Blessing in Plenty and Hunger Genesis 39

Eureka Baptist Church

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May 19, 2019

00:21: Many times we define success by good things happening in our lives
00:26: The bills are paid a marriage is strong Children are doing well.
00:31: You're prospering in your job and In your walk with the Lord you feel like his blessing is upon your life
00:39: Things are moving forward without much of a hitch but what if you have setbacks and what if these setbacks are not self -inflicted a
00:51: Setback can be any kind of trial that you face Does this mean that progress is not happening in your life when this comes upon you?
01:02: And when you ask this question You may get a different answer depending on whom you are talking to if you ask someone who understands success the wrong way
01:13: He or she may tell you yes You have gone backwards and I hope the things will go better for you in the future
01:21: But if you ask a wise person who loves the Lord, you'll get a different answer a correct answer that is the setbacks planned by God in your life should not be seen as regression, but progression a 17th century
01:37: Puritan by the name of Matthew Henry Wrote that suffering for a believer is like a spiritual promotion
01:45: You do you view your trials that way? Things are moving along and the rug is pulled out right from under you
01:54: This is why it is so important that we understand God's sovereignty in our lives
02:01: There are no accidents Everything happens by his perfect design Success in his eyes is not always a smooth path of blessing
02:12: But one of hardship in the hardship things are moving forward to fulfill his great plans for you
02:20: This morning as we continue our sermon series through Genesis. We are going to see this very thing in the life of Joseph We are going to see him have great success
02:32: Blessing where things are going well, and we are going to see him have success in a different way and that's through hardship and Both of these are the
02:41: Lord's doing so I encourage you to turn with me to Genesis 39 If you're using a red
02:47: Bible in the pews, it's on page 39 It's not every time every day you get to hear that chapter 39 page 39
02:55: This sermon is titled blessing in plenty and hunger and our big idea the main sentence or proposition of this of this sermon is the
03:08: Lord's Consistent because sorry the Lord's consistent blessing is over of his children
03:14: During opposite seasons of the life of faith the Lord's consistent blessing is over his children during Opposite seasons of the life of faith, and we're going to see three truths that show this today
03:28: The first truth is that he causes the godly to thrive in good seasons
03:33: And we'll see this in verses 1 through 6 B But before we jump into our text today,
03:39: I want to give a little recap of last week's sermon We're always coming from somewhere and at the end. We're always going somewhere
03:46: Last week we saw the story of Judah and Tamar This is one of those stories in the
03:51: Bible where we wonder why is it in there? This is odd But we saw the gold in the text when you dig you will find gold in every text of Scripture And what we saw in the bizarre part of the story is
04:04: Tamar seduced her father -in -law Judah since none of Judah's sons gave Tamar children and When Tamar seduced
04:12: Judah she conceived and bore twin boys Perez and Zerah And we saw that Perez is the more significant son born
04:20: He came out first when it looked like Zerah was going to come out first and this gave us an indication that something
04:28: Glorious was going to happen through Perez It's through Perez that this royal line from Judah will go through that leads to the
04:38: Messiah King Jesus Christ But before we got to this last part of the narrative the treasure portion.
04:44: We saw that the Lord used Strange means to accomplish his great purposes in the world
04:50: Throughout human history his grace has been shown in the ugliest scenarios as he has turned them into good
04:58: The Messiah Jesus came from the ugliest birth narrative of the twelve sons of Jacob God does things like this in his infinite wisdom.
05:06: He turns the greatest sins to the greatest good For example, he turned the greatest sin in human history into the greatest good, right?
