April 10, 2025 • 33 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
Live from the Saints Headquarters in Tolleson,
arizona, spreading the Gospel,equipping the Saints, standing
for the word of truth,proclaiming God's grace.
Now, on a podcast near you,welcome your host, pastor Joshua
, on the Saints Will OvercomeMinistries.
This is basically a choruswhich came out in the late 70s.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
So, what else?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
can you do, don Huh, what else you can do if you
don't have a sermon for a parent, you just sit up here and go.
What?
Speaker 5 (01:06):
do you want me to say Amen to that?
I've had to pull that one out acouple times.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Believe it or not?
I've said okay, lord, you'vegot to help me out.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
That's one of the biggest things, isn't it, John?
Yes.
Is turn around and listen tothe Holy.
Spirit.
How many times have you goneinto a place to preach and
you've gone in there with allthis stuff laid out and God
changes it right in the middle?
A lot and I turn around and Isay why did I bother studying?
All this time.
But, the Bible says we study toshow ourselves approved.
Yes, yes, so we've got to keepthat constantly pulling in our
(01:37):
minds.
You know, when I go out and domy walks in the morning, I walk
around this place three times inthe morning Takes me forever,
but I walk around three times inthe morning, so much of the
time I'll get to talk.
Lord, talk to me today.
Tell me what I need to know.
You know I talk to him and hedoes.
Things will roll over in mymind and everything else like
that.
Am I perfect?
(01:58):
No, there ain't no way.
But one of the things issometimes we need to be
attentive and listen to what godhas to say for us, even in our
everyday routine, whether maybeit's doing laundry, maybe it's
sweeping for us, but we don'thave to do that anymore.
I still have to do a lot, butthat's one thing.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Lord, I love to sing yourpraises.
I'm so glad you're in my life.
I'm so glad you came to save us.
You came from heaven to earthTo show the way From the earth
(02:53):
to the cross, my debt to pay.
From the cross to the grave,From the grave to the sky.
Lord, I lift your name high.
Do the chorus again.
From the grave to the sky.
Lord, I lift your name high.
Hear the chorus again.
You came from heaven to earthto show the way From the earth
(03:16):
to the cross.
I'm dead today.
From the cross to the grave,from the grave to the sky.
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Look at the top.
Lord, I lift your name on high.
(03:41):
Lord, I love to sing yourpraises.
I'm so glad you're in my life.
I'm so glad you're in my life.
I'm so glad you came to save us.
You came from heaven to earthTo show the way From the earth
to the cross.
I'm meant to be.
From the cross to the grave,From the grave to the sky.
(04:05):
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Hang it up.
Lord, I lift your name on high,Lord I lift your name on high.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
A lot of times there's signs to do this.
It says you came from heaven toearth to show the way.
From the earth to the cross, mydebt to pay.
From the cross to the grave,from the grave to the sky.
Lord, I lift your name.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
God is such a good God.
A faithful God.
How about we bow our heads andwe say a prayer?
We'll open up with that andthen we'll get into the word.
Father God, we thank you forallowing us to come to you today
to worship in your name, toextol you, to honor you, to love
(05:11):
you and to be here with family,Because you brought us here to
learn about you, to walk in yourways and to cherish you in your
son Jesus' name.
Amen, to walk in your ways andto cherish you in your son
Jesus' name.
Amen.
I hope you all had a great week.
I've had a great week, but youknow, no matter how fulfilling,
(05:34):
my week is the most fulfillingtime of the week when we can
come together and we can praiseGod and learn about his word,
learn how to honor him and learnabout the glorious holy God we
served.
And before we get into thismessage about Joseph and
(05:57):
continue about forgiveness, Iwould just like to talk a little
bit about the holiness of God.
I was reading, I was doing somestudy lately and I was writing
a paper and the the professorwas asking about what is the
whole point of the law of theold testament?
you know, because a lot ofpeople they'll read the old
testament, let's say well, theold testament is a different God
(06:18):
and the new testament is adifferent God, because they
don't understand God.
And I always say if youremember, when Moses, god
commanded Moses to take hissandals off, before the law was
ever given, the 613 laws, hesaid take your sandals off,
moses, for the ground you'regoing to approach is holy ground
(06:42):
and the ground does what italways does.
The ground didn't change, theelements didn't change, the dirt
was the dirt.
But God said you're approachingme on this ground, so
acknowledge my holiness.
So this law was to reveal thedisplacement of man and the
chasm between man and God and toshow the holiness of God.
(07:04):
So I always stress theimportance that we read this
Bible.
We are reading and serving aholy, majestic God, a king of
the universe.
His son, that was given to usas a sacrificial lamb, revealed
(07:25):
himself as a lion in certaininstances, and especially after
his resurrection.
So I would like to read, beforewe get into the story of
Joseph's continue, I would justlike to kind of reveal what the
greatest commandment is right,because we could have all the
theology in the world, we couldbe the smartest person in the
room, we could study the Bibleday and night and even win
(07:46):
debates.
But what if we don't understandthe nature of God?
What if we don't understand whohe is and how much we should
actually love him and adore him?
You know, and I even told oneof my colleagues I said well,
god pours his self out in theOld Testament of how much he
(08:07):
loved his people, how much hedesired to bring them back to
him, how much it broke his heart, especially in Ezekiel's, has
just come back to me.
I love you.
Well, the law was in place.
Grace has always been there.
The Old Testament is riddledand lined with grace.
(08:29):
I even told somebody recentlythey're kind of perplexed that
the law was given by grace, eventhough Jesus fulfilled the law
and we experienced the ultimategrace.
