(Joseph) A Chosen Vessel — Keith Malcomson

Joseph as a Chosen Vessel in God's Providential Plan

Please turn with me here this morning to the book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, Genesis. And I'm going to read here this morning from Genesis chapter 41. But I'm going to preach from Genesis chapter 37.

I want you to be in Genesis 37 and to stay in that chapter. But I do want to read from chapter 41 here this morning. I want to start on a new series here very briefly. And I was intended to do this all in one message, but it's going to be three messages.

I can't confine it to that. And I'll try to be succinct and straight to the point here this morning. I want to bring you into a few messages here. Listen carefully what our series title is. It is Joseph, a Vessel of Recovery.

We're going to look at this man, Joseph, and how in the Scripture he is depicted as a vessel of recovery to bring God's people back to God's plan. But the message this morning is a chosen vessel from Genesis 37.

But read in here this morning just two brief verses from Genesis chapter 41. Genesis chapter 41. Read it in verse 56. And listen carefully as we come to this message this morning. A chosen vessel, verse 56.

And the famine was over all the face of the earth. And Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold on to the Egyptians. And the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn because the famine was sore in all lands.

Let's pray together here this morning, looking that God will speak to us very timely in this hour as the people of God. Father, we do thank you that we can gather in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, remembering that we are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, remembering that it's by His perfect righteousness that we are justified and made right by God, right with God, not by our own works of righteousness.

And Lord God, here this morning, I pray that you speak to us as the people of God, even as individuals, as men and women, that you'd open up our eyes to see your divine plan and purpose from generation unto generation, that in every generation you do have a chosen vessel, that you prepare, Lord God, your vessels, though small and insignificant, you prepare them in the fire to accomplish a great work, for it is not of man, but it is of God.

You bless us as we shut ourselves in with the written scriptures this morning. And Lord God, we know that your Holy Spirit bears witness. He anoints, He inspires, He quickens, He enlivens, and He applies the word of God to hearts and to conscience.

In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Amen. My message here, a chosen vessel. We have read from Genesis chapter 41, but I'm going to take you to Genesis 37 to actually show you the beginning from the end. Before I start at the beginning, I'm taking you to the end.

Some of you ladies, when you buy books, you turn to the last chapter or the last couple of pages. I don't understand that. I like to start at the first chapter with the first line, but there are those amongst us, and I'd hate to name names, but who like to go straight to the end.

Well, I'm taking you straight to the end. I'm showing you the finale before I take you back and show you the beginning this morning. You see, in Genesis chapter 41, and we are going to get there one of these Sundays, we see a worldwide famine that affected all men, all nations, all families of the earth.

There was an hour of crisis. There was a time where the entire population of nations were caught unexpectedly. A crisis came. Trouble came to the nations. A famine actually was sent into all the earth, and yet we know God wasn't taken by surprise.

Many of God's people were taken by surprise, even a man like Jacob. Many of the nations, all of the world rulers, were taken by surprise, and yet God himself was not taken by surprise. In Genesis 41 where we read, in this hour of famine, there was a man called Joseph in the right place at the right time to do the right thing.

He was there at the right second. Listen to me carefully in this message. He was right in the right position to do the right things. What did he do in the hour of famine? He had a position second only to Pharaoh.

It was a remarkable position. No one else, not even Pharaoh, could have done this, and yet Joseph is there to open up all the storehouses in the greatest hour of famine. In other words, God had his man placed very specifically to do the will of God at a time where no one else had an answer and no one else could do anything.

That was 20 years before what I'm going to preach on. Sorry, that was 20 years after what I'm going to preach on this morning. You see, 20 years before Joseph, the second highest in Egypt, opens up the storehouses, 20 years before that, God actually sets a plan in motion to make sure that his people will come through this crisis.

For 13 years, this young man, Joseph, will not understand with his natural eyes or his ears or his natural mind what God is doing. For 13 years, he really doesn't understand that he is actually God's vessel to provide an answer in a crisis hour.

He doesn't understand the trials, the troubles, the heartbreakings, the confusions, the desertions, the rejections, the hurts he goes through. He will not fully understand it until the hour of famine, when he is given power and he gets to open up the storehouses.

Saints, I'm bringing you to this hour. We in this world of ours, I mean right across our world, every nation in our world, we are in a crisis hour, and it's going to get worse. There is coming an economic crisis, the like of which our world has never seen before.

