some of that.
(38:29):
There are going to be some things that never ever
make sense to us, and that's where we just have
to leave room for the mystery of God.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
But there are other.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Things that if we will trust God with the hardship
we see and feel right.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Now, over time.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
We will eventually with some things in our life be
able to look back and say, my God, my God,
look at what you did.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I couldn't see it in the moment.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
But that's why God makes a big deal in the
Bible about the practice of remembrance. Go back when you're
in a situation right now and you cannot possibly see
how God is going to work this out, go back
and start tracing the hand of God's faithfulness in those
times that you can look back now and you can see.
I didn't say it at the time, but I see
(39:26):
it now. I didn't sit it at the time, but
I see it now.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
I didn't say it at the time.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I see it now. I didn't sit at this time,
but I see it now.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
With God, there is always a meanwhile. There is always
a meanwhile.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
I want to show you one more thing in scripture,
because wow, this really caught my attention. When God had
arranged all of this for Joseph and Joseph interprets the
dream for Fabro, before the years of famine came, scriptures
(40:08):
say in Genesis forty one, verse fifty, before the years
of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by
again hard word, another hard word. The priest of hard word, okay,
all that stuff, okay. So basically, two sons were born
to Joseph. Joseph named his first born Manassa, which means
(40:30):
and he said, it is because God has made me
forget all my trouble and my father's household. The second
son he named Ephraim, and he said, it's because God
made me fruitful in.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
The land of my suffering.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Now, when I was first reading this, at first glance,
I said, have mercy. Joseph named his two sons forgetful
and fruitful. I mean, how'd that work out when they
went to school? Like, Hi, I'm forgetful? Is my brother fruitful?
Speaker 2 (40:56):
You know, I don't know. This is what.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Happens to me when I read the book sometimes, y'all.
I just can't help myself. But as I took a
step back, I started to realize Joseph wasn't just naming
his sons. Joseph was making a declaration. A declaration. You
see that first it says it is because God has
(41:20):
made me forget my trouble and all my father's household.
The word forget here is nashaw in the original language.
That doesn't mean it didn't come to his memory. Like
forgetting that way Nashaw means to make an intentional choice
to leave some things behind. That's what he named his
(41:41):
first son, and then his second son he named Ephroim
because God has made me fruitful in the land of
my suffering right here, right now, before I understand everything,
I'm going to choose to plant my roots, trust my
God and produce fruit right here. With God, there's truly
(42:10):
always I. Meanwhile, if you're physically able, I'm going to
ask you to please stand. I want to read something
over to you. You know, when I was going through
those years of having no clue how my future was
going to work out, and honestly, there's still some things,
(42:31):
like some things about my life are really awesome. And
even just this week I got some more hard news that.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Man, I just thought, am I really going to be
able to get up and preach that message?
Speaker 3 (42:46):
Like?
Speaker 2 (42:48):
How much do you believe this message? Lise? How much
do you believe it?
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Right?
Speaker 2 (42:55):
And I wrestled, and I truly.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
Thought about Colin chunks back and just saying like, I
don't know if I can do this.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
But Jenesip fifty.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Twenty says you intended to harm me. But God intended
it for good to accomplish what is now being done,
the saving of many lives. And if this message was
(43:28):
for you today, God is already doing that. He's already
taken what has been so confusing and hard for me
to process, and he's using it for good right here,
right now. If only I would choose to leave some
(43:48):
things behind, I would choose to plant roots in the
land of my suffering and produce fruit, and come and
preach this message to you today. God is going to
use it for good in the savings some lives, right amen.
(44:10):
One night I was wrestling, and sometimes when I wrestle
with my thoughts, it's usually at the two am hours,
such a complicated time of night. Right two am is
too late to call your late friends, too early to
call your early friends.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
So what you're supposed to do?
Speaker 3 (44:23):
You know? And the Lord has certainly taught me to
turn my thoughts to him. But I process life also
through writing stuff out. So one night I was in
my bed at two am, confused and hurting, and I
picked up my journal and I put my pen to
(44:46):
those pages and I wrote this. I wrote it as
a declaration over myself at the time, but I pray.
It's a sweet encouragement for you. Being brave is not
always something you feel. It's something you do. You do
it in the face of fear and unknown outcomes and
(45:06):
risk you really don't want to take. You do it
when your enemy is staring you down with taunting statements
of defeat. You do it not to prove there's something
great inside of you.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
You do it because if you.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
Don't, something will die inside of you. You do brave
even when you definitely don't feel brave. You do brave
things because it's time to rise up and speak up
and let truth find us freedom with your voice.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
What happened was.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
Wrong, acknowledge it, speak it, cry over it, don't die
over it. You've been hurt, but you don't have to
live hurt. You do brave things because you were made
to connect, not with all people, but with the right people.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Take the right risk.