Because without the law, howwould we know the chasm that
exists between us and God andwhat we would need to be
redeemed from?
(08:50):
So as we look towards the lawand we're not fighting by the
law, we can respect the law andwe can get a prism of many
different beautiful colors ofthe majesty and holiness of God.
So when we enter here and weworship God, we're entering, in
(09:11):
a sense, the tabernacle, the newtabernacle, the church, where
God, the angels and Jesus Christhimself are amongst us even now
, in the invisible and theheavenlies that we just can't
see.
He's here and isn't that ablessed thing that we get to
take part in.
Let's read what's called thegreat shaman, deuteronomy 6 4
(09:34):
and I want to just read thisbefore we get into this story
about joseph, because what hisbrothers did, they didn't do
particularly this.
And moses writes in the shema.
He writes now this is thecommandment, the statues and the
rules that the Lord, your God,command me to teach to you.
That you may do them in theland which you are going over to
(09:58):
possess it, that you may fearthe Lord, your God, you and your
son and your son's son, bykeeping all of his statutes and
his commandments, which Icommand you, all of the days of
your life, and that your daysmay be long.
Hear, therefore, o Israel, andbe careful to do them, that it
(10:19):
may go well with you, and thatit may go well with you and that
you may multiply greatly, asthe Lord, the God of your
fathers, have promised you andthe land flowing with milk and
honey.
So Moses goes through thisdissertation about do this and
you're going to be okay, followthe law.
(10:41):
He's talking about the law, butthis is what Moses writes
subsequently Hear, o Israel, theLord, our God.
The Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord, yourGod, with all of your heart,
with all of your soul and withall of your might, and these
(11:01):
words that I command you todayshall be in your heart.
You know the law, everythingyou know.
Isn't it fascinating?
God says love me with all ofyour heart, with all your might,
with all of your mind.
See, I, when I read this bible,when I study theology, when I
(11:22):
read this Bible, when I studytheology, when I preach, it's
all about a relationship withGod.
How much you honor him, howmuch you love him.
Can you imagine being in arelationship in your life with
one of your children, eventhinking in the past, if you
were married, a friend, and youtook the element of love and
(11:46):
just removed it out of therelationship?
Completely, 100%, all together.
Right, because everyrelationship in its own sense is
defined by rules.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Right.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
There's things you can't say to me.
There's things you can't do.
There's boundaries you can'tcross.
There's respect that you haveto have, but what if you took
love out of all of that?
So all these rules in the OldTestament, these 613 precepts,
that's why God says love me withall of your heart, your mind
(12:18):
and your strength.
Because people are complicated,right.
But Paul says says love doesn'tkeep account it covers a
multitude of sins.
You know god is saying all thisis pointing forward to the
relationship and the love that Iwant to demonstrate to you.
(12:40):
You know that's when we'regoing to time travel back into
Joseph and him and his brotherselling him into slavery.
You know, and I read this storyand it's just I look at my own
trials in life and I say Josephgot it right, he really got it.
Let's travel back in time, andI'm going to start here.
(13:03):
Continue on chapter 37, go overthis real fast because we read
it.
But we can refresh our memoriesNow.
His brothers went to pastortheir flock father's flock near
Shechem.
Now his brothers went to pastortheir flock father's flock near
Shechem.
And Israel said to Joseph,which his name is, jacob Are not
your brothers pasturing theflock at Shechem?
(13:24):
Come, I will send you to them.
And he said to them here I am.
So he said to him Go now see ifit is well with your brothers
and with the flock and bring meword.
So dad jacob is sending hisbrothers to go give a report.
He's sending joseph to give areport on his brothers and at
(13:44):
this point his brothers can'tstand him right.
The bible says they hated him.
His dad made him a coat of manycolors and joseph danced in it
all day long, right.
So, as we were talking aboutlast time, we saw what the
favoritism of jacob did, we sawwhat the resentment of his
brothers did, and we're going tocontinue the story to
capitalize on that.
(14:04):
So he sent him from the valleyof hebron and he came to shechem
.
A man found him wandering inthe fields and the man asked him
what are you seeking?
I am seeking my brothers.
He said tell me please wherethey are pastoring the flock.
And the man asked him what areyou seeking?
I am seeking my brothers.
He said tell me please wherethey are pasturing the flock.
And the man said they have goneaway.
For I heard them say let us goto Dothan.
(14:25):
So Joseph went after hisbrothers and found them at
Dothan.
They saw him from afar andbefore he came near to them they
conspired against him to killhim over their jealousy.
And that's why I opened up withthe Deuteronomy 6, 4, the great
Shema.
Because were they loving Godwith that intent in their heart,
(14:47):
with all their heart, with alltheir strength, with all their
mind?
They were so far away from God,god, so far away from the
majesty, all that they weretaught by jacob the patriarchs,
abraham, noah, that they were ofisrael.
(15:10):
But they gravitated so far awaythey wanted to kill their
brother.
They conspired to kill him.
They said to one another herecomes this dreamer.
Come now, let us kill him andthrow him in the pits and we
will say a fierce animal hasdevoured him and we will see
what will become of his dreams.
(15:31):
You know, if they would havegot their way and killed Joseph,
we would never have theRedeemer.
Think about the providence ofGod in his hand in the midst of
all of this, because Jesus is adescendant of Joseph, right?
So God, invisibly based off hisprovidence, is involved in all
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of this and he's directlyinvolved in Joseph's life.
And so what lesson is that forus?
You know, when we're sufferingpersecution, when we don't have
the answers, when we think lifeisn't going right, how involved
is God in our personal lives?