05:14: The crucifixion of the perfect Son of God leads to the salvation of the world We also know that apart from Christ We are great sinners, but the great hope for us is that God turns our ugly sins into purity through Christ We are
05:29: God's image bearers and that image was marred when sin came into the world through Adam and Eve But when we come to faith in Christ that image is being restored
05:39: I gave that I gave the image of the glass right when when humanity was first created the glass was clear and perfect When when sin came into the world the glass is shattered
05:49: But when you come to Christ the pieces are being put back together where in future glory, it'll be a clear picture
05:56: Once again, and so we see God's plan here turning the ugliness into purity through humanity
06:03: So that's what we saw last week But this bring this brings us now to our text today two
06:09: Sundays ago. We started the narrative of Joseph We saw his brothers throw him into the pit and then sell him for profit to the
06:18: Midianite traders who were passing by They took Joseph to Egypt and we saw the
06:23: Lord's guiding hand lead Joseph there Because it is in Egypt that this great story about this great man is going to be told
06:32: We saw Joseph face great adversity in chapter 37 and we are going to see him face as I already mentioned great adversity again today
06:40: And the Lord's hand is in it all But we'll start by seeing good things happening for Joseph in the first six verses here
06:48: So if you look with me now Genesis 39 This first little paragraph here verses 1 through 6
06:55: B Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt and Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh the captain of the guard an
07:03: Egyptian Had brought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there The Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man and he was in the house of his
07:13: Egyptian master His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands
07:21: So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him and he made him
07:26: Overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had the
07:35: Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field
07:43: So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge and because of him he had no concern about anything
07:50: But the food he ate So now in this narrative in the life of Joseph we are in Egypt He is in Potiphar's house in chapter 37 verse 36.
08:03: We learned that the Midianite traitors. They're also called the Ishmaelites Sold Joseph to Potiphar the captain of the guard of Pharaoh and the key theme
08:12: We are going to see throughout Joseph's life and in the next few chapters Especially is what the beginning of verse 2 says the text says the
08:21: Lord was with Joseph The author Moses Puts this right at the beginning of this chapter because he wants us to see
08:29: The success of Joseph is coming from the Lord and to remember the Lord's presence with him as he is about to face tremendous adversity
08:39: This is a great reminder for us God is always with believers If you belong to the
08:46: Lord today, he's with you. Deuteronomy 31 6 says he will never leave you nor forsake you We are going to see this beautiful truth in the life of Joseph and the same truth applies to Everyone here who knows the
08:57: Lord and so take heart in that Now the middle of verse 2 says that the Lord's presence with Joseph made him a successful man
09:06: His success took place in the house of the Egyptian master Potiphar Potiphar took notice at Joseph's success
09:15: He stood out like a sore thumb and he noticed that everything Joseph did seem to go well in verse 3 eater
09:24: He reiterates once again that it was the Lord Who made this happen? What I mentioned last week is that when you do things
09:32: God's way things tend tend to go well With you and this is certainly the case with Joseph his obedience to God made him a top -notch
09:41: Servant in the house of Potiphar And this is a reminder to us that as followers of Christ.
09:46: Our work should be excellent in everything that we do It's more pleasing when someone does a good job
09:55: Without a Bible verse on it than if someone makes something crummy that has the Bible verse on it ever thought about that Because the
10:02: Lord loves excellence. He does he loves things done to his glory Christians should be the best workers out there since God is with us and we reflect him and we should use our gifting whatever that may be
10:15: For his glory to use it to the best of our ability
10:20: Now the excellent work of Joseph and the clear blessing upon his life led Potiphar to favor
10:27: Joseph up to this point in this house. He would have been a not in a non important position
10:32: But as his success is noticed Joseph is about to receive a promotion In verse 4 tells us that Potiphar put him in charge of the house
10:41: So Joseph goes from an ordinary servant in the house To being placed in charge of the house.