Speaker 3 (45:55):
Take it slow, but don't stop, don't withdraw, don't disappear.
You do brave things, Lisa, because you are a woman
who can kneel humbly and rise intentionally.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
You will find good.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
People, and good people will find you, and you'll do
brave things until you become brave you'll know laughter again,
and you'll know deep in your bones that you will
not waste all that you've learned. Those spilled tears, every
one of them helped you let go of the pain
to make room for possibility.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Your life is not a tragedy.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
It's a testimony that God is your rock and your redeemer.
And if your hands are shaking, let it be only
because you're pointing at the devil who picked the wrong
girl to mess with this time. Don't wait, don't wait
(46:55):
until you feel brave. Go be brave, because if God
is with you, nothing, nothing, nothing, can stand against you.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
with your friends. You can click the share button, take
(47:32):
a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
see God as moving in your life.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Our key passage today is going to be Genesis fifty twenty.
Genesis fifty twenty says this you intended to harm me,
but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is
now being done, the saving of many lives.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thank you Lord for this word.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Thank you that it can get down inside of us,
rearrange some thoughts that we have, motivate us to trust
you more. God, you are faithful, You are good. In
your Holy name. We pray and everyone said Amen. When
I read this verse, I am absolutely struck by this reality,
(01:05):
this person, this group, this entity.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
You intended to harm me.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
At the same time, God also has an intention.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
And God's intention is.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
To take whatever has happened and to use it for good,
for the saving of many lives. You see, with God,
there's always two things happening at the same time. There
is the physical reality of what we see, and there
is the certainty of the good that God is eventually
(01:43):
going to do no matter what we walk through.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Amen. Amen, you guys can have a seat.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I thought I would start off today by showing you
some pictures of my family. My family has changed quite
a bit, grown quite a bit, and so since you
guys are such an important part, I wanted to go
ahead and throw up some pictures here. Okay, So this
picture is my whole family. And many of you know
(02:11):
my story. I walked through a really, really devastating divorce
many years ago, and in God's goodness and to my amazement,
I learned.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
To trust again. And that was really hard.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
But God brought an incredible man into my life. And
so in January of last year, we got married. And
so there's my family. I know. Now I want to
tell you something really fun. So this is my husband, Chaz.
He's right here on the front row. Hey, babe. So
when Chaz and I were getting together and learning about
(02:55):
one another, I quickly learned he has two children. We
have five children. Okay, So I just want you to
help me do the math here. No, I have five children.
His two children are younger than mine, and so at
this point, it's just two children. I have five children
who are a little bit older. Four of my five
(03:15):
kids are married, one has a significant girlfriend. So when
you add all of that up, now I'm bringing ten
people to the table, right. I also had three grandkids
at the time, so now I'm bringing how many thirteen
people to the table?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
And then in twenty twenty four, after we were married,
but very shortly something miraculous and beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Started to happening.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I had five grandchildren born last year alone.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Okay, So now I'm bringing how.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Many people to the table? Eighteen and et rings two,
so between the two of us we have twenty people. Okay, great,
all right, I want to show you a couple other
pictures really quickly.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Okay. So these are my three.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Grandchildren I started off with at our wedding, and that's
Susie Selena Unriiser precious, amazing gifts from God. And then
my son had twins born in February. That's legend in
London and today is their birthday, first birthday. Have your
birthday legend London, okay. And then my daughter had sweet
(04:22):
little windsor l who is in the middle. We call
her Winnie and then my youngest or my oldest daughter
and my middle daughter had little boys in November, and
their names are River and Percy.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
So that's my clan, right.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
So it's very, very easy though to look at those
pictures of us all smiling and just go, Wow, what
a neat family, right, And I am so blessed. I
think I do have a really neat family. But make
no mistake, my family's been through a lot, a lot.
(05:02):
I don't have to tell you that because I would
imagine in your own way and different circumstances that have happened,
your family has been through a lot too, because there's
really no one that gets.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Through this life unscathed, right.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And part of a big part of my story was
that I'd had my trust so broken, so shattered, that
I started transferring the trust issues I had with another
person and even other people. I started transferring those trust
issues into my relationship with God. Trust is the oxygen
(05:40):
of all human relationships. You starve a relationship of trust,
and you starve at a vibrancy, You possibly even starve
it to death. And what can so easily happen when
we are struggling in trust with another human is it
can start to feel like, God, if you are really good,
(06:01):
why aren't you fixing that situation? Why aren't you showing
that person that they shouldn't be doing this? Why why
aren't you taking care of things that you could prevent?