He's involved in our lives ashe's involved in Joseph's life,
(16:17):
and I'm sure Joseph couldn'teven see all this at the time.
So they said let's report tofather that a fierce animal has
ripped him apart.
But when Reuben heard it, herescued him out of their hands,
saying let us not take his life.
And Reuben said shed no blood,throw him in to the pit here in
(16:38):
the wilderness, but do not layhands on him.
That, but he said it so theymight restore him to his father
and we'll jump ahead and we'llsing a song, but we'll jump
ahead.
But I want to show you how Godwas directly involved in
Joseph's life For our sake, sowe could have a Savior.
(17:02):
And what Joseph had to learnthrough trial and tribulation,
suffering because he learnedabout God, he learns about the
Savior.
I want to ask everybody here aquestion.
If we could look back on ourlives 20 years ago, 30, 40 years
ago, whatever, and we took allthe suffering out of our life,
(17:28):
what would we have learned?
Suffering is the chisel inGod's hands that he uses to
shape us for the entirety of ourlife.
So Joseph is suffering, he'sbeing betrayed, he's being sold
into slavery, even in the nextchapter, where Potter, first
(17:49):
wife, accuses him of trying toviolate her.
All this is literally pointingto the fact that God is
revealing himself to Joseph andwho he is, based off his
providence.
The most valuable lessons I'veever learned is the times of
trial, the times of suffering,some of the closest times I've
(18:11):
ever felt close to God is when Ifelt like life has left me
behind.
Has anybody ever felt like that?
Some of my deepest prayers havecame from times of trial, times
of loss.
You know, when Joseph was inthat cell, rotting in that
dungeon, the only thing he hadwas prayer.
The only thing he had was hisrelationship with God.
(18:34):
But you know what God tells usin Deuteronomy 6 for do not
forget me when I take you in tothe land of prosperity, because
usually when people they acquirea lot in life, especially in
this world, they forget allabout God they don't pray
anymore, they don't search forhim anymore, they don't really
(18:57):
want a whole lot to do with him.
And it fascinates me that if Iturn the TV on and talk to
people and just look where theworld's at as a preacher and
this tells me something aboutthe society we live in, don, as
a preacher, sometimes I tell GodI said I just feel like a relic
to this world, like somethingadequate, like a paperweight To
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you.
I'm not.
You told Elijah, you're notalone.
7,000 have not bowed the kneeto Baal.
Don't have a pity party, josh,you're not alone.
I have my chosen.
You know what bears witness tothat?
Well, all of you are here rightnow.
You know we're a certain amountof people that have not bowed
(19:42):
the knee to Baal, right.
What a beautiful experiencethat we get to worship with God
in a world that is so dark, inabsence of the light Right, and
to be part of that.
So, don, I'm going to let youtake it away, because I want you
to sing a song, because I wantto stop talking.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
We need three more.
Let me get three books.
Yeah, come in.
Let's go to page 25.
And he's turned around talkingabout the blessings and stuff
like that.
This 25 is going to kind ofthrow us into that situation too
the blessings that it has.
Having a hard time getting inhere, page 25.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Blessed assurance.
Jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glorydivine.
A pair of salvation's purchaseddivine glory.
This is my story.
(21:04):
This is my song.
Praise be my Savior, honor theone.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praise be my Savior, honor theone.
(21:28):
Number two, perfect submission,perfect delight, number two.
And those of mercy, worships oflove.
(21:51):
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all day long.
This is my story, this is mysong.
This is my story.
(22:18):
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long.
Number three, perfectsubmission all is at rest, lying
my saviour, and happy and well,sager and happy and well,
watching and waiting, lookingabove, filled with His goodness,
(22:44):
lost in His love.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
This is my story.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
This is my song Praising my Savior all the day
long.
This is my story.
This is my song Praising mySavior all the day long.
Praising my Savior all the daylong.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Praise God.
Isn't that the truth?
Don Praise Him, my Savior, allthe day long.
All the day long, Blessedassurance.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Paul tells us to pray without ceasing.
You know, I've been asked aboutthat question and it's
impossible to pray all day long,24 hours a day, seven days a
week, 365 days a year.
Paul is stressing an idiom.
Basically, he's saying talk toGod all day long, conversate
with them all day long.
He is there.
(23:47):
You know, I was criticizedrecently by a man.
He sent me a message and he saidyou know what, pastor Joshua?
Well, forgiveness setsnon-Christians free too.
You know, I really thoughtabout that and he had some
explanation marks at the end ofit, you know, and I was thinking
(24:07):
and I said well, no, not really, it doesn't, because freedom is
only freedom in Christ.
Right, so we can donate tocharity, we can be a secularist
and we can forgive people allday long, but where does that
get you?
It doesn't get you salvation.
It doesn't get you any moreright with God, doesn't get you
(24:29):
any more right with God.
When we truly forgive, weexpect nothing in return.
And I want to kind of clarifywhat I said last time Our
forgiveness is unconditional,like Joseph, there's no
conditions attached.
You know, it's for ourrelationship and our benefit of
our relationship with God.
(24:50):
And I was telling a person lastweek.
Reconciliation has to do withthe three R's.
The person wants to reconcileyou when they've harmed you.
They need to repent, understandwhat they've done, turn a
different direction, ask forforgiveness.
They need to providerestitution, which means
monetary, or somehow build therelationship back up from
destroying it, which meansmonetary, or somehow build the
(25:12):
relationship back up fromdestroying it.
And three, they have to rehabthemselves, proving that they've
rehabilitated themselves andthe defense is no longer going
to be propagated against someonebecause it demonstrates true
repentance.