10:48: This is obviously an important position Potiphar is high up on the food chain
10:55: He is the captain of Pharaoh's guard. And so Joseph gets to look after his house
11:01: And as you might expect Joseph's success led to Potiphar's Success verse 5 tells us this his house was blessed and his field was blessed because of Joseph And this reminds us of the great promise of Genesis 12 3
11:19: Those who honor the offspring of Abraham will be blessed and those who dishonor the offspring of Abraham will be cursed
11:27: And so by Potiphar treating Joseph. Well things are going well for him What's interesting is that we have
11:38: We have many many good workers in this church And one thing I've loved about moving up here is seeing this is a very blue -collar area and not just blue -collar workers
11:46: But the white -collar workers here as well We have a number of very very dedicated workers and and you represent the
11:52: Lord very well And I'm gonna pick on one person in particular here And he's gonna be embarrassed because he doesn't he doesn't like it when this happens, but Shawn Anderson, of course
12:01: He's an excellent worker He has built a tremendous reputation in this community
12:06: Shawn doesn't even need to advertise because by word of mouth people know Shawn's work.
12:12: He's trustworthy He's godly and the Lord's plus the Lord's blessing is upon him and I know
12:18: Mike and Linda Chose Shawn to build their house, and I know that they said to Shawn Take care of it.
12:27: All we need to worry about is the food just like Potiphar, right? He said we don't have to worry about a lot here because you're gonna take care of that And that's what
12:36: God calls us to do as his servants to the point where He can let us go and we're gonna do such a good job wherever he puts us
12:43: That the person who puts us who gives us the job doesn't even have to wonder if things are gonna get done Right or done well or done honestly because the person knows because of your reputation and your godly influence
12:56: And this is what it was like for Potiphar his trustworthy employee Joseph took care of things so he didn't have to worry.
13:04: He trusted him because of his honest and hard -working Proven track record and so Potiphar gave him free reign to look after all that he owned
13:14: In his verse 3 says the pagan Potter for memory's not even a believer He knew that the
13:21: Lord's blessing was upon Joseph's life Since he even benefited so Joseph was blessed because the
13:29: Lord was with him making him very successful and all that he did and things went well with him and The Lord prospers you as well
13:37: Now when I say this I need to be careful. I'm not talking. This isn't prosperity gospel not not even close when
13:43: I use the word Prosper, I don't just mean financially This is included right the
13:50: Lord does take care of us We do need a wage to live, but it's so much more than that Godly people have lives that are in order because they do things
14:01: God's way When you do things God's way things work and the Lord's blessed and the
14:06: Lord blesses your effort and your and your work For his sake and this is shown in all walks of life and and when people look on it brings the
14:14: Lord glory It's no secret that God's blessing is upon his people in a special way and this blessing is shown to the watching world as Individuals families and churches use his means to accomplish his purposes
14:29: And this text makes it clear that is it is not Joseph's own thinking and ability that made him so phenomenal at what he did
14:37: It was the Lord's hand in his life as first Corinthians 4 7 says what do you have that you did not receive?
14:44: The Lord gives and causes your life to go well as his blessing is upon you The life of faith has seasons like this but not these exclusively as We will see and so we highlight this in the first six verses to say yes, this does happen, but not just this
15:02: We're gonna see the other side now So this is the first point the Lord's consistent Blessing is over his children during opposite seasons of the life of faith and the first truth is
15:13: He causes the godly to thrive in good seasons The second truth of the
15:19: Lord's consistent blessing over his children is that he allows the godly to endure unjust suffering
15:26: He allows the godly to endure endure unjust suffering. We'll see this in verses 6
15:32: C through 20 Now things are going to get very bad for Joseph once again
15:39: Let's read the second half of verse 6 verse 6 through 10 Now Joseph was a handsome
15:47: Inform in an appearance and after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said lie with me
15:54: But he refused and said to his master's wife behold because of me
16:00: My master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge
16:07: He is not greater in this house than I am nor has he kept back anything from me except you
16:14: Because you are his wife How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God and as she spoke to Joseph day after day
16:25: He would not listen to her To lie beside her or to be with her.
