Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. To all my fellow pastors, I've got a question for you. Does your city know that your church exists? Listen, I get it. You're preaching, you're leading, you're discipling, you're doing ministry. We are in the same boat. And let's be honest, social media and marketing, not your strong suit. Not mine either. And that's probably the last thing on your mind. And that's why we chose to partner with Church Candy Marketing for our church Plant the garden. We out here, y'all. They help churches get more actual guests walking through the doors on Sunday without your eye having to stress over ads or algorithms or trying to crack the social media code. Right now, Church Candy is helping nearly 400 churches reach their communities with simple invite ads. And it works. It's super effective. I can tell you from firsthand experience. So if you're tired of being your city's best kept secret, how about you do this? Go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a free consultation book a discovery call. Their team will break it all down and show you how to start seeing new faces at your church this Sunday. I'm in the trenches with you trying to grow the church. And how about we just start a whole campaign? No more empty churches. So let's partner with Church Candy and get our churches full. The glory of Jesus. Let's go. We got Genesis, chapter 41, 42, and 43. If you haven't done the reading for today, it's not going to take long. It's good reading. It. It doesn't move slow. You don't got to trudge through it. You can move through it pretty fast. And that's always a good sign. Hey, pause this audio, stop the video and go do the the reading for the day. If you haven't done it yet, if you've done the reading for the day, let's dive in. Like always. I'm gonna have some context clues for you. Gonna give you a nerdy nugget or two. And I'm always gonna leave close off with a timeless truth. What happens in these chapters is that Pharaoh is going to have a dream. He's going to need that dream to be interpreted. Of course. It is Joseph who has the interpretation for the dream, gives a dream, and then that elevates Joseph to become a second in command in all of Egypt, which then leads to a moment where we have a fulfillment of Joseph's dream. And that means that his brothers are going to come and bow before him. So let's start off with some context clues. First, just want to put this moment of Joseph's life in context of his whole life. Okay? Joseph becomes second in command. He interprets Pharaoh's dream correctly, becomes second in command. However, Joseph has been second in command his entire life. Joseph was second in command in his father's household, which is why he was kind of, I don't know, snitching on his brothers, okay. Because he was stewarding the position that he had for his natural born father. And then he gets sold into slavery, and he becomes second in command in Potiphar's household, and then he gets sold into slavery and he becomes second in command even in the prison. And now he's second in command in all of Egypt. So really, Joseph has been rehearsing and practicing the very thing that God ultimately had prepared for him, designed for him. And had he thought to himself at any point, my job with Potiphar is not important. I'm a slave, I can cut corners. Or my, my job in this prison isn't important, or my job with my father is not important. The reality is that God is the ultimate Mr. Miyagi. He will get you to wax on and wax off, not telling you what the plan is, but allowing life to actually prepare you for the things that he has in store for you. So that's just putting Joseph's curse, career, life into context. Next, when Joseph is elevated, okay. To become second in command in all of Egypt, there's a couple of things that the text is going to specifically tell us that Pharaoh does for Joseph. First, he's going to give him a new name. He's going to give him a robe, he's going to give him a signet ring. He's going to give him a gold chain, he's going to give him a chariot, he's going to give him a wife. I just want us to think about those, okay? He's got to change Joseph's name, He's going to give Joseph a robe, some clothing. He's going to give Joseph a signet ring. This signet ring would have allowed Joseph to actually do business in Pharaoh's name because that signet ring would have been responsible for like, an official wax seal, okay? That signet would have allowed Joseph to really act in the authority of Pharaoh. He gets a gold chain and he gets a chariot and he gets a wife. The text is actually trying to communicate to us that Pharaoh is becoming a new father figure in Joseph's life. These are all the things that a dad is actually supposed to do. A name equals identity. A wife means that your dad has secured your future authority in the form of a ring, a chariot, a way for you to be transported into destiny. A robe which is covering, remember, and. And these are also things that Joseph's father has not been able to do because his brothers have robbed his dad of the opportunity to do these things. And so when you see the elevation of Joseph, you. You definitely need to see Pharaoh is kind of becoming like a spiritual father, like a, a surrogate father father to Joseph. That's going to become important in a couple of days. When we look at what happens when Joseph's actual father dies, next thing, just context that we kind of need to see is that all of these things are actually recorded in Egyptian history. This is actually like really, really cool. John Walton talks about this in, in his commentary. The text goes into significant detail concerning the elevation of Joseph to high office. Similar scenes are depicted in every detail in Egyptian tomb paintings. This section contains the most information that can be checked against Egyptian practice and history. The first step for Pharaoh is to give Joseph his signet ring. This ring was necessary for Joseph to do business in Pharaoh's name. Since it was you, it was used to seal official documents. Okay, so we see just, if we cross check what happens when we pull up Egyptian archeology and history. We can actually see a. The Bible is actually describing for us something that definitely would have happened in real history. And Egyptian history just attests that this is like super, super accurate. That's dope. This is another, like the validity of the Bible just on