So there's a misconception ofthe bible that forgiveness just
is equal to doormat.
You just let people walk overyou and I get a lot of questions
(25:33):
.
They go ain't I just supposedto keep dealing with people that
take advantage of me if Iforgive them?
God says no, becauseforgiveness is unconditional.
You do it no matter what.
It's for me and you, so youdon't become bitter.
So you don't.
You don't get in the way of ourOwn relationship and we're
(25:55):
going to continue on.
But I like asking questionsBecause I remember my own life.
Anybody here ever held a grudgein their life?
I have.
I have quite a few grudges inmy life and I'll admit it and
I've noticed that that's becauseyou don't want to forgive,
because a I'll admit it and I'venoticed that that's because you
don't want to forgive, becausea person will tell God you know
what, not right now, god, I justdon't have the time.
I'm going to do this my way,I'm going to go through my
(26:16):
process and I'm going to meetthese conditions in order to
forgive.
But you know, then you have thischasm with God.
The valley gets wider, wider,wider, deeper and deeper and
deeper.
And you know, what I've noticedwhen that's happened to me is
(26:36):
God's voice gets further andfurther and further and further
away.
I would almost say it's likebeing trapped in the darkness in
the wilderness and somebody'sscreaming on top of a mountain.
And the closer you get, thelouder the voice gets and you're
saved when you end up comingout of that darkened forest and
you experience that joy.
(26:56):
But if that voice gets bleakerand dimmer and dimmer and dimmer
, well, you're just stuck inthat darkness, you're stuck in
that chaos, you're stuck allalong.
They say hell is a place that aperson has left unto themselves
.
I couldn't imagine anythingmore tragic and frightening
(27:19):
being in a place where I've beenleft to myself for all eternity
.
I just thank God that he'sgiven us hope.
He's given us truth.
He's given us truth.
He's given us a savior.
And look what Joseph faced Now.
Joseph had been brought down toEgypt after he was sold and
(27:42):
Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh,the captain of the guard, an
Egyptian, had brought him to theIshmaelites who had brought him
down there.
Remember, joseph was sold intoslavery.
His brothers wanted to kill him.
(28:04):
The family was in turmoil,favoritism, jealousy, choosing
another child over their child,selling him ended up in egypt
and the bible says god was withhim the whole time and he
brought him up and he elevatedhim into a position of the
captain of the pharaoh, a mannamed potiphar and says the lord
(28:27):
was with joseph and he became asuccessful man and he was in
the house of his egyptian master.
His master saw and it says Well, how is that?
A pagan that had thousands ofgods looked at Joseph's
(28:51):
character and knew the Lord waswith him.
You know, when we walk with God, when we talk with God, we sing
songs to God.
People see God in us and peopleare so lost they will gravitate
towards you.
(29:11):
The holy spirit will flow outand they will want to change.
It's not complicated.
So our prayer life, our walkwith god.
Just like joseph, he says heobserved, and pharaoh knew it
was his god.
So jose Joseph found favor inthe site and attended him and he
(29:33):
made him oversee his house andput him in charge of all that he
had.
From the time that he made himoversee in his house and over
all that he had, the Lordblessed the Egyptians house,
for's sake.
The blessing of the Lord was onhim.
He had no concern aboutanything but the food he ate.
(29:58):
Joseph's hand, god's hand, wason Joseph, it says for his sake.
Now, joseph was handsome in formand appearance and after a time
, his master's wife cast hereyes on Joseph and said lie with
me.
But he refused and said to hismaster's wife behold, because of
(30:21):
me, my master has no concernabout anything in this house and
he has put everything that hehas in my charge.
He is not greater.
He is not greater in this housethan I am, nor has he kept back
anything from me except you,because you are his wife.
How then can I do this greatwickedness and sin against God?
(30:44):
And as she spoke to Joseph dayafter day, he would not listen
to her, to lie beside her or bewith her.
You know, and it's amazing whenI read this, because scripture
jumps out and it speaks to usand Joseph says how can I sin
against you and do such a wickedthing?
(31:05):
Because I would be sinningagainst my God.
You want me to tell you what thedifference between Christians
and non-Christians are in thisworld.
What restrains a non-Christian?
The world Philosophy, whatrestrains them?
We know, when we do somethingthat we're alienating our God,
(31:29):
that we're in love with and thatlove, that law of liberty,
keeps us from doing things weshould not be doing, like Joseph
in the story did.
He would not lie with her, butone day, when he went into the
(31:49):
house to do his work and none ofthe men of the house were there
in the house, she caught him byhis garment saying lie with me,
but he left his garment in herhand and fled out the house.
I know a lot of you heard thisand this is true, heard this and
(32:13):
this is true.
Sometimes, when it comes to sin, the only thing we can do is
run from it.
You know, and we read the storyof Joseph, but what character
is not being mentioned and whatcharacter is missing from this
whole story?
The enemy, satan.
Satan was there whispering inhis brother's ears.
Satan was there whispering inPotiphar's wife's ears.
(32:37):
Satan was directly involved inthis whole entire thing, and so
was God.
Remember the story of Joseph.
He says take all away, that hehas Job, I mean, and he says,
but you cannot kill him.
So the whole story of Job isyou've got this whole story
(33:00):
about the battle, in a sense,between God and Satan.
So God's active, jesus isactive, the Holy Spirit's active
, but Satan is active also, andthat's when we're reading this
story.
He is at work in Joseph's life.
(33:24):
I always tell people whenyou're saved, when you love your
God, when you honor your God,satan's not far behind.