And I don't understand why you didn't prevent it, and
it can really start to mess you up. You see,
our brain is wired for the confidence of knowing. Our
(06:22):
brain is always scanning what we see, and we are
depending on our brain to say you're safe or you're
not safe. Right, And so as my brain sometimes scans
what I'm seeing, if I don't remember that what I'm
seeing is not the full story, then I can start
(06:42):
to judge whether or not God is faithful based on
the circumstances that are right in front of me. Right,
that's right. So we've got to find a different way
to look at what we're facing. I want to know
what's going to happen. I want to know how it's
going to turn out, and I want to know that
(07:02):
it will eventually be really good. God just wants me
to know him. God wants me to know Him and
his faithfulness and his goodness. Part of my morning prayer
that I pray every morning. You've probably heard me say
this before I intentionally verbalize out loud. God you are good.
(07:23):
God you are good to me, and God you are
good at being God. Even if people aren't good, circumstances
aren't good, finances aren't good, situations aren't good. But God,
I've got to approach every day, and I've got to
make the lens through which I look at my day
and all that i'll face today. God, you are good,
(07:46):
You are good to me, and you are good at
being God. But sometimes, right that's all true. We can
celebrate that, yes, absolutely, but sometimes it's really really hard
to trust that God really does have it all under
control when suddenly situations go from hard to more hard,
(08:13):
to even harder to more hard, to more heart to
more hard. And I don't know if any of you
guys have been in that place, or if you're in
that place today, but I pray that this is a
word for you. You see this verse Genesis fifty twenty.
It's not where Joseph's life starts. Joseph is saying these
(08:35):
words to his brother, but this is toward the very
end of his story, or to a place of this
story where things were more resolved than they are when
we begin. And so Joseph has gone through a lot,
and going through a lot has built a resilience in
(08:56):
Joseph that has enabled him to say these words with
absolute confidence. You intended to harm me, brothers, but God
intends it for good, for the saving of many lives,
to accomplish a purpose that is now being done.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So let's turn back to.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Earlier in Joseph's story, because I think when we turn
back earlier in Joseph's story, we're going to get a
better understanding of all that Joseph had to go through before.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
He said those amazing words.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
We go back to Genesis thirty seven, and in Genesis
thirty seven, verse two, it says this, this is the
account of Jacob's family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen,
was tending his flocks with his brothers, the sons of
hard Word and the sons of another hard word, his
father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report
(09:52):
about them. Now, Israel, this is the father. Israel loved
Joe Joseph more than any of his other sons because
he'd been born to him in his old age, and
he made an ornate robe for him. And when his
brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than any
(10:12):
of them, they hated him and could not speak a
kind word to him. Now, let me explain something here
about this robe. This was not just a lavish gift.
It was also an outward sign that Joseph was not
going to have to work hard or as hard like
(10:35):
his other brothers, because you don't put on an ornate
robe and go out into the fields and do the
kind of work that all of his brothers were doing.
So when job would put on, when Joseph would put
on this fancy robe, how do you think the brothers
felt day after.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Day after day.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
It wasn't just that they hated him the day that
he got the gift. It's that they hated him every
other day that they had to go out into the fields.
And Joe Joseph is sitting at home just chilling in
he fancy wrote right now. The other dynamic that's happening
here is that the father, when he would send his
(11:15):
sons out to work, sometimes he would send Joseph out
to go and spy on the brothers. And so what's
happened here is that he is going out and he
is spying on their brothers, and he brings the father
back a bad report, and so they hated him and
(11:35):
literally could not speak a kind word to him. Now,
the next thing we see here is that Joseph starts
to have a dream, and basically he has two dreams,
and these dreams that he has basically is kind of
showing the brothers that Joseph believes the interpretation of this
dream is that one day he's going to rise up
(11:56):
and be their leader and they're all going to bow
down to him. He's saying this to brothers who already
hate him. So how do you think the brothers feel
when Joseph says, eventually, I'm about to be the boss
of all you people, right, they.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Hate him even more. Then there comes a day that.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
The father sends the brothers out to go and work
and again says to Joseph, go out and check on
your brothers. So I just wants you to remember this
is a human dynamic happening in a very divine story.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Okay, these people.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Have real feelings, they have real anks, they have real
stuff that's happening all around them. So the brothers go
out and they're out in the field working and from
a distance they see Joseph coming.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Wherein he fancy Rowe. I don't know what he'd been
doing at home.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Maybe he was playing Nintendo, eating cheetohs, looking his cheesy fingers.
I don't know. But what I do know is the
brothers were not doing that. The brothers were out there
working and from a distance Genesis thirty seven eighteen. The
brothers see Joseph, it says, but they saw him in
the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to
(13:09):
kill him. There's never just a little bit of anger.