16:33: Let's stop right there The note that the author makes at the end of verse 6 is that Joseph was it was a good -looking guy
16:40: He was handsome in form and appearance Now Joseph got his master's
16:47: Potiphar's attention because of his work ethic and the quality of his work now Joseph gets the attention of Potiphar's wife because of his looks
16:57: Verse 7 says that she cast her eyes on Joseph and said lie with me
17:03: But Joseph is largely known as a man of strong character in Scripture I think
17:09: I've only observed one place where he sinned and that's in the chapter 37 verse 2 where he
17:14: Slandered his brothers before his father. He said he says he gave a bad report of them other than that I don't know of another place in Scripture where Joseph sinned
17:27: And that's pretty good Imagine if you were in the Bible or I was in the Bible It makes me tremble to even think of what the
17:34: Lord would write about my story. So so Joseph is a very Godly man and compared to Jacob and compared to Abraham very godly
17:43: Now since Joseph is a godly man, we should not be surprised by his response in verses 8 and 9.
17:49: He tells Potiphar's wife Your husband has put me in charge of all that he has and the only thing he has kept from me is you because you
17:57: Are his wife Now at the end of verse 9 we need to look at this closely We might we might expect him to say how then can
18:05: I do this great wickedness against my master? But he doesn't say that Rather, he says how can
18:13: I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Does that catch you by surprise as you read that?
18:20: This is an important truth. We must understand all of our sins are ultimately against God When we sin we are going outside of the boundaries he has set for us and going our own way
18:35: And when we sin we sin against the Holy God and we bring righteous judgment upon ourselves
18:44: And this is what is so beautiful about the cross of Christ that we sing about today and we sing every week Jesus bore this punishment for us so that we don't have to But all of our sins are against God as small as they may be even if you
18:59: Not just private sins, but sins against your neighbor. Those are against God as well and King David for example knew who his sin was against when he committed adultery with Bathsheba when he repented in Psalm 51 for he wrote against you you only have
19:16: I sinned and done. What is evil in your sight? And when we read this we probably ask the question well you sinned against a lot of people
19:24: David But he says against you and you only have I sinned. He's just emphasizing his sin is a great offense against Almighty God and Joseph does the same thing here only the difference between David and Joseph is that Joseph hasn't sinned
19:41: He's being tempted and he says if I did sin it would be against God Now this paragraph ends in verse 10 with Potiphar's wife pleading with Joseph day after day that he would lie with her
19:54: This would not have been very Should say this would have been very hard for Joseph the temptation pursued him day after day in his workplace
20:03: But he stood strong because his aim was to please the Lord And he did not want to sin against him
20:12: Now that Potiphar's wife knows that Joseph is not willingly going to lie with her this led her to be even more aggressive
20:21: So let's lead about Let's read about this aggression in verses 11 and 12 but one day when
20:28: He went out into Joseph went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house
20:35: She caught him by his garment saying lie with me But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house
20:46: I'll stop right there So Potiphar's wife comes on to Joseph and grabs a hold of him
20:52: This is the first time she's actually made physical Contact and what Joseph does here is what every man or woman should do when confronted with lustful temptations and that is to flee
21:02: The Apostle Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 618 to flee from sexual immorality And he wrote the same thing in 2nd
21:10: Timothy 2 22 to flee from youthful passions The sad part about this story for Joseph is that even though he does the right thing?
21:20: He is about to be unjustly charged by Potiphar's wife And not only is she an adulterer, but she's also a liar
21:29: And let's read this in verses 13 through 18 and As soon as she saw that he had left his garments in her hand and had fled out of the house
21:41: She called to the men of her household and said to them see he has brought among us a
21:48: Hebrew to laugh at us he came in to me to lie with me and I cried with a loud voice and As soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out
21:58: He left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home
22:06: And she told him the same story saying the Hebrew servant whom you have brought among us
22:12: Came in to me to laugh at me But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house
22:22: So we see that the Potiphar's wife falsely accuses
22:28: Joseph it's obvious that she did this out of anger because he refused to be with her and Once she realized that Joseph's garment was left in her hand.