Live from the Saints Headquarters in Tolleson,
arizona, spreading the Gospel,equipping the Saints, standing
for the word of truth,proclaiming God's grace.
Now, on a podcast near you,welcome your host, pastor Joshua
, on the Saints Will OvercomeMinistries.
This is basically a choruswhich came out in the late 70s.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
So, what else?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
can you do, don Huh, what else you can do if you
don't have a sermon for a parent, you just sit up here and go.
What?
Speaker 5 (01:06):
do you want me to say Amen to that?
I've had to pull that one out acouple times.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Believe it or not?
I've said okay, lord, you'vegot to help me out.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
That's one of the biggest things, isn't it, John?
Yes.
Is turn around and listen tothe Holy.
Spirit.
How many times have you goneinto a place to preach and
you've gone in there with allthis stuff laid out and God
changes it right in the middle?
A lot and I turn around and Isay why did I bother studying?
All this time.
But, the Bible says we study toshow ourselves approved.
Yes, yes, so we've got to keepthat constantly pulling in our
(01:37):
minds.
You know, when I go out and domy walks in the morning, I walk
around this place three times inthe morning Takes me forever,
but I walk around three times inthe morning, so much of the
time I'll get to talk.
Lord, talk to me today.
Tell me what I need to know.
You know I talk to him and hedoes.
Things will roll over in mymind and everything else like
that.
Am I perfect?
(01:58):
No, there ain't no way.
But one of the things issometimes we need to be
attentive and listen to what godhas to say for us, even in our
everyday routine, whether maybeit's doing laundry, maybe it's
sweeping for us, but we don'thave to do that anymore.
I still have to do a lot, butthat's one thing.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Lord, I love to sing yourpraises.
I'm so glad you're in my life.
I'm so glad you came to save us.
You came from heaven to earthTo show the way From the earth
(02:53):
to the cross, my debt to pay.
From the cross to the grave,From the grave to the sky.
Lord, I lift your name high.
Do the chorus again.
From the grave to the sky.
Lord, I lift your name high.
Hear the chorus again.
You came from heaven to earthto show the way From the earth
(03:16):
to the cross.
I'm dead today.
From the cross to the grave,from the grave to the sky.
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Look at the top.
Lord, I lift your name on high.
(03:41):
Lord, I love to sing yourpraises.
I'm so glad you're in my life.
I'm so glad you're in my life.
I'm so glad you came to save us.
You came from heaven to earthTo show the way From the earth
to the cross.
I'm meant to be.
From the cross to the grave,From the grave to the sky.
(04:05):
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Hang it up.
Lord, I lift your name on high,Lord I lift your name on high.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
A lot of times there's signs to do this.
It says you came from heaven toearth to show the way.
From the earth to the cross, mydebt to pay.
From the cross to the grave,from the grave to the sky.
Lord, I lift your name.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
God is such a good God.
A faithful God.
How about we bow our heads andwe say a prayer?
We'll open up with that andthen we'll get into the word.
Father God, we thank you forallowing us to come to you today
to worship in your name, toextol you, to honor you, to love
(05:11):
you and to be here with family,Because you brought us here to
learn about you, to walk in yourways and to cherish you in your
son Jesus' name.
Amen, to walk in your ways andto cherish you in your son
Jesus' name.
Amen.
I hope you all had a great week.
I've had a great week, but youknow, no matter how fulfilling,
(05:34):
my week is the most fulfillingtime of the week when we can
come together and we can praiseGod and learn about his word,
learn how to honor him and learnabout the glorious holy God we
served.
And before we get into thismessage about Joseph and
(05:57):
continue about forgiveness, Iwould just like to talk a little
bit about the holiness of God.
I was reading, I was doing somestudy lately and I was writing
a paper and the the professorwas asking about what is the
whole point of the law of theold testament?
you know, because a lot ofpeople they'll read the old
testament, let's say well, theold testament is a different God
(06:18):
and the new testament is adifferent God, because they
don't understand God.
And I always say if youremember, when Moses, god
commanded Moses to take hissandals off, before the law was
ever given, the 613 laws, hesaid take your sandals off,
moses, for the ground you'regoing to approach is holy ground
(06:42):
and the ground does what italways does.
The ground didn't change, theelements didn't change, the dirt
was the dirt.
But God said you're approachingme on this ground, so
acknowledge my holiness.
So this law was to reveal thedisplacement of man and the
chasm between man and God and toshow the holiness of God.
(07:04):
So I always stress theimportance that we read this
Bible.
We are reading and serving aholy, majestic God, a king of
the universe.
His son, that was given to usas a sacrificial lamb, revealed
(07:25):
himself as a lion in certaininstances, and especially after
his resurrection.
So I would like to read, beforewe get into the story of
Joseph's continue, I would justlike to kind of reveal what the
greatest commandment is right,because we could have all the
theology in the world, we couldbe the smartest person in the
room, we could study the Bibleday and night and even win
(07:46):
debates.
But what if we don't understandthe nature of God?
What if we don't understand whohe is and how much we should
actually love him and adore him?
You know, and I even told oneof my colleagues I said well,
god pours his self out in theOld Testament of how much he
(08:07):
loved his people, how much hedesired to bring them back to
him, how much it broke his heart, especially in Ezekiel's, has
just come back to me.
I love you.
Well, the law was in place.
Grace has always been there.
The Old Testament is riddledand lined with grace.
(08:29):
I even told somebody recentlythey're kind of perplexed that
the law was given by grace, eventhough Jesus fulfilled the law
and we experienced the ultimategrace.