Our nations are in turmoil. We have never in world history been at the point we are. But you know what I want to tell you, and I want to show you here this morning, God began working 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 50 years ago, on individuals right across our world.

And do you know what? I believe Joseph is a type and a picture and a shadow of these individuals in this hour. I'm fully convinced that God began decades ago to prepare a people for this hour and this time to do the will of God.

And you know what they're going to do right now? Amidst the greatest famine, spiritually our world has ever encountered, and one of the greatest crises, God is going to have His people in the right place with the wisdom of God to do the will of God.

And they're going to start opening up the storehouses. This could not have happened in a year. It could not have been prepared for over months. It could not be engineered by denominations or mega churches, utterly impossible.

You see, if you haven't been in the fire, you're not ready at this time. But I know God has, what's our message this morning? A chosen vessel. You see, God already is working 20 years ago for this year, for this hour, for this people, and for this time.

Joseph as a Type of Christ and the Body of Christ

When we begin to study the life of Joseph, we see that Joseph, in many aspects, is like the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, one great preacher called W .F .P. Burton, a missionary to Congo, listed more than 100 likenesses between Joseph and Jesus Christ.

More than 100. And when he died, he was still looking for more to add to the list. Let me just give you a few. This isn't our message, but I have to deal with this. How like Jesus Joseph is. Both were shepherds.

Both were loved by their fathers. Both were sent to their brethren by their fathers. Both were rejected by their own brethren. Both were destined for thrones of power and glory, and yet they had to go through the pathway of suffering and of rejection.

Both of them suffered a conspiracy to have them both killed, though they were utterly innocent. Both were sold for the price of a slave, one for 20 bits of silver, the other for 30 bits of silver. Both were stripped of their garments in order to be mishandled by their own brethren.

Both were imprisoned on the basis of false claims. Both were condemned with two other prisoners and criminals, one of which was released and the other one condemned eternally. Both would gain brides in a position of power, not until they reached that throne, and both would later receive their brethren in a great act of restoration.

Since I'm only touching on it, but I want to show you primarily when we look at the life of Joseph, we see a picture, a shadow, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, you can preach about Jesus from the life of Joseph.

It is remarkable the Holy Spirit done that. It's not accidental. But remember, Christ is the head, we are the body. And there's not only a message here about Christ the Son of God and all that he would pass through, but there's also a picture, a shadow, and a type about the body of Christ or a people chosen by God for an hour and a time of crisis.

You see, our world has been plunged into a unusual hour of crisis. The kingdom of Babylon is rising and marching. And don't think that's against God's will. Do you remember what Jeremiah the prophet said?

He said, O king of Israel, of Judah, you know what, this is God's will, God's doing this. Babylon is going to rise. It is going to march against the people of God. They are going to get taken into captivity.

And if you don't actually understand God is going to work in this hour, you're going to get very hurt, very confused, and you'll kick against the will of God. I want to assure you, we are right in the midst of a remarkable plan, and we're destined to open up the storehouses in the midst of the greatest famine Spurgey, our world, has ever known.

Here this morning, a chosen vessel. I've got three points for you briefly here if I can this morning deal with. I want to look at the chosen vessel, how God chooses that vessel. Secondly, I want to look at understanding God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.

And then thirdly, I want to look at the providence of God. Don't be scared off by those terms. I'm going to explain them simply in the life of Joseph. But first of all, what is a chosen vessel? How does God choose His vessel?

What do we mean when we say that Joseph was a chosen vessel? You see, God did choose Joseph for a task. God knew what was coming 20 years down the road. God knew what was going to happen, and He knew that Joseph was His man.

God chose him before the crisis. God chose him before the need. God chose him before there was any sign of this. And actually, in secret and hiding, what does it mean to be chosen? It means that God specifically, deliberately, chooses an individual or a church or a group of believers.

Since I'm not just talking about a man, neither am I just talking about this church. I am talking about that God has chosen a vessel across our world, from Australia to America to China, even to Ireland.

I believe that God many decades ago chose a vessel, and He was going to allow them to walk through the fire. You know why? Because He's got a plan in one hour that He's got to have fulfilled. He can't train a man in the crisis.

He's got to start many decades before. So when we talk about a chosen vessel, I'm not talking about salvation. I'm not talking about redemption. I'm talking about God's plan in the events of world history to preserve and to protect His people.