There's never just a little bit of hatred. There's never
just a little bit of bitterness. You see, Bitterness gets
down inside of this and it doesn't want to just
be a feeling. It wants to be our consuming feeling.
Here comes that dreamer. They said to each other, Come now,
let's kill him and throw him into one of these
(13:31):
cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then
we'll see what comes of his dreams. And then one
of the other brothers speaks up and says, actually, what
will it profit us if we kill him?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Why don't we sell him and at least we'll get
money and.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
So their plan was to throw Joseph in the cistern,
which that absolutely happens, and then wait for the merchants
to come by, and then they pull him out of
the cistern. They sell him to merchants headed toward Egypt.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
And they go home and they.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Tell their father that a ferocious animal has killed Joseph.
They take that fancy robe they stripped off of Joseph
before they sold him. They tear it into shreds, dip
it in animal's blood, give it to the father. So
the father has no clue that Joseph is still alive.
(14:21):
So I want you to vert just a minute, put
yourself in Joseph's shoes. When his brothers betray him in
such a horrific way, This isn't just an event in
his life. This is the event of his life that
(14:42):
will change everything for Joseph.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
So here's Joseph. He's been sold.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
And I don't know the condition of these merchants, with
the condition they put Joseph in. I don't know if
his hands are bound. I don't know if there's a
bag of her said, I don't know, But what I
do know is that Joseph had to be terrified.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Joseph had to be terrified.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
And also Joseph had to be thinking about those dreams
that he had that he truly felt like were visions
from God that one day he was going to rise
up and be a leader.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
But now now.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
He's a slave, and he's headed to a foreign land
with foreign people, things that he doesn't know. And if
I were Joseph, I would surely be thinking, God, this
sure doesn't look like that vision that you gave me
for my life. How could a good God let this happen?
Like if I were Joseph, I would assume I would
(15:41):
be sent to some leadership academy, some big training. I
would have had no idea that this awful circumstance would
eventually prove to be the perfect training. But it doesn't
start out looking that way at all. So there's two
things happening simultaneous, slee right here. God has destined Joseph
(16:03):
to be a leader, But in the circumstances that he
was in with his brother and the hatred that his
brothers had for him, do you think that anytime soon
in that dynamic, that Joseph could really rise up and
be a leader. Absolutely not. So God is going to
take the rejection of those brothers and actually use it.
(16:26):
God didn't cause it, but God is going to take it.
He's going to take the rejection of the brothers and
actually use it as a protection of the calling that
he is absolutely placed on Joseph's life. But Joseph doesn't
see that at all. All Joseph sees is what's awful
around him, and of course that's all he sees. So
(16:47):
then Joseph gets to Egypt and he's sold into Potiphar's house,
the captain of the guard. And when he's sold into
Potiphar's house house, things are not great because joseph life
doesn't look anything like he thought it was going to look.
But things aren't horrible either. If we look at Genesis
thirty nine, I'll go ahead and read you starting in
(17:08):
verse two.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
The Lord was with Joseph so that he.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master, Potiphar.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
And when his master saw.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
That the Lord was with him, and that the Lord
gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor
in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him
in charge of his household and he entrusted to.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
His care, everything he owned.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Is Joseph in the ideal situation that he assumed that
he would be in when God give them the vision
that he would be leader.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Oh no, absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And I would imagine many of us are in this
in between place right now too. It's like we had
a hope, we had a dream, we have really trusted God.
But then we're sitting there thinking, me, trusting God has
gotten me to this place and I don't understand this place.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
But at the.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Same time, we can see in Joseph's story that God
is with him, that God is prospering him, that God
is helping Potiphar to get a vision for Joseph that
Joseph doesn't even have for himself.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
And so Joseph rises up.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
And now he is a leader, not leading the way
he assumed he would be leading, but he is a
leader in this small dynamic of Potiphar's house.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Now there is this one.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Complication that's sort of going to mess everything up for
him in Potiphar's house.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
And you're not going to believe me when I say it.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
That's why I have my scripture prepared that I'm going
to back it up okay, so are you ready for this?
The complication was that Joseph was hot. I know, I know,
I told you you were not going to believe me.