Because without the law, howwould we know the chasm that
exists between us and God andwhat we would need to be
redeemed from?
(08:50):
So as we look towards the lawand we're not fighting by the
law, we can respect the law andwe can get a prism of many
different beautiful colors ofthe majesty and holiness of God.
So when we enter here and weworship God, we're entering, in
(09:11):
a sense, the tabernacle, the newtabernacle, the church, where
God, the angels and Jesus Christhimself are amongst us even now
, in the invisible and theheavenlies that we just can't
see.
He's here and isn't that ablessed thing that we get to
take part in.
Let's read what's called thegreat shaman, deuteronomy 6 4
(09:34):
and I want to just read thisbefore we get into this story
about joseph, because what hisbrothers did, they didn't do
particularly this.
And moses writes in the shema.
He writes now this is thecommandment, the statues and the
rules that the Lord, your God,command me to teach to you.
That you may do them in theland which you are going over to
(09:58):
possess it, that you may fearthe Lord, your God, you and your
son and your son's son, bykeeping all of his statutes and
his commandments, which Icommand you, all of the days of
your life, and that your daysmay be long.
Hear, therefore, o Israel, andbe careful to do them, that it
(10:19):
may go well with you, and thatit may go well with you and that
you may multiply greatly, asthe Lord, the God of your
fathers, have promised you andthe land flowing with milk and
honey.
So Moses goes through thisdissertation about do this and
you're going to be okay, followthe law.
(10:41):
He's talking about the law, butthis is what Moses writes
subsequently Hear, o Israel, theLord, our God.
The Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord, yourGod, with all of your heart,
with all of your soul and withall of your might, and these
(11:01):
words that I command you todayshall be in your heart.
You know the law, everythingyou know.
Isn't it fascinating?
God says love me with all ofyour heart, with all your might,
with all of your mind.
See, I, when I read this bible,when I study theology, when I
(11:22):
read this Bible, when I studytheology, when I preach, it's
all about a relationship withGod.
How much you honor him, howmuch you love him.
Can you imagine being in arelationship in your life with
one of your children, eventhinking in the past, if you
were married, a friend, and youtook the element of love and
(11:46):
just removed it out of therelationship?
Completely, 100%, all together.
Right, because everyrelationship in its own sense is
defined by rules.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Right.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
There's things you can't say to me.
There's things you can't do.
There's boundaries you can'tcross.
There's respect that you haveto have, but what if you took
love out of all of that?
So all these rules in the OldTestament, these 613 precepts,
that's why God says love me withall of your heart, your mind
(12:18):
and your strength.
Because people are complicated,right.
But Paul says says love doesn'tkeep account it covers a
multitude of sins.
You know god is saying all thisis pointing forward to the
relationship and the love that Iwant to demonstrate to you.
(12:40):
You know that's when we'regoing to time travel back into
Joseph and him and his brotherselling him into slavery.
You know, and I read this storyand it's just I look at my own
trials in life and I say Josephgot it right, he really got it.
Let's travel back in time, andI'm going to start here.
(13:03):
Continue on chapter 37, go overthis real fast because we read
it.
But we can refresh our memoriesNow.
His brothers went to pastortheir flock father's flock near
Shechem.
Now his brothers went to pastortheir flock father's flock near
Shechem.
And Israel said to Joseph,which his name is, jacob Are not
your brothers pasturing theflock at Shechem?
(13:24):
Come, I will send you to them.
And he said to them here I am.
So he said to him Go now see ifit is well with your brothers
and with the flock and bring meword.
So dad jacob is sending hisbrothers to go give a report.
He's sending joseph to give areport on his brothers and at
(13:44):
this point his brothers can'tstand him right.
The bible says they hated him.
His dad made him a coat of manycolors and joseph danced in it
all day long, right.
So, as we were talking aboutlast time, we saw what the
favoritism of jacob did, we sawwhat the resentment of his
brothers did, and we're going tocontinue the story to
capitalize on that.
(14:04):
So he sent him from the valleyof hebron and he came to shechem
.
A man found him wandering inthe fields and the man asked him
what are you seeking?
I am seeking my brothers.
He said tell me please wherethey are pastoring the flock.
And the man asked him what areyou seeking?
I am seeking my brothers.
He said tell me please wherethey are pasturing the flock.
And the man said they have goneaway.
For I heard them say let us goto Dothan.
(14:25):
So Joseph went after hisbrothers and found them at
Dothan.
They saw him from afar andbefore he came near to them they
conspired against him to killhim over their jealousy.
And that's why I opened up withthe Deuteronomy 6, 4, the great
Shema.
Because were they loving Godwith that intent in their heart,
(14:47):
with all their heart, with alltheir strength, with all their
mind?
They were so far away from God,god, so far away from the
majesty, all that they weretaught by jacob the patriarchs,
abraham, noah, that they were ofisrael.
(15:10):
But they gravitated so far awaythey wanted to kill their
brother.
They conspired to kill him.
They said to one another herecomes this dreamer.
Come now, let us kill him andthrow him in the pits and we
will say a fierce animal hasdevoured him and we will see
what will become of his dreams.
(15:31):
You know, if they would havegot their way and killed Joseph,
we would never have theRedeemer.
Think about the providence ofGod in his hand in the midst of
all of this, because Jesus is adescendant of Joseph, right?
So God, invisibly based off hisprovidence, is involved in all
(15:53):
of this and he's directlyinvolved in Joseph's life.
And so what lesson is that forus?
You know, when we're sufferingpersecution, when we don't have
the answers, when we think lifeisn't going right, how involved
is God in our personal lives?