22:39: She planned payback against him She wanted to harm him because of his refusal to give in to this temptation false accusations
22:50: Come out of ulterior motives. They're trying to pay back the person some way somehow by making up a story
23:00: You'll notice in verses 14 and 17 that she claims her husband brought Joseph in to laugh at them and specifically to laugh at her now this
23:09: Hebrew word Can be translated laugh mock play or humiliate?
23:14: She's making the claim that he is mocking the whole household by seducing her
23:19: So she's trying to make this offense even worse by saying this is an affront against the whole household
23:26: Now we know that this is very inconsistent with Joseph's character So this should have been a red flag to everyone involved that maybe she's making this up Sadly as we will see this will not be the case and this brings up an important Topic that's been in the news and it's been a hot topic in the last year or two
23:53: Before I say anything I want to be clear I'm not gonna take a side and say that this side is right that side is wrong in regards to making accusations of sexual misconduct
24:03: If there is credible evidence the person making the accusation should be believed. I think we would all agree with that However, we would be wise to take note of this narrative when it comes to Joseph to see that not all
24:17: Accusations are true Joseph did nothing wrong. In fact, he did what was right
24:25: He was a godly man and his entire reputation would be momentarily damaged the keyword
24:31: There is momentarily because someone lied about him saying he did something.
24:37: He did not do I Have a friend at my old church and the western suburbs of Minneapolis who works at a public school
24:46: And there was a maintenance worker who is accused of some kind of misconduct
24:52: I don't know that what the specific charge was and this happened recently And one thing that my friend said about this this man that he worked with was that the charges against him
25:01: Did not line up with the man that he worked with it seemed inconsistent The man he worked with is a
25:09: Christian and he ended up losing his job over the accusation
25:15: Now, I don't know whether this man did this indiscretion or not what I'm saying is that false accusations do happen it happened to Joseph and We just can't believe an accusation without any evidence
25:30: In fact, the Bible makes clear that in order for a charge to be established against anyone there needed to be two or three witnesses
25:39: Deuteronomy 1915 says a single witness shall not suffice Against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed only on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses shall a charge be established and The Bible has a very
25:59: Stern word for false accusers a few verses down Deuteronomy 19 18 and verse 19 says if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely
26:12: Then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. Think of how serious that is
26:20: Typically in the Old Testament, they would try to accuse and to get this person put to death And if they found that you made it up that would happen to you very serious and The reason the
26:31: Bible says there needs to be more than one witness is to prevent against false accusations. This is this is wise
26:38: Most of world history there has not been DNA testing Multiple witnesses validate a truth claim and when
26:46: Jesus rose from the dead, how many witnesses did he have? Did he have one witness? He had over 500 witnesses
26:53: But what scripture says if you just have two or three that that'll suffice and in Joseph's case this accusation should have been a
27:03: Red flag since he was a godly man Who had a nice track record of godly behavior?
27:11: But sadly Potiphar's wife who lied was believed over his word and let's let's read this in verses 19 through 20
27:20: As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him this is the way your servant treated me his anger was kindled and Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison the place where the king's prisoners were confined and he was there in prison
27:36: Let's stop there So Potiphar does not believe Joseph who has a reputation of good character, but rather believes his wife and In anger he sends
27:47: Joseph to the king's prison and what what King means is the Pharaoh and in the next chapter the word
27:53: King and Pharaoh are used interchangeably And what we must see in this narrative is the
28:01: Lord's hand In Joseph's life, you can see why him being put in this specific place is significant
28:10: This is a bear as we read this we need to underline this That the location where he was put because remember this is all happy and according to God's good good plan in his life
28:20: And Joseph might be wondering what in the world is happening here. I've been living for the Lord I'm doing all these good things and now
28:26: I'm thrown into prison But we need honor we need to underline that and say he sent to the
28:32: Pharaoh's prison and we will see why this is important The Lord's hand is involved here
28:39: This probably felt like an enormous setback in his life, but Joseph trusted in the
28:45: Lord We know Joseph trusted God because he already had an enormous setback to put him in Egypt in the first place
28:52: He was sold to Midianite traders and he saw the Lord turned that adversity to good
28:57: So after already going through adversity where he trusted the Lord throughout He trusted the
29:03: Lord again and into the future We said we saw in there today, right he's living for the
29:10: Lord even after he was dealt a bad hand by being put into Potiphar's house and Which is falsely accused and sent to prison, but how could this possibly be that God's plan is moving forward in his life
29:28: It is usually the how questions that are the most difficult as we go through the life of faith
29:34: We might ask Lord. How is this path? You are sending me down better for me than the path that was on In Joseph's case.