But I'm going to read it straight from God's words
Genesis thirty nine, halfway through verse six, and it says,
now Joseph was well build and handsome. I do not
(19:02):
have to take it back to the Hebrew to understand
that that means Joseph was in fact, thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Okay, I'm just reading the Bible. Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
So Joseph was well build and handsome. And after a
while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said,
come to bed with me. I'm sorry, but what like
if I ever had five words in the Bible, which
I won't because God's word is complete. But if I
ever did have five words in the Bible, I just
(19:33):
probably don't ever want it to be those five words.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
So she starts making advances toward Joseph. Now this is
Joseph's boss's wife, right, and she won't stop. Joseph says no,
and she doesn't take kindly to being told no, and
so she keeps trying and keeps trying, and one day
she literally throws him herself onto Joseph. Joseph turns to
flee away from her. She grabs his cloak, takes it
(20:02):
to Potiphar and says, Joseph has been making advances toward me,
and who is Potiphar going.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
To believe his wife? That's right.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
So now Joseph is about to get a promotion, but
it is not going to look like any kind of
promotion Joseph ever thought that he would ever have. He's
about to get promoted to prison.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Now, I want you to notice what's happening here. With God,
there's always a meanwhile. With God, there is always a meanwhile.
There is the physical reality of what we see and
what we're experiencing. And at the same time, there is
the reality of what God is doing, and God is arranging,
(20:46):
and God is really taking care of what we cannot see.
So it started off the rejection of Joseph's brother actually
proved to be a protection of his calling. He gets
into Potiphar's house and Potiphar promotes him to be a leader.
Now he's leading, he's learning leadership strategies and all of
that not at all the way he thought it would,
(21:08):
but still it was a protection of his calling. Now
Joseph's about to get a promotion to prison, but that
is not what Joseph is seeing at all. Joseph is
seeing an unfair accusation and God is going to use
that unfair accusation to give.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Him a promotion to prison.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
You see, once he gets to prison, the prison guard
takes notice of Joseph, and the lord's favor was on Joseph.
So now Joseph is in prison and he's in charge
of leading a much larger group of people. He's learning
leadership skills in a much larger way, and he's having
developed systems and strategies and all things that leaders need
(21:47):
to know. But at the same time, he's still going
to bed in a dungeon every night. So what is
Joseph seeing. Joseph is seeing those present circumstances, the hardship,
and how unfair it is that he is there. But
God is seeing a development, a preparation, a vision that
(22:14):
he's going to carry out.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
And it's not just.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Going to be for Joseph's good, It's going to be
for the good of so many other people. So now
Joseph is in prison, and while he's in prison, he
meets two other prisoners, the cup Bear and the Baker.
Now the cup Bear and the Baker there in prison.
They used to work for Pharaoh, but something happened, and
(22:37):
now they're in prison. And these two, the cup Bear
and the Baker, they have a dream. And who can
interpret dreams?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Joseph.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
That's right, And so Joseph is able to interpret their dreams.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Now things don't go so well for the Baker.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
It's actually kind of gross what happens, and terrible, but
I'll let you read that on your own time. But
I am going to tell you what happens with the Cupbear.
The cup Bear has a dream, and Joseph interprets the
dream and says, in three days, you're going.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
To get out.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
And I want you to listen to the words that
Joseph says to the Cupbear, so that you can have
a deep insight of exactly what Joseph was thinking at
this time. Genesis forty, verse fourteen. Joseph says to the cupbear,
when all goes well with you, remember me and show
me kindness, Mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out
(23:31):
of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the
lands of the Hebrews, and even here, I've done nothing
to deserve being put in a dungeon. This is such
a good snapshot where we can see is Joseph happy
with his current circumstances.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
No?
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Is Joseph thinking that his current circumstances are going to
work an eventual good. Probably not right? Is Joseph does
he have any clue of how God is going to
use a circumstance to do something really good in the future.
Probably not right, because his circumstances were so hard he
was calling them a dungeon. Get me out of this dungeon.
(24:13):
Joseph wants relief. Joseph wants relief. How many of you
in here. You don't have to raise your hand, but
are you in a season where you just need some relief?
When I'm in that place, I love to think of
this story and I literally will say to myself, I
(24:37):
don't know the whole story of my life. That's why
it builds my fate to get into God's word and
read someone else's story who I can read from beginning
to end. And I'm telling you, sometimes when I go
through a hard time, can I just be absolutely human
with you for a minute? Sometimes when I'm going through
a hard time, the last thing I feel like doing
(25:00):
picking up the Bible. The last thing I feel like
doing is going to church. I don't know why, but
I just get so physically exhausted that it becomes spiritually discouraged.
And if I don't catch it, I'll become spiritually disillusioned.
When we want to read the Bible the least is
(25:24):
often when we absolutely need to read it.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
The most right. Amen. So here's what Joseph does.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
He asks the cup bearer to please mention to him
when you'll get out of this prison, cup bear, and
you're going to get out soon. When you get out,
please go mention me to Pharaoh and get me out
of this prison.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
I should not be here. Give Pharaoh a good word. Now.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Again, I don't know for sure because I'm not Joseph,
but I'm just going to tell you something based on
my own human experience of what can happen to me.