And without that plan, they'd be destroyed. You see, when God chooses a vessel, it's connected to a certain time. And that vessel needs to be molded in a certain way and prepared for a certain hour, a certain crisis, and a certain task.

That's what a chosen vessel is. God chooses a vessel and then begins to work on them. When He chooses them, they're not ready for that. They don't have the character for it. They don't have the message.

They don't have all it takes. God is going to spend years preparing them. Look at David, Moses, Esther, all these characters in the Bible, and you see God working very specifically to choose them and prepare them.

Let's look at Joseph, this chosen vessel, in Genesis 37 and verse 1. And it says, Here we have Jacob moving into the land of Canaan that was promised to God's people. This man, Jacob, was a man of God.

But listen, he had two wives and two concubines that he picked up along the way. And from these four women, he had 12 children born to them. Leah, the one he married first, had six children to him. Bella, the servant, the handmaid, had two children.

Zilphah had two children. And lastly, Rachel, his great love, had two children. These were the 12 children of Israel or the 12 children of Jacob, this man of God. From these 12 children, God is going to raise up an entire nation that even today is scattered all across our world.

Their seed is without number. And yet we see this is where we find Joseph, a chosen vessel, born into an imperfect family and an imperfect gathering of God's people. And yet he was a chosen vessel, unlike the other 11.

He wasn't like the other 11. And God chose him for a very specific choice. He was the firstborn of Rachel. You remember who Rachel was? When Jacob fell in love with Rachel, he said, that's the girl for me.

He loved her. He chose her. He desired her. And he said, you know what? I'll work seven years to get her. I mean, that's a chosen bride. That's a chosen bride. I've seen people before get thrown together with someone or people begin to arrange and manipulate.

And the poor guy ended up marrying someone that he wasn't even in love with. But that isn't what happened here. Jacob actually had his eyes full on her. He chose her. He loved her. He desired her. And he said, you know what, little girl?

I'll work seven years for you. He said to his uncle, I'll labor. I'll work for you. I'll do anything it takes. But I've got to have her. I want to take her home. Well, we know how Jacob was tricked. And he ended up finding out he'd married that knight was the older sister who he didn't really want.

And here he ends up now having to work another seven years for the one he loves 14 years. Saints, I'm telling you, I'm talking about God working in this imperfect situation here. And yet out of this love relationship, this love for Rachel, his first love, his first choice, God is going to raise up a vessel, a chosen vessel called Joseph.

And God has a plan for him. You see, that love of Jacob for her is actually reflected in God's love for Joseph. There was a great love and a great plan. God had chosen Joseph. He wasn't just saying, well, what am I left with here?

Or I guess I'm going to have to use Joseph. Way before Joseph ever knew anything, God had chosen him and said, I'm going to work on all the little issues of your life. I'm going to teach your mother at a young age.

Your heart is going to be broken. You're not going to understand everything. But I am going to prepare you. Saints, I believe that until you begin to see these things, you don't understand God's plan in your life and his ways of dealing with you.

Why did God choose Joseph and not choose his 10 brothers? You see, I'm talking about God choosing for a very real reason. He needs the right vessel, the right man. He's not going to spend 20 years preparing you to see you finally go AWOL and make a mess of God's plan.

He won't do that. God has to have a vessel in the right place. Listen to me. In verse 2 here in chapter 37, we see what set Joseph apart. It says,. And Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

Joseph was out in the field working with his brothers, looking after the sheep. He was a shepherd like the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a good shepherd. And while he is out amidst his brothers, his own brothers born to different other mothers, he said he heard their evil report and he brings it back to his father.

Underline that term, their evil report. He brings their evil report back to his father. This was not gossip. It was not backbiting. Neither was it slander. You see, the previous chapters prove this. Amongst his brothers, there's immorality.

There is anger. There is cruelty. There is lying. There is conniving. All of these things in the previous chapters, we see what his brothers really were. When he brings an evil report, he's going straight to his father saying there is an evil in the house of God.

There is an evil in your house. There are people in your house and they're not what they're meant to be. You see, many writers criticize Joseph and I've heard many preachers and I cringe every time. They say this spoiled little brat is gossiping on his big brothers.