display. Okay, let's move to some nerdy nuggets. When Joseph's brothers arrive, okay, he notices them. They don't notice him. And he wants to test them. And he has a very, very, very specific test for them. He's like, hey, I'll keep Simeon, you go get Benjamin. Why Benjamin? Well, because Joseph wants to know this. Have a Leah's boys learned how to love Rachel's boys. That's the question at the heart of Joseph's test. Has the heart of these individuals actually turned? Now we know from the text that Joseph has a heart of forgiveness. Okay. He doesn't kill them when he sees them. There's no revenge here. There's no retribution here. Joseph has forgiven these brothers, but that does not mean that Joseph is obligated to reconcile with his brothers. Actually, forgiveness and reconciliation are completely different things. And so now Joseph is going to test his brothers to see if their character has changed, to see if their behavioral norms have changed, to see whether or not they are willing to sell one of their brothers into slavery in the way that they were willing to sell Joseph into slavery. And to be honest, they're not. Actually, it's Judah who speaks up and says to the dad, hey, I'll be personally responsible for Benjamin if anything were to happen. You can actually see life and life experiences have taught these boys a lot of lessons. Here's another nerdy nugget is that famine in, in Egypt was really rare. Joseph is gonna interpret Pharaoh's dream. In the dream, we got lean cows, we got fat cows, we got stalks of grain. And essentially the dream means that there's going to be seven years of plenty in the land of Egypt, followed by seven years of famine. Now, the reality is that famine is incredibly rare in an Egyptian context, because Egyptian life, civilization didn't revolve around or was not dependent upon rain. It was actually dependent upon the Nile flooding annually, which is how they got water and crops. And the Nile just flooded that. That's it. Like, the Nile flooded every single year. And all of that excess water is. It's called a fertile crescent. Like, it. Like, if you look at the Nile river, everything along the banks of the Nile are green. And then as you move out, it just becomes desert. Water is life when it comes to a desert kind of background. And so Egypt doesn't depend on rain, but rather the annual flooding of the Nile. When Pharaoh says to Joseph, you're full of the spirit of the Lord. Like, it's also a. Like, whatever God can cause there to be a famine, which is very, very rare, and then give us a warning about it and then fill someone with wisdom so that we can not just avoid this famine, but prosper in the middle of it. That must mean that the finger of the Lord is like, on this somehow. Bible department family, it's Dr. Manny Arango. And first thing I want to say is that I'm proud of you for completing the New Testament. You did it. And now that we're in the Old Testament, I hope that looking at Genesis and Exodus from an ancient perspective and worldview has kind of like, opened your eyes. Well, I got news for you. If you've enjoyed some of the interpretations that I've brought to the table from Genesis, then that's just the tip of the iceberg. This entire book, Crushing Chaos, was written from an ancient hermeneutic. I'm looking at stories like the Flood, Adam and Eve from the perspective of an ancient person. And we've got an event coming up on April 26th where I'll take a lot of the content from this book and I'll turn that content into live lectures. You don't want to miss it. You can actually register for that event right now. The link is, is in the description and more than content. I think what you'll find as we gather together in Nashville are like minded believers and friends in a community of people that you don't just watch content with online that you can get to know in person. I'd love to see you in Nashville. I'd love to hug you, high five you. And I'd love to nerd out together for one day as we come together in Nashville to learn about how to crush chaos. See you in Nashville. Peace. So I gave you context clues, I gave you some nerdy nuggets. And honestly, let's get into some timeless truths. Here's the first timeless truth that God will consistently raise up men and women with insight, prophetic understanding and plans strategy for governments and world leaders. Okay, this is actually a theme that's going to find its way through the entire Bible. This is Daniel when it comes to the Babylonian empire, Nebuchadnezzar. This is the same favor that Nebuchadnezzar is going to show Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is why? Because Daniel can interpret visions, he can interpret dreams. And it's not so Pentecostal that it doesn't come with a plan. Okay, think about that. Joseph not only has a prophetic ability to interpret dreams, which is a charismatic gift, that's a grace gift. He also has the administration and the strategy to know exactly what Egypt should do from a grand scale. Now, economically, it makes a ton of sense that Egypt would be down for this because essentially they're going to have an, an, an import tax on all the grains. They're going to tax it 20%. And then once grain supplies have run out, then they're going to make people buy the grain that they were already taxed on. And then once the grain has run out, people are going to trade their property for food so that they don't starve. And so actually what Joseph does here is he sets things up so that Egypt grows in the Middle of a famine. I'll say this. I'm going to say two things as my timeless truth. Well, I've already said one thing which is God will always raise up people full of the spirit to give strategic insight and wisdom to government leaders. Egypt is a pagan country and God is still talking to a pagan man named Pharaoh because God cares about the way that world leaders use the influence that they have. So this idea that God only speaks to Christians, I think that is a far fetched idea. If you look at the astrologers or the three wise men that find Jesus Christ as a baby, if you look at Pharaoh, God is talking to anybody who will listen. And God wants to give a heads up to any world leader. And I think that we have become so political that we have forgotten that God is always going to raise up people like Joseph to give insight, instruction and strategy to people who are leading governments. That, that is, God does that not just because he