← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
JUST YOUR BASIC RICHES TO RAGS TO SLAVERY TO SEDUCTION TO PRISON TO THE PALACE TO RICHES STORY | PAUL DAUGHERTY | JACOB SERIES PT. 6
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All right, if you got a Bible, go to Genesis 39. Genesis 39. How many? All have enjoyed the Jacob series. Come on. We are coming to the end of it. Next week will be the final week in this series and I would end it today, but there's just so much to get through today. And so I decided to give this message a very short title today. And here's the title of the message. Just your basic riches to rags, to slavery, to seduction, to prison, to the palace to riches story, Short title, shortest title in the message series that we've ever had. But no, this is a. This is a long. This part of the series is going to be six chapters that we're going to cover today. And we're going to talk about how Joseph was betrayed by his brothers. He grew up in a rich household. His dad, Jacob was very wealthy. Joseph was the son of Rachel. His mom had just died. He had all these dreams after his mom died. He dreamed of being a leader. He dreamed that one day he was gonna impact and lead his family and that his brothers would serve him. And the brothers did not like that dream. The brothers were angry and so they betrayed him. They threw him into a pit. Then they pulled him out of the pit. They sold him as a slave to the ishmaelite travelers for 20 per cent pieces of silver. And so Joseph was sold for less than $20. Just because man devalues you doesn't mean that God devalues you. When man says you're not that valuable, God says you are priceless. God paid a high price for you. His son on the cross, his blood for your life. But nonetheless, Joseph was sold as a slave. And then the Ishmaelite travelers carried him down. And this is where we're going to look at. In Genesis 39, verse 1, it says Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites and took him to his house. And I love the next verse. In verse 2 it says, but the Lord, everybody say the Lord, the Lord was with Joseph. So that everything Joseph did, he prospered. And he lived in the house of an Egyptian. Joseph was working in a godless job with a godless boss. A man who did not fear God was his supervisor. Working with co workers who did not fear God. People who literally anything goes. In Egypt you could get away with all kinds of sexual immorality. You could get away with talking bad about people. There was no law, there was no, like Yahweh or God. And so Joseph could have lived without integrity, but he chose to let his character shape the culture instead of the culture shape his character. Joseph chose that he was going to live for God, even if no one else was. And the Lord was with Joseph. God is with you no matter where you go. God was with Joseph when he was a slave. God was with Joseph when he was even being seduced by Potiphar's wife. God was with Joseph when he was thrown into a pit. God was with Joseph when people accused him of a crime he didn't commit. God was with Joseph in the prison. The biggest theme in the story of, of Joseph is that the Lord was with him everywhere he went. Everybody say this with me. The Lord is always with me. He never leaves me, never forsakes me. When I think about the story of Joseph, I can't help but think about my dad. Because my dad oftentimes used to talk about moments in his life where he felt like a Joseph. When God called my dad into ministry, my dad was playing football with, with a full ride scholarship in Arkansas. And my dad relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma, signed up to be a student at Oral Roberts University. Didn't have any scholarship money, didn't really have any money to go to school at oru. He just came here by faith. And while he was there, he worked as a janitor and he served in the athletic center at Oral Roberts University. He would wash guys jerseys and clothes and he was always working kind of in the basement area of Oral Oral Roberts University. But God began to stir a dream in my dad that one day he would start a church and that one day he would have a mentor relationship with Oral Roberts himself. And my dad, he began to just pray and say, God, if this dream is from you, you'll make it come to pass in your timing. And so my dad learned to trust God all through that. And then by the end of his senior year, somehow, miraculously, God paid for all of my dad's schooling. So he graduated debt free, which was a huge miracle for him. And when him and my mom got married, they went and began to serve as youth pastors and ministering in other churches and traveling around. And then the day came where Victory was started in 1981. And God connected my dad to Oral Roberts and built the mentorship. And my dad