That is not true. What you have is a chosen vessel, a consecrated vessel. And as he hears the gossip and the lies and the immorality, his heart is grieved and broken. You see, why did God choose a Josephite?

Why did God separate him and begin working on him for 20 years in a way that he couldn't with the other 10 older brothers? Why is that? You know why? Because of his attitude towards sin. He could not tolerate the evil report of his brothers.

He could not tolerate their attitudes of jealousy and anger and bitterness and strife in their midst. It actually broke his heart. It grieved his heart. And so he comes to the authority of that home. He recognized the authority.

It's not for me to deal with it. I'll go to Daddy. There is an authority. Do you know what he was doing? He was operating in a brotherly office. He was actually operating in brotherly love. He was actually operating in brotherly discipline.

If your brother sinned against you, go to him. I've got no doubt he spoke to them. They probably weren't too happy about that. I believe that he tried to encourage his brothers in a better way. But they had no interest.

Who are you? You see, a lot of the church won't recognize you or I. But I assure you, when we walk according to Scripture, we are putting ourselves in place for being a chosen vessel of God. Those churches with no church discipline are not chosen vessels in this hour.

A man or a woman in the church that will not go to his brother and sister, don't tell me God's chosen you for a great task. If you can't operate in brotherly love and care, I care about you, my brother.

Just between me and you. Brother, I need to speak to you. If we don't operate in that, out of love and care and concern, out of thinking of the glory of God's name, don't tell me we're chosen for a great revival or a great task.

Those who do not despise the evil report of our brethren are not a chosen vessel. You see, everyone who doeth evil hateth the light. That's why when you begin saying, do you realize that's wrong? Do you realize you're breaking Scripture?

Do you realize that's offensive to God? And you get someone who's claiming to be born again and knows Christ and they hate you or get angry with you or resent you, there's something wrong. You see, there's something wrong.

Only those that do evil hate the light. That's why when I come to you and I say, brother, have you noticed this? And you don't like to hear it, but you go, man, it's truth. I know he loves me. I don't like it.

I've even had Candice say things to me before and I went, oh, I've got to pray this through. She loves me. She cares for me. She's helping me. She's protecting me. I don't like to hear it. But you know what?

Because I'm not doing wickedly, I love righteousness. You know what? The light comes in. I don't hate the light. I love the light. And the light sometimes can expose things in your life, in my life, in us as a church.

The light shines in, we want to turn the light out. But no, let the light shine into your life. If you hate the light, you're in serious trouble this morning. But if the light shines in, you say, oh God, search me, change me, help me.

You see, I'm talking about a chosen vessel. Joseph was a chosen vessel. That's the first thing about a chosen vessel. He does walk in the light, lives in the light, speaks according to the light. But also we see something else in verse 3.

Now Israel, that is Jacob, loved Joseph more than all of his children. Notice the love of the Father was on the Son. Just as God the Father loved His Son and chose Him. So Jacob actually loved Joseph more than his other children.

I believe because of his character. He just come with an evil report. He just actually pointed out what was sin. He is actually coming to his father grieved. Where did the love of his father come from?

This wasn't preference. This wasn't thinking little of the others and thinking much of Joseph because he was young. It's not because of that. There was a certain character, a certain wisdom, a certain way of operating.

And it caused a greater love. He did love his other children. He loved them all. He loved all of his children. But it says he loved Joseph more. Do you realize those who walk upright before God grieved over things?

I tell you, God's love is set upon them. What does it mean to be chosen by God? It means His love is set upon you. He is endeared to you because you hate sin. You hate what is wrong in the church of God.

You hate false teaching. Do you know what that does? God the Father looks and He says, I love you. But sure you love everyone. Yes, He does. He does. He loves sinners. He loves the lost. He loves the wicked.

He loves the rebel against Him. He loves Saul of Tarsus as he's killing Christian. But I assure you, someone who walks with God, He loves them. His love is made manifest. Do you know His love isn't made manifest to everyone?

I've met even Christians say, I don't feel the love of God. I don't feel it. Do you know this Bible talks about a manifestation of the love of God? All you hear in the church of today, a manifestation, I fell down.

I jumped. I ran. I shook. All that's stupid. Where is there a manifestation of the love of God, of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? You see, I'm talking about a chosen vessel. Now, Jacob loved Joseph more than his other children because he was the son of his old age.