He's involved in our lives ashe's involved in Joseph's life,
(16:17):
and I'm sure Joseph couldn'teven see all this at the time.
So they said let's report tofather that a fierce animal has
ripped him apart.
But when Reuben heard it, herescued him out of their hands,
saying let us not take his life.
And Reuben said shed no blood,throw him in to the pit here in
(16:38):
the wilderness, but do not layhands on him.
That, but he said it so theymight restore him to his father
and we'll jump ahead and we'llsing a song, but we'll jump
ahead.
But I want to show you how Godwas directly involved in
Joseph's life For our sake, sowe could have a Savior.
(17:02):
And what Joseph had to learnthrough trial and tribulation,
suffering because he learnedabout God, he learns about the
Savior.
I want to ask everybody here aquestion.
If we could look back on ourlives 20 years ago, 30, 40 years
ago, whatever, and we took allthe suffering out of our life,
(17:28):
what would we have learned?
Suffering is the chisel inGod's hands that he uses to
shape us for the entirety of ourlife.
So Joseph is suffering, he'sbeing betrayed, he's being sold
into slavery, even in the nextchapter, where Potter, first
(17:49):
wife, accuses him of trying toviolate her.
All this is literally pointingto the fact that God is
revealing himself to Joseph andwho he is, based off his
providence.
The most valuable lessons I'veever learned is the times of
trial, the times of suffering,some of the closest times I've
(18:11):
ever felt close to God is when Ifelt like life has left me
behind.
Has anybody ever felt like that?
Some of my deepest prayers havecame from times of trial, times
of loss.
You know, when Joseph was inthat cell, rotting in that
dungeon, the only thing he hadwas prayer.
The only thing he had was hisrelationship with God.
(18:34):
But you know what God tells usin Deuteronomy 6 for do not
forget me when I take you in tothe land of prosperity, because
usually when people they acquirea lot in life, especially in
this world, they forget allabout God they don't pray
anymore, they don't search forhim anymore, they don't really
(18:57):
want a whole lot to do with him.
And it fascinates me that if Iturn the TV on and talk to
people and just look where theworld's at as a preacher and
this tells me something aboutthe society we live in, don, as
a preacher, sometimes I tell GodI said I just feel like a relic
to this world, like somethingadequate, like a paperweight To
(19:21):
you.
I'm not.
You told Elijah, you're notalone.
7,000 have not bowed the kneeto Baal.
Don't have a pity party, josh,you're not alone.
I have my chosen.
You know what bears witness tothat?
Well, all of you are here rightnow.
You know we're a certain amountof people that have not bowed
(19:42):
the knee to Baal, right.
What a beautiful experiencethat we get to worship with God
in a world that is so dark, inabsence of the light Right, and
to be part of that.
So, don, I'm going to let youtake it away, because I want you
to sing a song, because I wantto stop talking.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
We need three more.
Let me get three books.
Yeah, come in.
Let's go to page 25.
And he's turned around talkingabout the blessings and stuff
like that.
This 25 is going to kind ofthrow us into that situation too
the blessings that it has.
Having a hard time getting inhere, page 25.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Blessed assurance.
Jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glorydivine.
A pair of salvation's purchaseddivine glory.
This is my story.
(21:04):
This is my song.
Praise be my Savior, honor theone.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praise be my Savior, honor theone.
(21:28):
Number two, perfect submission,perfect delight, number two.
And those of mercy, worships oflove.
(21:51):
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all day long.
This is my story, this is mysong.
This is my story.
(22:18):
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long.
Number three, perfectsubmission all is at rest, lying
my saviour, and happy and well,sager and happy and well,
watching and waiting, lookingabove, filled with His goodness,
(22:44):
lost in His love.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
This is my story.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
This is my song Praising my Savior all the day
long.
This is my story.
This is my song Praising mySavior all the day long.
Praising my Savior all the daylong.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Praise God.
Isn't that the truth?
Don Praise Him, my Savior, allthe day long.
All the day long, Blessedassurance.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Paul tells us to pray without ceasing.
You know, I've been asked aboutthat question and it's
impossible to pray all day long,24 hours a day, seven days a
week, 365 days a year.
Paul is stressing an idiom.
Basically, he's saying talk toGod all day long, conversate
with them all day long.
He is there.
(23:47):
You know, I was criticizedrecently by a man.
He sent me a message and he saidyou know what, pastor Joshua?
Well, forgiveness setsnon-Christians free too.
You know, I really thoughtabout that and he had some
explanation marks at the end ofit, you know, and I was thinking
(24:07):
and I said well, no, not really, it doesn't, because freedom is
only freedom in Christ.
Right, so we can donate tocharity, we can be a secularist
and we can forgive people allday long, but where does that
get you?
It doesn't get you salvation.
It doesn't get you any moreright with God, doesn't get you
(24:29):
any more right with God.
When we truly forgive, weexpect nothing in return.
And I want to kind of clarifywhat I said last time Our
forgiveness is unconditional,like Joseph, there's no
conditions attached.
You know, it's for ourrelationship and our benefit of
our relationship with God.
(24:50):
And I was telling a person lastweek.
Reconciliation has to do withthe three R's.
The person wants to reconcileyou when they've harmed you.
They need to repent, understandwhat they've done, turn a
different direction, ask forforgiveness.
They need to providerestitution, which means
monetary, or somehow build therelationship back up from
destroying it, which meansmonetary, or somehow build the
(25:12):
relationship back up fromdestroying it.
And three, they have to rehabthemselves, proving that they've
rehabilitated themselves andthe defense is no longer going
to be propagated against someonebecause it demonstrates true
repentance.