got to tell Oral. He said, hey, I was a janitor working at your university and you didn't even know me, but I was there. And I was building and ministering and helping in Your school. God has a way of turning things in your life. God has a way of lifting you and promoting you. When no one else knows you. God knows you. When no one else knows what's inside of you, God knows what's inside of you. And God has a way of getting you to where he's called you to be. For Joseph, this was not his dream to be working in Egypt. Joseph did not have a dream or a plan in his mind that. That, like, he was going to be some sort of a, you know, servant for Potiphar. For Joseph, this felt like two steps backwards from his plan. In fact, this felt like 10 steps backwards. But I came across this graphic about my plans versus God's plans. And you've probably seen this before on social media. My plan is very linear, right? Like, I just want to go right here. I like A and I like Z. I'm not a huge fan of L, M, N, O, P. Right here. I don't know about you, but I just don't like the setbacks of life. I don't like the middle. I don't like to have to wait for the fulfillment of a dream. But God causes us to go through all kinds of things. And. And I'm gonna add some stuff here. There's lightning. Sometimes there's bullets, right? There's arrows that get like. You walk through all kinds of adversity and persecution. God's plan is different than your plan. Your plan is like, I just. I got a dream and I'm gonna go do something big for God. It's gonna be great. Or you think, like, man, marriage, family, all of it's gonna be awesome. And God goes not without a process. Every person that's ever followed Jesus understands there's a process to God's plan. There's a process and there's all kinds of pain. And God doesn't send the pain, but he uses the pain. He even uses your flaws and your mistakes. God doesn't cause you to make mistakes, but God says, if you will bring the things that you feel like you are a failure at to the altar. God has a way of reforming things at the altar. God has a way of turning what the enemy meant for evil into something good. And as we see in Joseph's story, everything that was sent to set him back was actually a setup for his comeback. Everything that was sent to destroy. Sometimes God doesn't do things the way we think he should. But God has a perfect plan for your life. Trust God. My dad used to say, blessed are the flexible for they will not be bent out of shape. Just. Just stretch with me for a second. Just stretch. Go ahead. If you need to stand up, you know, just stretch. Some of us are so stiff, we've lost our ability to be flexible. So we get bent out of shape. Why didn't God do what he was supposed to do? Why didn't this happen? We think somehow we're in control. We're not in control. This month marked six years. That Covid happened six years ago. And our whole world was disrupted. And there were so many things that were out of our control. People making decisions that affected us. You gotta have masks. You gotta shut down all that stuff. And at some point you just realize, I'm not in control of everything. But what I am in control of is my attitude and my response to what's going on out here. So I can either shut down with fear and take on the virus of despair and depression and sadness and allow myself to be overwhelmed, or I can respond with faith. I can respond with trust in God. So Joseph could not control what his brothers were gonna do to him or what Potiphar was gonna do to him, or what was gonna happen with Potiphar's wife or all the other stuff, the people that would forget about him. But. But Joseph decided, I'm gonna. Somebody say trust God. Joseph decided in all of it, I'm gonna trust God. While he was serving in Potiphar's house, Joseph discovered the power of purpose. Purpose is not your vocation. Purpose is not your career. Purpose is not even your location. Purpose is not how much money you make. Purpose is not the title that you get at a job. Purpose is not your position. Purpose comes from God. And purpose is something you could carry with you whether you're a teenager or whether you're in your 80s or 90s or hundreds. My grand. Grand fulfilled her purpose all the days of her life. My mom is fulfilling her purpose all the days of her life. And here's the good news. You don't have to have a title to fulfill God's purpose for your life. You don't have to be the leader in charge of Egypt. You can fulfill your purpose even in prison. I meet guys when we go out and minister in the prison. I've met some people in the prison. Every time I say I meet people in prison, I have to, like, give context to that. I'm like, I didn't go to prison. I did go to prison. But to go and minister in the prison. And as I'm sitting and talking with these guys that are