When I start assuming that I know what a good
God should do, I start attaching my hope on what
I assume a.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Good God should do.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
But then if God does not follow my plan, I
start to get super agitated, super frustrated, and even sometimes doubtful.
Why isn't God doing what I assume a good God
should do.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I have a plan, and then.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
I'm trying to hold God accountable to the plan of
my own making. When I get this situation, it is
just like what Joseph was facing when I get when
you get out of prison, cut bear, mention me to
Pharaoh and get me out of prison. So if I'm Joseph,
I have developed my plan and I just want to
hold God accountable, like this is the plan.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
This is what the plan should be.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Don't you see It'll make you look good, God, whole
nine yards right, because what we we don't trust, we
will try to control. What we don't trust, we will
try to control. Surely God, this is the plan. So
imagine being Joseph. Now Joseph is in prison and the
cup bear gets out, And if I'm Joseph, I'm like, yes, ma'am,
(27:19):
sam i am, he is going to get me out
of this prison. And so the cup bear gets released.
In day one, Joseph's like, yes, anytime now, Day two,
day three, Day four, Maybe the paperwork's taken a little while.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Day five, Day six, Day.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Seven, Day one hundred, two hundred three hundred, four hundred,
five hundred, six hundred. What do you think is happening
inside of a human heart that is attached their outcome
to something that they suggested to God rather than trusting God.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
What do you think happening in Joseph's heart? If it
was me?
Speaker 3 (28:02):
If it was me, this is where that discouragement and
disillusionment starts to happen.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Right here.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
The scriptures say when two full years had passed Genesis
forty one, two full years, you'all, two years is a
really long time. It's a really long time when you're
looking at your circumstances and your circumstances don't at all
feel fair. Your circumstances at all don't look good. Your
circumstances at all don't look like how could anything positive
(28:33):
ever come out of so much negative? When two full
years had passed, Pharaoh has a dream and suddenly the
cup bear is like, should out of E eight? I
know you young people don't understand that, but I'm just
telling you if you know, you.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Know, right?
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Okay, So the cup air is like, oh man, I
totally forgot, I totally forgo God. There's this Hebrew man
in prison that can interpret dreams. Nobody else was able
to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. And so they go and Pharaoh
calls for Joseph. Look at what it says in Genesis
forty one fourteen. So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he
(29:14):
was quickly brought up from that dungeon. Because when it
is God's time, it's the right time. It becomes quick time, okay, Sophid.
So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought
from the dungeon. And when he shaved and changed his
clothes and hopefully put on some of deodorant, he came
before Pharaoh. And so here he is, right here, and
(29:37):
this is his big moment. This is his big moment.
This is the opportunity that Joseph has been waiting for.
All he has to say is yes, Pharaoh, I can
interpret your dreams. And then surely Pharaoh will let him go.
But this is how I know that all throughout Joseph's story,
(29:58):
God has been developing his character to match his calling.
When we first read about Joseph and God gives him
a vision, he couldn't wait to brag to his brothers.
But now I want you to see the humility that
Joseph puts on display. Pharah says to Joseph verse fifteen.
I had a dream and no one can interpret it.
(30:19):
But I've heard it said of you that you can
interpret it, and Joseph says, I cannot do it.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
I cannot do.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
It, Joseph replied to Pharaoh, but God will give Pharaoh
the answer he desires. I cannot interpret the dream, but
my God surely can.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Do.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
You see the difference of how Joseph's character had been
developed to match his calling, And I'm telling you, God
has had to do a lot of development in my
character in order for me to be prepared and not
be crushed by my calling. So then Joseph interprets the dream,
(31:02):
and basically what he says to Pharaoh is there's going
to be seven years of plenty, and during those seven
years of plenty, you need to store up because behind
those seven years is going to be seven years of famine.
And if you don't want your people to starve, you've
got to get some systems in place to save up
the food. Farah replies back to Joseph verse thirty nine.
(31:22):
Pharah says to Joseph, since God has made all this
known to you.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
There is no one so discerning and wise as you.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Where did Joseph get that wisdom from God? But also
how did he develop the discernment to tap into the
wisdom of God. It was when he had to go
through the rejection of his brothers, and when he was
in Potiphar's house and had the accusation of what Potiphar's
wife accused him of, and when he got his promotion
(31:54):
to prison. You see, with God, there's always a meanwhile.
Joseph just sees hard stuff. God is seeing a preparation
in play, and Pharaoh sees it and calls it out.