This child, this young boy that grew up in his house, he loved him because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a coat of many colors. Now, I'm sorry. You young ones, stick your fingers in your ear.

And some of you older ones, stick your fingers in your ear. When it says a coat of many colors, and everybody knows that multicolored coat, that is not what it says in the Hebrew. It wasn't a multicolored coat.

It wasn't a coat with different colors in it. We're not even told the one color that was in it. I'm sorry. Please don't hate me for telling you that. What the Hebrew word means, it is a garment seamless.

No stitching in it, not pieced together. It is one garment from head to toe. It goes to the end of your arms. It goes down to your ankles. It is a beautiful garment. And only princes were given these garments, a person in power or authority, a person with responsibility.

Because Jacob loved him, he gave him this garment. And you know what? His brothers were not happy about that at all. You know, at this point, Joseph had a younger brother about four years old called Benjamin.

Benjamin, he was very young. But you know what? Jacob loved Joseph because of his character, his conduct, his wisdom, a 17-year-old young man. God help us. We've got people in the church, and they're meant to be mature.

They act like fools. They're still liars. Men in the pulpit, and they're still liars. They're hypocrites. They're game players. They're very light. You know what? This young man, 17 years old, had something about him that God said, he's a chosen vessel.

I can use him. I'm going to work with him. You know, if you're training anyone for a task, you don't want to teach an unteachable person, someone who hates to be taught, never listens, isn't going to do it, isn't going to walk with you through this process.

You might as well give up at the beginning. God does not waste his time working on individuals. But notice this, this coat of many colors, this garment that was a manifestation of the love of God. Notice what God's love done.

He marked Joseph out for hatred. Do you know what God does with a real chosen vessel? He so loves him and so adorns him with the garment. At 17, he doesn't need that garment until 20 years down the road.

He's not going to sit on a throne. He'll be in a prison. He won't need to sit and make decisions that affect lives. 20 years it's going to take. But do you know what? At 17, God, through Jacob, gives him a garment and says, I love you more than these.

You know what he's doing? He's actually marking him out. He's separating him. Do you think God knew that all of this was going to draw hatred? Do you not think that this blessing of God, this love of God, this gift of God is going to begin marking him out?

Yes, yes. His father gives him this special garment. And listen to what it says right after this in verse 4. It drew hatred. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him.

They hated him. He was his father's favorite, but he wasn't his brother's favorite. They're born in the same house by the same father. They grew up together. They have the same covenant in history. They all said, Abraham's my great-grandfather.

Isaac, Jacob, this is our family. We've got the promises. We have the covenants. We have the word of God. We have all the blessings. All of it came through Abraham. All of them could say that. All of them knew they were a special people.

All of them knew they were the redeemed of the Lord. All of them knew that God was going to work through them. All of them knew that God was going to bring a seed through them. But listen, you have brothers in the house of God with all the same blessings, and they hate Joseph.

Why did they hate him? Because of that coat. Because of the love. Oh, it's going to get worse. It's going to get worse. You could just say, well, that was the lack of wisdom of Jacob. Why didn't Jacob have more wisdom?

Oh, but let's look at God the Father. Look at verse 5 with me. It says, and Joseph dreamed a dream. It gets worse. You know what God is doing? God is putting his plan into operation. He's going to need Joseph in 20 years.

He is a chosen vessel. So what does he allow? He allows the love of his father to fall upon him. He allows this reproach to come upon him. He allows him to be hated by his brother. But he doesn't stop there.

God gave him a dream. Where did Joseph's dream come from? Was it himself? Absolutely not. It was from God. Notice already hatred is beginning to be ignited against Joseph. You know why? He's a chosen vessel.

It's all part of the plan. You say, I don't like to be hurt. I don't like to be rejected. I don't like to be isolated. Can I inform you here this morning, this could be the very hand of God upon you. This could be the hand of God upon this church.

Do you realize when we started this church, there were men, I was one of the only ones standing with them when they started a church with four people or a handful of people. I mean in different countries.

And do you know when we started this church, they're the very ones, they go utterly quiet and they separate themselves. I was dumbfounded. Men that I'd opened up doors for, helped, labored with, encouraged, all of a sudden they all disappear.

First six months when we start this church, I couldn't understand it. I used to say to Candice, what is happening here? We open up a church, there is all these people, we've helped them. They were there before.