in prison. And some of them have been in there for 20, 30 years. They go, man, I'm living my purpose out here. And I'm like, man, there's people outside of the bars that are actually in a deeper prison than those that are inside the bars. Those that are actually behind the bars in prison are more free than some of the men that are out of prison because they've discovered I can fulfill my purpose whether I am hired or fired, whether I'm retired or whether I got a job, whether I'm in my 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s. Just because your title changes doesn't mean your purpose changes. And just a quick definition for believers. What is the purpose of a believer? To bring glory to God. It's that simple. My purpose, everybody say, my purpose is to bring God glory. I can do that anywhere. I can do that anywhere. I can do that in any job. I can do that in any season. I can do it in my forties, I can do it in my twenties, I can do it in my eighties, I can do it in Tulsa. I can do it in like. I can bring God glory in whatever job. I could do it as a coach, as a teacher, as an engineer, as a janitor. I can do it as a pastor or a missionary, or I could do it as a pilot, as a stewardess, I could do it as a waiter or a waitress or a barista. Can bring God glory wherever I work, whoever I'm with, whatever city I'm in. Stop limiting what God can do. Through you, Joseph learned how to prosper in his purpose. Even when he was in a job he didn't like. Some people go, man, once I get into my dream job, then I'm going to be living. Then I'm really going to be fulfilling God. Once I get married, once I got kids, once I'm making this much money, once I got this title, then I'm really gonna be fulfilling my purpose. If you don't start fulfilling your purpose now, you will never fulfill your purpose later on. You gotta do it right here, right now. You gotta determine. Even in a job I don't like, even with people I didn't sign up to work with, even with a boss that is godless, even under Potiphar's seductive wife. Even when I got a like. By the way, look at this. In Genesis 39, Potiphar's wife noticed Joseph. In verse 6, it says Joseph was handsome, he was well built. And Potiphar's wife took notice. It wasn't just Potiphar that noticed Joseph by the way, Potiphar put Joseph in charge of everything. Joseph was promoted under Potiphar. But Potiphar's wife said, come to bed with me. She said, come have an affair with me. Let's commit adultery. My husband will never know. But the Bible says Joseph said no. Everybody say no. You have the power to say no. So Joseph, even though the wind was against him, even though he was facing things that were out of his control, he chose to stand with character. Are you going to let culture shape your character, or will your character and integrity shape the culture that you're in? Joseph said no to the wrong stuff, yes to the right stuff. Instead ended up in the wrong place. This is what happens. Sometimes you walk in integrity and you don't get rewarded. In fact, sometimes you even get further pushed back away from the thing you thought you were supposed to be doing. And so Joseph was walking. One day, Potiphar's wife saw him by himself. She pulls him to the side. She grabs his coat. She says, let's go sleep together. Joseph was so committed. He said, not only is this a sin against your husband, but it's a sin against my God. And he says, no, I'm not going to do it. And he flees from Potiphar's wife, and he leaves behind his coat. There was nothing wrong with the coat, but the coat was attached to the temptation. Sometimes you got to leave the coat behind. Sometimes you got to give up stuff. That's not bad. But it's connected to the temptation. It's connected to what is wrong. And so Joseph runs, and Potiphar's wife screams, joseph. He tried to take advantage of me. He tried to rape me. He tried to sleep with me. And all of a sudden, Joseph's like, no, no, no, no, that's not true. And she goes, this is his coat. Once again, this is how the enemy works, the spirit of misinformation. So here's what the enemy does. He takes something. That's true. This is Joseph's coat. Joseph was in this hallway. Both of those things are true. And then she adds to the story. And he also tried to take advantage of me. That's not true. Two things. So this is what the devil's doing right now in America is stirring up a spirit of misinformation. So you have podcasters who will say, this is what happened to Charlie Kirk. This is what happened with Erica Kirk. And we're listening to podcasters, and we're listening. This is what's going on in Iran and Israel, and this is why Netanyahu, and this is Donald Trump. And so we're listening to all these voices. Can we start listening to the voice of God and stop tuning into the voice of FOX and MSNBC and cnn? Like