Since God has made all this known to you, there
is no one so descerning and wise as you. You
shall be in charge of my palace, and all my
(32:15):
people are to submit to your orders only with respect
to the throne. Will I be greater than you been
an instant, Joseph goes from being a forgotten prisoner going
to sleep every night in a dungeon, just suddenly becoming
the second most powerful man in Egypt, possibly all the world.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
But God, with God, there is always a meanwhile.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
There's always a meanwhile. There's a meanwhile in my life.
There's the physical reality of what I see. And then
there's simultaneously there is what God is doing in your life.
There is the physical reality of what you see. Simultaneously
there's also what God is doing. Now, look what happens,
(33:03):
exactly as Joseph had interpreted. The famine eventually comes. There
is seven years of plenty, there is seven years of famine,
and eventually that famine reaches all the way to where
the brothers are in their homeland with their father, and
the father says, hey, here, Egypt has some food, so
(33:26):
you need to go. So he sends some of the
brothers to Egypt to get food. Who is in charge
of the food storage Joseph. Now the brothers don't recognize Joseph.
How could they? How could they? They could have never
fathomed where Joseph was today. And at first Joseph doesn't
(33:48):
recognize them, but eventually Joseph does, and then Joseph has
to make the excruciating choice to forgive or to not forgive,
And the story takes twists and turns, but it eventually
lands at Genesis fifty twenty, where Joseph says to his brothers,
you intended to harm me, but God intended it for
(34:13):
good to accomplish what is.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Now being done, the saving of many lives. Now, let
me ask you this question.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
If Joseph had gotten out of prison when he begged
God for relief, because that's what Joseph wanted, Remember the
cup brier and all this stuff. Right, if God had
listened to Joseph's plan and let him out of prison,
he would have never had an audience with Pharaoh.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
But in God's timing, in God's way, eventually.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Joseph has an audience with Pharaoh. And it was crucial
for Joseph to have an audience with Pharaoh. Otherwise he
would have been let out of prison and that would
have been the end of the story. And think of
the number of people who would have perished. I don't
understand the dynamics of exactly how this is going to
apply to your life, exactly how it applies to my life,
(35:13):
But I'm telling you I have seen this at play.
I think some of you probably know that in twenty
and seventeen that was the first time that I really
thought there's no way that my marriage at the time
(35:33):
was going to make it. And we had been in
counseling for eighteen months, and things were seemingly getting better,
and I was finally starting to have hope that my
family is going to be put back together. And then
after eighteen months of all that work, the rug got
ripped right out from underneath me, and I realized things
(35:57):
were not at all like I thought they were.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I was devastated.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I was devastated beyond what I could probably even describe
for you. And I just remember thinking, God, I don't understand.
I really don't understand how we could be at this place.
I thought I was at the finish line. I haven't
even crossed the starting line. So during that summer that
(36:26):
I took off in twenty seventeen, I couldn't I couldn't work,
I couldn't do ministry. I was just having a hard
time doing anything. But I decided to go and make
all the appointments that I needed to make that normally
I put off because I'm so busy all the time,
and so, you know, I did the teeth cleaning thing,
(36:49):
you know, all those but I.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Also though it was not time yet.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
I also went ahead and went and had a mammogram done.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
It's not time. I went and they ran that test
and then some more tests. I was diagnosed with breast cancer,
and my first thought was, how could a good God
let this happen to I was at a low place,
(37:18):
you know.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
But then as the diagnosis unfolded, the doctor told me
something that arrested my thought spiral.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
God said, or the doctor said, it is it's.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
A miracle that you came in to have this mammogram early,
because we've caught it early enough to where you can
have a dullnessectomy and you're going to be okay.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Was my marriage falling part again the absolute worst thing
that could have happened?
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Or was it the worst.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Thing but also something God was using to create the
best thing of saving my life? Right with God, there
is always a Meanwhile, now let me say this loud
and clear, especially after the tragedies that we have witnessed
this week, I cannot wrap my brain around some of that.
(38:29):
There are going to be some things that never ever
make sense to us, and that's where we just have
to leave room for the mystery of God.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
But there are other.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Things that if we will trust God with the hardship
we see and feel right.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Now, over time.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
We will eventually with some things in our life be
able to look back and say, my God, my God,
look at what you did.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I couldn't see it in the moment.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
But that's why God makes a big deal in the
Bible about the practice of remembrance. Go back when you're
in a situation right now and you cannot possibly see
how God is going to work this out, go back
and start tracing the hand of God's faithfulness in those
times that you can look back now and you can see.