29:43: He went from ruler over Potiphar's house to prison That sounds like a demotion and in the world's eyes it is but we know the big picture and We will see the big picture in the weeks to come
29:58: To give you a preview and you maybe already know this because you know the story of Joseph Since Joseph is in Pharaoh's prison.
30:04: He's going to have an opportunity to impress the Pharaoh and This is how Joseph would go from prisoner to a prominent figure a very prominent figure in Egypt The Lord used unjust suffering to lead him there this horrible event would lead him to greater blessing in his life
30:22: God's ways are indeed higher than our ways So the
30:27: Lord's consistent blessing is over his children during opposite seasons of the life of faith He allows the ungodly to endure just unjust suffering
30:37: That's the second biblical truth That we see in this text the third biblical truth that we are going to see our third and final
30:43: Truth is that he does not leave his people to hang out to dry The Lord's consistent blessing is over his children and he does not leave his people to hang out to dry
30:55: He's not just gonna leave him in prison. So verses 21 through 23 Now the last three verses of this chapter.
31:02: We are going to make clear what we read or what we read at the beginning of the narrative Namely the
31:08: Lord's continued continued presence with Joseph ever says that the Lord was with Joseph He does not leave him in a bad situation
31:18: So let's look at verses 21 through 23 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison and the
31:31: Keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison Whatever was done there
31:38: He was the one who did it the keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything
31:43: That was in Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him and whenever he did the
31:48: Lord made it succeed So after being falsely accused verse 21 makes it clear that the
31:55: Lord is on Joseph's side The Lord showed his steadfast love to him and gave him favor with the keeper of the prison in verse 22
32:04: Tells us that the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners there The verse 23 sounds exactly the same as verse 6 from this chapter in verse 6 it was said that Potiphar had no concern about his house and Verse 23 says the keeper had no concern over the prison because of Joseph's excellent work
32:27: This is the kind of employee you want to have if you're if you're a boss and it's worth noting here
32:33: Joseph's character he got a raw deal and Yet he continues to faithfully live for the
32:41: Lord in prison And we have to ask the question we would we do the same if this happened to you
32:53: Let's say you're doing what you're supposed to be doing You're faithfully living for the Lord and someone falsely accuses you and maybe you have to do community service or maybe you go to prison
33:04: Would you still faithfully serve the Lord or would you say Lord? I'm not gonna follow you anymore because I only want to follow you when good things happen to me
33:11: That's not the way we must follow the Lord. That's not the way the Bible teaches us how the Lord works in our lives
33:19: We note Joseph's character here, but it's more important to know how the Lord continues with his people
33:24: The Lord loves those who are his and before we come to know the Lord we are his enemy
33:30: But once we enter into a relationship with him through Christ, we become his friend
33:36: Then the Lord's people or when the Lord's people suffer unjustly the Lord's blessing is upon them
33:44: Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 10 blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake
33:50: For theirs is the kingdom of heaven The Apostle Peter wrote in 1st Peter 3 14 if you suffer for righteousness sake you will be blessed
34:00: Then in verse 17 he wrote for it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be
34:06: God's will than for doing evil And what we know is that suffering for righteousness sake is
34:13: God's will for believers 2nd Timothy 3 12 says all those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted that might be will be persecuted
34:29: So if unjust suffering has not happened to you yet be prepared Down the road it's likely that you will get in trouble for doing what is right
34:38: We're always taught right if you do what is right Things should go well for you.