we are consumed with way too many voices trying to weigh in with so much misinformation. You go, well, Paul, some of it's true. Some of the conspiracy theories are half true. Just because it's half true, Potiphar's wife, doesn't mean that the whole story is true. So Potiphar's wife swayed an entire nation against Joseph. This is what's happening right now. Propaganda war. It's an agenda. It's an agenda to get you to hate somebody you don't even know. And you gotta be careful what articles you read and what articles you spread and share, because misinformation is rampant right now. Well, Paul, half of it's true. Just because we're living in a time where people go, guilty until proven innocent. It used to be innocent until proven guilty. That's the spirit of the accuser, of the brethren. The Bible says in the last days, there's going to be a stirring of hatred, animosity, and the accusations will be rampant. We got to be careful that we don't get pulled into Potiphar's wife's tales about what so and so and somebody said or did. If it's not from the Holy Spirit, I don't want that spirit feeding my ears and my heart a bunch of gossip and slander about somebody else that I know God's doing. Like I need to believe the best. But our world has been consumed with Potiphar's wife's words. And so Joseph, you know, Potiphar actually hears his wife and he's like, the Bible actually gives a little bit of credence that Potiphar felt in his heart. Something is off about this slander. There's something off, but out of a feeling of not wanting to come across like a weak husband, he's like, joseph, you're going to the dungeon. So he throws Joseph in the dungeon. He throws him in the prison, and Potiphar's wife thinks she's won. The HR report has been filed. Joseph will never get a job again. He's been labeled as the rapist. He's been labeled as the guy who tried to take advantage of his boss's wife. What boss would ever hire a guy like this on his resume? His resume is trash now. That's what he thinks. Joseph's master took him and put him in prison. But this is the part that I think is really interesting. Everybody say the place. The Bible always gives little clues where you go, oh, my goodness, I didn't see that. The place where the kings. I feel a wind on this word right here. Prisoners were confined. Did you catch this right here? Joseph thought he was getting pulled away from his purpose. But by being placed in this spot, he was actually closer to his purpose than he had ever been. You go, well, Paul, that doesn't make sense. He's actually accused of a crime he didn't commit. He's been labeled with a reputation that he's never going to get free of. No one's going to want to hire him. What do you mean he's closer to his purpose? God knows what he's doing. Even when man betrays you, even when people slander you, even when people mistreat you and abuse you, you have a father in heaven who has a plan, and he is committed to his promises. Even when you are thrown into a prison. And Joseph was exactly under the palace that one day he would lead. And I love the next verse. It says, while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord, everybody said, the Lord was with him. God is with you. God is with you. I feel to pray right now for our firefighters in Oklahoma that have to be dealing with some fires and strong winds in this state. So, Lord, I just pray in Jesus name for those that are serving first responders in the middle of this wind and crazy stormy weather in Oklahoma. I pray for protection. I pray that you would deliver anyone that's in the path of any disaster. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. And I pray over our firefighters, first responders, just wisdom today, God, as they're Lord, dealing with anything that could pop up in our state, any kind of wildfire in Jesus name. Everybody said, amen. So Joseph is in the prison, but the Lord is with him. And I love that it says the Lord granted him favor. God gives you favor everywhere you go. God can give you favor in low places. I got friends in low places where the spirit flows and God chases my blues away. Y' all ever grow up with Garth Brooks? Somebody say, I got friends in low places. Y' all don't want to hear the rest of it? I rewrote that whole song, y'.