I didn't say it at the time, but I see
(39:26):
it now. I didn't sit it at the time, but
I see it now.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
I didn't say it at the time.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I see it now. I didn't sit at this time,
but I see it now.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
With God, there is always a meanwhile. There is always
a meanwhile.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
I want to show you one more thing in scripture,
because wow, this really caught my attention. When God had
arranged all of this for Joseph and Joseph interprets the
dream for Fabro, before the years of famine came, scriptures
(40:08):
say in Genesis forty one, verse fifty, before the years
of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by
again hard word, another hard word. The priest of hard word, okay,
all that stuff, okay. So basically, two sons were born
to Joseph. Joseph named his first born Manassa, which means
(40:30):
and he said, it is because God has made me
forget all my trouble and my father's household. The second
son he named Ephraim, and he said, it's because God
made me fruitful in.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
The land of my suffering.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Now, when I was first reading this, at first glance,
I said, have mercy. Joseph named his two sons forgetful
and fruitful. I mean, how'd that work out when they
went to school? Like, Hi, I'm forgetful? Is my brother fruitful?
Speaker 2 (40:56):
You know, I don't know. This is what.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Happens to me when I read the book sometimes, y'all.
I just can't help myself. But as I took a
step back, I started to realize Joseph wasn't just naming
his sons. Joseph was making a declaration. A declaration. You
see that first it says it is because God has
(41:20):
made me forget my trouble and all my father's household.
The word forget here is nashaw in the original language.
That doesn't mean it didn't come to his memory. Like
forgetting that way Nashaw means to make an intentional choice
to leave some things behind. That's what he named his
(41:41):
first son, and then his second son he named Ephroim
because God has made me fruitful in the land of
my suffering right here, right now, before I understand everything,
I'm going to choose to plant my roots, trust my
God and produce fruit right here. With God, there's truly
(42:10):
always I. Meanwhile, if you're physically able, I'm going to
ask you to please stand. I want to read something
over to you. You know, when I was going through
those years of having no clue how my future was
going to work out, and honestly, there's still some things,
(42:31):
like some things about my life are really awesome. And
even just this week I got some more hard news that.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Man, I just thought, am I really going to be
able to get up and preach that message?
Speaker 3 (42:46):
Like?
Speaker 2 (42:48):
How much do you believe this message? Lise? How much
do you believe it?
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Right?
Speaker 2 (42:55):
And I wrestled, and I truly.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
Thought about Colin chunks back and just saying like, I
don't know if I can do this.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
But Jenesip fifty.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Twenty says you intended to harm me. But God intended
it for good to accomplish what is now being done,
the saving of many lives. And if this message was
(43:28):
for you today, God is already doing that. He's already
taken what has been so confusing and hard for me
to process, and he's using it for good right here,
right now. If only I would choose to leave some
(43:48):
things behind, I would choose to plant roots in the
land of my suffering and produce fruit, and come and
preach this message to you today. God is going to
use it for good in the savings some lives, right amen.
(44:10):
One night I was wrestling, and sometimes when I wrestle
with my thoughts, it's usually at the two am hours,
such a complicated time of night. Right two am is
too late to call your late friends, too early to
call your early friends.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
So what you're supposed to do?
Speaker 3 (44:23):
You know? And the Lord has certainly taught me to
turn my thoughts to him. But I process life also
through writing stuff out. So one night I was in
my bed at two am, confused and hurting, and I
picked up my journal and I put my pen to
(44:46):
those pages and I wrote this. I wrote it as
a declaration over myself at the time, but I pray.
It's a sweet encouragement for you. Being brave is not
always something you feel. It's something you do. You do
it in the face of fear and unknown outcomes and
(45:06):
risk you really don't want to take. You do it
when your enemy is staring you down with taunting statements
of defeat. You do it not to prove there's something
great inside of you.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
You do it because if you.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
Don't, something will die inside of you. You do brave
even when you definitely don't feel brave. You do brave
things because it's time to rise up and speak up
and let truth find us freedom with your voice.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
What happened was.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
Wrong, acknowledge it, speak it, cry over it, don't die
over it. You've been hurt, but you don't have to
live hurt. You do brave things because you were made
to connect, not with all people, but with the right people.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Take the right risk.
Speaker 3 (45:55):
Take it slow, but don't stop, don't withdraw, don't disappear.
You do brave things, Lisa, because you are a woman
who can kneel humbly and rise intentionally.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
You will find good.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
People, and good people will find you, and you'll do
brave things until you become brave you'll know laughter again,
and you'll know deep in your bones that you will
not waste all that you've learned. Those spilled tears, every
one of them helped you let go of the pain
to make room for possibility.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Your life is not a tragedy.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
It's a testimony that God is your rock and your redeemer.
And if your hands are shaking, let it be only
because you're pointing at the devil who picked the wrong
girl to mess with this time. Don't wait, don't wait
(46:55):
until you feel brave. Go be brave, because if God
is with you, nothing, nothing, nothing, can stand against you.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
with your friends. You can click the share button, take
(47:32):
a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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