34:46: It doesn't always work that way. Sometimes you do exactly what is right and things go very bad for you
34:51: We see that with Joseph Joseph got in a plus grade for godly behavior by fleeing from Potiphar's wife and yet he was sent to prison
35:01: He got in trouble for doing what is right Karma is not true
35:07: The Eastern religions teach that this idea of karma that if you if you do well
35:12: You'll be repaid for it in the future. If you do bad, you'll be punished in the future Well, the Bible teaches that sometimes you do well bad things happen to you in the future and that's true
35:23: We have to qualify that right because as I mentioned in the first six verses the Lord does bless you too We have to acknowledge that But he also sends suffering we have to acknowledge that as well in our country is getting further and further
35:38: From God as the years go on I talked to people who are older than me.
35:43: I know I'm young I realize that and Baby boomers and and the generation older than that and they tell me, you know,
35:51: Sunday used to be like a holiday Stores were closed people would go to church and And every every year when they show the statistics less and less people are are in church
36:03: Our country has become secularized. We live we live in a post -christian Nation and and as secularization gets more and more of a hold on our country
36:15: We don't we know the devil works through that. He's gonna go after us in the future. It's gonna happen it
36:20: Ten years from now. We might not be meeting here Ten fifteen twenty years from we might not be meeting
36:26: We might be meeting somewhere else and we have to prepare ourselves for that because as we live in this country
36:35: Insults will be hurled at you just because you stand for the truth and you live by the truth
36:40: You'll be viewed as one who is hindering the progress of society When in fact you are following God's will and you are living for the eternal and not for that which is passing away
36:54: First John 2 15 the world and his desires are passing away But the one who does the will of God abides forever if you want progress follow
37:03: God When unjust suffering comes upon you remember Joseph remember him
37:10: It might happen to you at 5 10 15 20 25 30 years down the road, but remember
37:17: Genesis 39 Joseph and Potiphar's wife Remember that God was with him to produce his good plans for his life
37:25: And he will do the same for you as well the same God who stood by Joseph hasn't changed
37:32: He's the same one who will stand by you So the Lord's consistent blessing is over his children during the opposite seasons of the life of faith
37:41: And he does not leave his children to hang out to dry. That's the third truth that we just looked at So to summarize our sermon today
37:50: Genesis 39 the Lord's consistent blessing is over his children during the opposite Opposite seasons of the life of faith, and we've seen three truths in this narrative of Joseph He causes the godly to thrive in good seasons
38:03: He allows the godly to endure unjust suffering and he does not leave his people to hang out to dry
38:09: And what a great God we serve who writes our story and stands with us
38:16: Through the pleasant and the painful experiences of the life of faith and next week
38:23: We will look at Joseph interpreting dreams once again remember he interpreted the dreams with his brothers
38:30: Now he's going to interpret the dreams of two prisoners and as he interprets these dreams
38:37: The Lord is going to do a great work through this man and his great plans are going to be accomplished So I look forward to opening that with you next week.
38:44: Let's pray father in heaven What a wonderful story the life of Joseph is and we're still early on here, but what a wonderful story it is and As the
38:59: New Testament tells us Everything that's written in the Old Testament is written for our instruction.
39:05: It was written for us You knew that Eureka Baptist in 2019 would need to hear this and so here we are
39:15: Lord We're hearing this word and thank you Lord that you are a God who never changes You're always the same and you always stand by your people through thick and thin Lord you are here to bless us.
39:28: Ultimately. You are here to give us fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore But as we go through this devil ruled world
39:35: We will face adversity We will face trials and you're going to accomplish your good purposes through it
39:41: And so may we understand that as we look at the life of Joseph, maybe remember The wonderful way in which you worked in his life for your glory and for his greatest good in Jesus name