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I rewrote all the verses of that song. I used to be a country singer back in the day. Yeah, I used to have a country band back in the day. But here's what I know is that Joseph had a friend in a low Place. What a friend we have in Jesus. What a friend we have. Joseph had the friendship with God in the prison. God is with you when everyone else leaves you and no one wants to visit you, and no one wants to stand beside you, and no one will put their name next to you and no one wants to put a picture with you on Instagram because you are a lightning rod and everything that you're a part of somehow gets accusations. God stands with you when no one else will. Paul said, when everyone else left me, the. The Lord stood with. Aren't you thankful The Lord stands with you and no one else will. So the Lord was with Joseph, and while Joseph was in prison, the warden gave Joseph responsibility over all the prisoners, and he paid no attention because he trusted Joseph's character. Joseph's character was trustworthy even in a prison. Little bit of Shawshank Redemption going on here. While Joseph's in prison, instead of trying to figure out a way to break out of prison, so many prisoners are trying to figure out the prison break plan. But more importantly is to ask, why am I in prison and what does God want to do while I'm in prison? Your prison has a purpose. And the purpose that God has for you in prison is bigger than you. God wants to turn the place of your greatest misery into your greatest ministry. God wants to turn the place that was sent to confine you and shackle you and shut you down and into the place where your voice and your gifts and your dreams start to flourish. So Joseph understood, just because I'm in prison doesn't mean my attitude's in prison. It doesn't mean my mind's in prison. My body might be in prison, but I can start thinking like a leader even when I'm in a low place. And so Joseph looks around and about 10 years goes by as he's sitting in prison and two guys are thrown in with him. In Genesis 40, it says, sometime later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king offended the master, and Pharaoh threw them in prison with Joseph. So now Joseph is sitting between two guys who worked directly for the leader of Egypt, which was the greatest empire in the world at that time. There was no Babylonian Empire, Persian Empire, the Roman Empire. There was no America. Like Egypt was the top of the top. Everyone understood Egypt was the strongest empire in the world. And Joseph sitting between two guys that worked directly for the king. And he tells them this. He says, what's going on? You look sad. In verse six, he says, what's going on? Something's Off Joseph's paying attention to the surroundings. And they tell Joseph, they said, we have dreams, and neither one of us understand what these dreams mean. And they said, there's no one to interpret our dreams. In verse 8, no one can interpret our dreams. And so he says in verse, do not interpretations belong to God? Do not interpretations belong to God? And I want to just shift the message for a second. And I want to talk about the power of interpretation. I want to talk about the right interpretation. Tell the person next to you, you need the right interpretation. So Joseph says, interpretations belong to God, and it's bad when you have the wrong interpretation. I've had people that interpreted for me when I preach overseas. You gotta pray for a good interpreter. Like, I've had people that interpreted my message the wrong way and places where people should have been crying. They were laughing. And I'm like, something's not being translated. Like, the interpretation is not right. And later on people would tell me, they're like, dude, that interpreter, like, just trashed your. Like, they did not even preach what you preach. They were saying completely different stuff. They weren't even saying what they were adding to what you said, and they were taking away what you were saying. This is what the devil does. God's trying to speak to you, and the devil gets in between you and God as an accuser, and he interprets in your heart, in your mind, a message, and he adds to it or he subtracts to it. So in a place where you should be feeling faith because God's speaking to you faith, the enemy starts whispering and interpreting something different where you start feeling fear and you start listening to the dreams of God through the interpretation, through the filter of fear and anxiety and worry in your flaws and your past. And the devil goes, that could never happen for you. So the devil's adding, you gotta be careful who's interpreting from God to you. Even when I read from the Bible, there's certain interpretations of scripture. There's certain translations of scripture where you gotta go, I need to understand the proper context. I need to make sure everybody say the right interpretation. Because people be twisting stuff these days. The enemy is twisting stuff I don't like. Even when it comes to conversations. I need the spirit of interpretation. Even when I'm listening to, like, my wife, how many? All need the spirit of interpretation when you're listening to your spouse. Like, when someone says, everything's fine, that doesn't always mean everything's fine. Everybody say the right interpretation. And