As soon as we started this church, they separated themselves. They canceled to come for preaching. There were men that come preach. During the first month, they canceled out, said, sorry, Brother Keith, I can't come.

Someone spoke to me. I assure you, I went through six months of this until six months into it, I went, this is the will of God for this church. I am utterly convinced of it. Since I know that, six months into it, I went, it is not people separating themselves from us.

It is God separating us, because there's gonna be a message in this church. There's gonna be a lifestyle in this church. There's gonna be a dream in this church. There's gonna be a plan in this church.

And you know what? If we're mixed in with those brothers, their speech, their conduct, their attitude, their convictions may get in this church. You know, saints, we have never separated ourselves from the body of Christ.

Not once have we done that. Not once have we done that. You know what? It's been many so-called brothers have rejected us, separated. You know what's in it? God's plan, and his purpose is actually within it.

So God gives Joseph a dream, knowing what's gonna come from that. The dreams are perfectly accurate, but the vessel is not fully mature. Do you know that Joseph lacked wisdom? He did. He lacked depth.

He lacked experience, and he certainly lacked maturity. At 17 years old, God gives you a dream, and what? You go to your 10 older brothers who hate you, who get angry with you, because of your coat, and because of the love of your father, and you're gonna tell them, do you know God gave me a dream?

And let me explain what the dream actually is. Saints, I assure you, there was no sin. There was no guile in this young man, but there was a naivety. He was free of guile, not realizing the full significance of his dreams, but he was gonna assume God was gonna prepare him.

At 17 years old, he loved his life. He was secure with his family, living in his home. He was happy. He enjoyed it. No heartbreaks, no sorrows, no separation from anyone, but do you know what? If God is going to make him a chosen vessel, something has to happen here.

Do you know when he began to share his dreams? Do you know, you brothers, I had a dream, and all of your weight bowed down before mine. What is that gonna stir up? God has given him this dream. God knows he's gonna share it.

God knows he doesn't have the maturity, but it is an accurate word from God. You can have gifting from God without maturity to know how to carry it. You really can. In verse 6 to verse 8, we have that first dream given by God very clearly.

You know what his brothers said? Look at them. They gave the interpretation. They said, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more. Do you see what the dreams of God?

God can see everything. Do you know God gave him a dream knowing that they're gonna hate him more? God actually revealed something to him. God showed him the future. This dream revealed Joseph's future, his brother's future, his parents' future.

All of this was being revealed to a chosen vessel. He doesn't fully understand it, but he knows this is God. God knows the dream is gonna get him in trouble. Now, love. Hey, I'm not responsible if someone loves me, but that love is gonna get me in trouble.

That code of yours is gonna get you in trouble. That hatred of sin is gonna get you in trouble. And these dreams given by God are gonna get you in trouble. But there was a second dream given by God in verse 9 to verse 10.

We see his father depicted as the moon, the mother depicted, sorry, the father depicted as the sun, the mother as the moon, and his brothers as stars. Again, the brothers knew exactly what this dream means, and he goes and shares it with them.

Why does God give two dreams? To make it sure, settled, confirmed, established, so there's no doubt. And one dream interprets the other. You know, Joseph, you're a chosen vessel, but it's gonna take me 20 years to get you to that place.

There's no way you could carry this now. You speak to the wrong people at the wrong time about the wrong thing. I need to prepare you. You know what his father done when he heard the dream? Three times he shares his dreams.

Once to his brothers, the first dream, then a second time to his brothers, and then that second dream, a third time in front of his father. Now his brothers are raging. They don't only hate his coat and the love, they now hate these dreams that God are giving him.

God's Sovereignty and Man's Responsibility

All of this is a chosen vessel for what God is gonna do in 20 years' time. Look at this second point with me for a moment. Listen carefully. Understanding God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.

Do you realize this story? This chapter 37 reveals God's sovereignty and man's responsibility in a chosen vessel. I've met many in the church that say, I know God loves me. I know God's hands upon me.

I know God's gonna answer all my prayers, but it doesn't matter how I live. Oh, how wrong you are. Entire churches can be set aside, like with Joseph's brothers, saying you're unusable. Do you know what I'm gonna have to do with you?

As a church, as an individual, I'm just gonna set you to the side. And for the next 20 years, you're gonna enjoy fun together, meetings together. For the next 20 years, you're not gonna have your heart broken.