So there's a misconception ofthe bible that forgiveness just
is equal to doormat.
You just let people walk overyou and I get a lot of questions
(25:33):
.
They go ain't I just supposedto keep dealing with people that
take advantage of me if Iforgive them?
God says no, becauseforgiveness is unconditional.
You do it no matter what.
It's for me and you, so youdon't become bitter.
So you don't.
You don't get in the way of ourOwn relationship and we're
(25:55):
going to continue on.
But I like asking questionsBecause I remember my own life.
Anybody here ever held a grudgein their life?
I have.
I have quite a few grudges inmy life and I'll admit it and
I've noticed that that's becauseyou don't want to forgive,
because a I'll admit it and I'venoticed that that's because you
don't want to forgive, becausea person will tell God you know
what, not right now, god, I justdon't have the time.
I'm going to do this my way,I'm going to go through my
(26:16):
process and I'm going to meetthese conditions in order to
forgive.
But you know, then you have thischasm with God.
The valley gets wider, wider,wider, deeper and deeper and
deeper.
And you know, what I've noticedwhen that's happened to me is
(26:36):
God's voice gets further andfurther and further and further
away.
I would almost say it's likebeing trapped in the darkness in
the wilderness and somebody'sscreaming on top of a mountain.
And the closer you get, thelouder the voice gets and you're
saved when you end up comingout of that darkened forest and
you experience that joy.
(26:56):
But if that voice gets bleakerand dimmer and dimmer and dimmer
, well, you're just stuck inthat darkness, you're stuck in
that chaos, you're stuck allalong.
They say hell is a place that aperson has left unto themselves
.
I couldn't imagine anythingmore tragic and frightening
(27:19):
being in a place where I've beenleft to myself for all eternity
.
I just thank God that he'sgiven us hope.
He's given us truth.
He's given us truth.
He's given us a savior.
And look what Joseph faced Now.
Joseph had been brought down toEgypt after he was sold and
(27:42):
Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh,the captain of the guard, an
Egyptian, had brought him to theIshmaelites who had brought him
down there.
Remember, joseph was sold intoslavery.
His brothers wanted to kill him.
(28:04):
The family was in turmoil,favoritism, jealousy, choosing
another child over their child,selling him ended up in egypt
and the bible says god was withhim the whole time and he
brought him up and he elevatedhim into a position of the
captain of the pharaoh, a mannamed potiphar and says the lord
(28:27):
was with joseph and he became asuccessful man and he was in
the house of his egyptian master.
His master saw and it says Well, how is that?
A pagan that had thousands ofgods looked at Joseph's
(28:51):
character and knew the Lord waswith him.
You know, when we walk with God, when we talk with God, we sing
songs to God.
People see God in us and peopleare so lost they will gravitate
towards you.
(29:11):
The holy spirit will flow outand they will want to change.
It's not complicated.
So our prayer life, our walkwith god.
Just like joseph, he says heobserved, and pharaoh knew it
was his god.
So jose Joseph found favor inthe site and attended him and he
(29:33):
made him oversee his house andput him in charge of all that he
had.
From the time that he made himoversee in his house and over
all that he had, the Lordblessed the Egyptians house,
for's sake.
The blessing of the Lord was onhim.
He had no concern aboutanything but the food he ate.
(29:58):
Joseph's hand, god's hand, wason Joseph, it says for his sake.
Now, joseph was handsome in formand appearance and after a time
, his master's wife cast hereyes on Joseph and said lie with
me.
But he refused and said to hismaster's wife behold, because of
(30:21):
me, my master has no concernabout anything in this house and
he has put everything that hehas in my charge.
He is not greater.
He is not greater in this housethan I am, nor has he kept back
anything from me except you,because you are his wife.
How then can I do this greatwickedness and sin against God?
(30:44):
And as she spoke to Joseph dayafter day, he would not listen
to her, to lie beside her or bewith her.
You know, and it's amazing whenI read this, because scripture
jumps out and it speaks to usand Joseph says how can I sin
against you and do such a wickedthing?
(31:05):
Because I would be sinningagainst my God.
You want me to tell you what thedifference between Christians
and non-Christians are in thisworld.
What restrains a non-Christian?
The world Philosophy, whatrestrains them?
We know, when we do somethingthat we're alienating our God,
(31:29):
that we're in love with and thatlove, that law of liberty,
keeps us from doing things weshould not be doing, like Joseph
in the story did.
He would not lie with her, butone day, when he went into the
(31:49):
house to do his work and none ofthe men of the house were there
in the house, she caught him byhis garment saying lie with me,
but he left his garment in herhand and fled out the house.
I know a lot of you heard thisand this is true, heard this and
(32:13):
this is true.
Sometimes, when it comes to sin, the only thing we can do is
run from it.
You know, and we read the storyof Joseph, but what character
is not being mentioned and whatcharacter is missing from this
whole story?
The enemy, satan.
Satan was there whispering inhis brother's ears.
Satan was there whispering inPotiphar's wife's ears.
(32:37):
Satan was directly involved inthis whole entire thing, and so
was God.
Remember the story of Joseph.
He says take all away, that hehas Job, I mean, and he says,
but you cannot kill him.
So the whole story of Job isyou've got this whole story
(33:00):
about the battle, in a sense,between God and Satan.
So God's active, jesus isactive, the Holy Spirit's active
, but Satan is active also, andthat's when we're reading this
story.
He is at work in Joseph's life.
(33:24):
I always tell people whenyou're saved, when you love your
God, when you honor your God,satan's not far behind.
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