I'll circle back, I'll be Like, Ashley, are you sure everything's fine? And she's like, well, I'm glad you asked, because now I'd like to tell you everything's not fine. So we need prayer. We need the interpretation, even in our relationships, because the devil wants to mess up marriages. The devil wants you thinking something about your spouse or even your kids. The enemy wants to stir up misinterpretation in families and in churches to where you start interpreting. I don't think he likes me. I don't think they like me. I don't like the way they said it like that. They forgot to shake. They didn't say. And the enemy stirs up misinterpretations. And so Joseph, sitting in the prison, he says, tell me your dreams, and let me tell you the interpretation. So they start sharing their dreams. And Joseph says, the Lord has the interpretation for this Holy Spirit. Paul said this in First Corinthians 14, verse 13. He says, when someone speaks in a tongue in church, pray for the spirit of interpretation. Pray that you may understand what was spoken. So when I start praying in tongues, it builds up my spirit, man. And I love praying in tongues. I start praying for things, I don't even know what I'm praying for, but the Holy Spirit knows. But it does no good for me to do all that with you and not have an interpretation. Paul says, we need an interpretation so that we can understand what God's saying to us. And in the same way, we need the interpretation of what God's doing in our lives. I need God to interpret what this season means. Sometimes you don't know what a season means. Sometimes the interpretation comes later on. It doesn't come right away. So you could be in the middle of something, praying for an interpretation. Yesterday a family came up to me when I was cheering on my son's football game. And they said, you don't know us, but we know you. They said, you're Billy Joe Daugherty, right? I said, no. I go, I'm not. They go, you're not Billy Joe? I said, I'm Paul. They said, you're his son? I said, yeah, he passed away 17 years ago. They said, well, we're Catholics. We've kind of lost touch with y'. All. We go to Christ the king Church on 14th Street. And they said, we're charismatic Catholics. We're praying in the spirit Catholics. I said, cool. I didn't know those were around. That's awesome. And he. And they said, we lived in this neighborhood on 41st and Harvard, by Promenade Mall. RIP and so they said, maybe it's coming back, I don't know. But they said, we lived over there in 1991. We woke up in the middle of the night and we felt the Holy Spirit telling us to pray in the spirit for the Daugherty family. And they said, we didn't know what we were praying for. It was midnight. We prayed for four hours, interceding. They were like, we're Catholics interceding for the Daugherty family. We knew you lived in our neighborhood, but they said, we rarely drove by your house. It just wasn't on our way to work. We always went the other way. And they said a few days went by and we didn't know the interpretation of what we were praying for. We just knew we were supposed to pray. But later on, everybody say, later on, God gives you interpretation. Sometimes later on, be careful judging something right now when you don't have the right interpretation. Sometimes we make premature judgments. And God goes, you don't know what's going on in Iran right now. You see things on the surface. You don't know what's going on with President Trump. You don't know what's going on in that situation. Be careful making a premature interpretation. You don't know what something is sometimes until 10 years later, 20 years later, and you go, that's what God was doing. So this couple, they said it was about a week later that we drove past your house and saw it had burned down. They said there was no social media back then, and we missed the news from the nights before. So we didn't know what happened. We thought maybe y' all died. And they said, we started asking around the neighborhood what happened with the Daugherty's house? They said it burned down. It should have killed all six people in the house. It happened at 2:30 in the morning. Morning on the same night. They were praying and they said, what happened? They said the ambulance showed up with six body bags, but God delivered all of the Daugherty family members. The last one in the house was Paul. He got pulled out. They said, we were interceding for you. They're telling me this on Saturday. And we're standing on the field over here by Victory. And they go, we're standing on a field next to a church that wasn't built until 2007. And we prayed in 1991. We're standing in the fulfillment. You don't know sometimes you don't have the full interpretation of what God's doing until 30 years later. And so Joseph said, Do not interpretations belong to God? I want to just. Just make this go black for a second. I want to give you just something to pray for, an interpretation for. And if you're taking notes, you can just write this down. Dreams. Joseph needed an interpretation for the dreams. Not just his own dreams, but the dreams of people around him. And one day he would interpret for Pharaoh. And he needed to understand. I'm gonna give you a word for each letter. He needed the interpretation of delays. Cause sometimes you misinterpret a delay. Sometimes you think a delay towards your dream means a denial towards your dream. Just because the promise feels slow doesn't mean the promise is over. Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean God. Delays do not mean denial. I need the Holy Spirit to interpret what a delay means. I need the Holy Spirit to interpret what disappointment means. Not every disappointment means that it's going to be bad towards my future. Some disappointments are for my good. I need God to interpret rejection for me. I need the Holy Spirit to interpret what's going on when I feel rejected by my brothers. And so Joseph is like, holy Spirit, I need you to interpret. I'm feeling rejected by Reuben and Simeon and Levi, and I'm feeling rejected by guys. It doesn't make sense. And God goes, let me explain something to you, Joseph. Not everyone's gonna like your dreams. But don't let man's rejection make your mind think that God rejects you. Because what man rejects, God accepts. And God redirects God. When one door closes, another door opens. So I need. I need God to interpret. Not just rejection, I need God to interpret emotions. When I was younger, there was this song I used to listen to this, this old Christian song. And it was like, what's going on inside of me? And I was like, exactly what's going on inside of me. Because some days my emotions, Some days I'm happy, some days I'm sad and I don't even know why I'm sad. Some days I feel lonely, and some days I feel overwhelmed. And some days soul is downcast and I don't even know why. And, and. And so doctors could try to come in and diagnose, well, you have depression and so you need Xanax and you have anxiety. And so let me interpret what's going on. You need 10 bottles of these pills and you have ADHD and this is why your emotions are all over. I need the Lord to interpret my emotions and stop asking all the physicians and doctors to try to tell me what's going on in me. Only God knows what's going on. David said it like this in Psalm 42. Oh, God, why is my soul overwhelmed? Why am I downcast? David knew where to bring his emotions. Some of us bring our emotions to TikTok and Facebook and Instagram and everywhere else except God. We bring our emotions to another person, another relationship, some side. We bring our emotions to doctors and counselors. And God says, could you bring your emotions to me? God says, could you bring your emotions to the altar? Because God knows how to interpret what's going on inside you. He knows where to direct. And I need the Holy Spirit to help me interpret the adversity that I faced. Because sometimes the adversity feels so intense and I don't understand that. God goes, you know how a pearl is developed? It's pressure, pressure, pressure. You know how a diamond is made beautiful? It's cutting and it's heat and it's pressure. And you know how gold is seen to be genuine gold? It's fire and it's heat and it's adversity. So I need the Holy Spirit to interpret Joseph from the pit to the prison to accusations. Joseph says, God, I just need you to interpret what's going on in my life. Because I'm tempted to interpret everything through the lens of victimhood. But if I live in victimhood, I'm going to be a victim the rest of my life. I have to interpret. I need the right. Somebody say, I need the right interpretation, interpretation. And then he's like, I need the right interpretation for my family because my family does not make sense to me. How many will have some family members that you are like, God, help me to understand what's going on with these people. Joseph's like, I don't. I don't even understand my dad sometimes. Like, why did my dad show so much favoritism to me? Why did he love Rachel, my mom, more than Leah? And why would. Why did he treat my brothers the way that he did? And why did my brothers. God, I need you to interpret what's going on. Why do they want to kill me? And I didn't even do anything to them. And I'm tempted to want to get revenge one day when I see them, I just want to kill them for what they did to me. Unless you interpret something for me, unless you interpret that what they meant to harm me could actually be used for my good. I need you to interpret what's going on with my family. And I added s in the last service. I actually do not know What I was gonna put