cares about Israel or the church, he just cares about human flourishing on a grand scale. And he knows that world leaders have a massive influence and impact when it comes to people. And so God communicates to Pharaoh in a dream. Pharaoh doesn't have to be circumcised for this to happen. Pharaoh doesn't have to be baptized for this to happen. Pharaoh. The only thing that qualifies Pharaoh to receive communication from God is that Pharaoh is a leader with tons of influence. And God wants to communicate because God wants, God wants to woo people to himself and ultimately God wants human civilizations to thrive and flourish. God is a God of life and life thrives and life flourishes. When good leaders can hear from the Lord and actually use insight into the decisions that they're making. Okay, God gives Joseph a recession proof economic plan. It's funny, in 2008, you know, we had a massive housing market crash and I learned a lesson. I, I was really young, I was probably college age at the time. But a mentor of mine was saying that he was in Atlanta and he saw, you know, people declaring bankruptcy everywhere. But he also saw massive construction machines and cranes and, and wrecking balls and all types of stuff, building all kinds of things. And he says, yeah, not everybody's broke, you know, not everybody lost their money. And the middle of a recession is actually the time to make the most amount of money. And he said wealthy people wait for recessions. Wealthy people thrive in recessions. And I remember I grew up with a poverty mindset. My dad was a drug addict, my mom was a teenage mom. And I remember that was a turning Point for me to go, oh, I've always associated recession with a neg as a negative word. Our recessions are bad. But this guy said, no, wealthy people thrive in the middle of a recession. And me just going, okay, cool, I have to change recession in my mind from bad word to disaster. You know, mayday, mayday. To opportunity. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity in order to gain wealth. That the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous. But if I don't have a vision and a strategy like Joseph, then the wealth of the wicked could be laid up for me, but I'm not going to access it. If I'm someone who lacks discipline, lacks work ethic, lacks vision, lacks discernment from the Holy Spirit, then I'm not going to be in position to actually become wealthy in the middle of recessions. Number two, this is, I think this is maybe number three, another timeless truth for, for us all is that anyone who thinks that the seven years of plenty are going to last forever is unwise. That wisdom actually dictates there's seven years of plenty. There's always going to be years of plenty. Guess what? There's always going to be years of famine as well. And wise people know how to navigate years of plenty. They also know how to navigate years of famine in an inability to just think we're just gonna, the good times are always gonna be with us. That, that's absolutely unwise not to. I don't wanna ruffle any feathers, but if you look at two institutions, they kind of manage this very, very differently. And you can see the results today. If you look at Rhema Bible Training Institute at one point, when Brother Hagin was alive, that was their years of plenty. I mean, money was rolled to that place like crazy. That, you know, enrollment was, was great. Everything was up and to the right and they never thought that it was going to ever run out. And if you look at Rhema Bible Training Institute today, I mean, they are just hurting. It's not what it used to be. It's definitely out of its heyday. It's out of its prime. Why? Because those are just optimistic leaders who, who just thought, man, Brother Hagin's gonna live forever. Nothing's ever gonna go wrong. It's always gonna be years of plenty. Good leaders know years of famine are around the corner, so we should plan for years of famine. If you take another institution that's right down the street from Rhema Bible Training Institute, you look at oru, Oral Roberts University, obviously, when Oral Roberts was alive, you Know, it was good times. Good times rolling. He, as an individual, brought tons of. Of resources and money into that organization. But they had leaders who knew, hey, there's always going to be seven years of famine after seven years of plenty. And if you look at Oral Roberts University today, actually, Oral Roberts University today, Brother Hagan and Oral Roberts both died. But Oral Roberts University has grown after the death of Oral Roberts, whereas Rhema Baba Training Institute has really fail to grow after the death of Brother Hagin. Why? Because one organization realizes, you know what? We've got to capitalize on the seven years of plenty so that when the seven years of famine come, we can grow again. We want to grow during plenty. We want to grow during a recession. We want to grow when the founder's alive. We want to grow when the founder's dead. We want to grow in every season. We want to flourish in every season. We want to be like a. A tree planted by waters that grow in season and out of season. We want to defy the ups and downs of. Of the market. We. We want to be stable, just want to be the kind of institution that lasts the test of time, just built to last. And leaders who typically just bank on the good times are never going to stop. Those leaders aren't like Joseph. Joseph understands if there's seven years of plenty, there's always going to be followed by seven years of famine. And that there's a natural ebb and flow to the market, there's a natural ebb and flow to economics, there's a natural ebb and flow to life. And if we are going to be stable in the middle of that ebb and flow, then that doesn't mean that we ignore it. That actually means that we plan for the ebbs and the flows so that we can stay consistent. That, ladies and gentlemen, is our timeless truth for day 94. All right, if you're on a streak, don't break it. I want to see you right here tomorrow for day 95. We're going to be in Genesis chapter 44, 45, and 46. If you're not on the streak, hey, today's a great day to start a streak. If you have nine, day 94 complete. Let's add day 95 to it. I want you to dig in tomorrow. I'll be right here. I can't wait to see you. I love you. So proud of you. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department if you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.