with S, I let the last service decide what's a good S word that you need translation on suffering. That's what the 9am said. Someone said a scripture. We do need interpretation of scripture too. But let me, let me say something about interpretation of scripture. Sometimes I used to read scripture. Like Psalm 37 says, Delight yourself in the Lord and he will grant you the desires of your heart. And I used to take that scripture and interpret it like God's going to give me what I want, my desires will be fulfilled. And I would take the scripture out of context. I wasn't interpreting it right. Because the first part of that scripture I need an interpretation is delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. But that doesn't mean he's going to give you what you want. That means he's going to put desires inside of you that give him glory. And he will remove every selfish, vain ambition inside of you that's about your glory. So delight yourselves. So I need interpretation on Scripture, but I need interpretation on suffering. And by the way, when I think about the dreams of Joseph and the interpretation, I think about the story of Jesus that in the New Testament, Jesus, like Joseph, was a type and a shadow. He was imperfect, he was broken, he was flawed. Jesus was perfect. And Jesus needed interpretation. Did Jesus suffer? Did Jesus have issues with his family members? Oh, yeah, he did. His family members, they didn't always understand his mission. Did Jesus go through adversity? Did Jesus have emotions? Yeah, he wept when Lazarus died. Did Jesus get rejected by even the early church? If anyone could talk about church hurt, it's Jesus. He was literally crucified by the church. Did Jesus go through delays? Yeah, he did. And in all of it, he trusted God. This is where the Spirit of God, Jesus said, pray for the Holy Spirit. When he comes upon you, he'll be a comforter, a counselor. He will guide you into all truth. And so Joseph gets the interpretation. He tells the two guys, here's what's going to happen. One of you will be promoted. The other one of you is going to die. The guy that's going to die is like, thanks a lot, bro. Couldn't I have gotten a better interpretation? Joseph said, it's not me, it's God. God's in charge of the course of events in the world. And sure enough, it all happened. And Joseph told the one that was going to live. He said, please remember me, remember me, remember me. Please, please don't forget. Please don't have amnesia about Our friendship. Please don't have amnesia. Please don't lose the memories sitting here with me in a low place. And sure enough, when he gets promoted, he forgets about Joseph. Even though you're forgotten by man, you are not forgotten by God. And then Pharaoh has a dream two years later. Now Joseph's been in prison for 12 years. He's been in Egypt for 13 years. He's 30 years old. He's sitting in prison wondering, am I ever going to fulfill that dream? Pharaoh tells all of his chief magicians and his wise men. He says, I had a dream and I need an interpretation, and none of you can interpret it. And the cupbearer goes, oh, my bad. There was this dude that I was in prison with two years ago. He has the power to give the right interpretation. He hears from God, and he speaks on behalf of God. God speaks through Joseph. He's the guy you need to talk to. My bad. I forgot about him. Pharaoh at once called for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the prison to the palace. Come on. When God brings you out, he brings you out quickly. You might have been stuck in an addiction for 12 years, but the day you get clean, you never go back. The day you get sober, you never go back. Come on. Somebody say, I'm never going back. Come on. Some of y' all got set free from all kinds of stuff. You were in a prison of alcohol addiction, porn addiction, sex addiction, cocaine addiction. But because of the mercy and the grace of God, he saved a wretch like me. I once was blind, but now I see. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Amazing grace. So Joseph is brought from the prison. Somebody say, from the prison to the palace. Just like that. Just like that. And Pharaoh goes, I hear that you have the power to interpret dreams. Joseph says, not me. Not me. I can't do it. He says in verse 16, but God can. I love those words. In verse 16, he says, I can't do it. The humility of Joseph says, I'm not the one that has the power, but I know the one who has the power. I don't know what my future holds, but I know who holds my future. I don't know what the future is for America and for Israel and Iran and. And all the countries of the earth, but I know who holds the world in his hands. And he knows how to interpret what's going on. And Pharaoh says, I had this dream. Two dreams. Seven and seven. Seven bad things, seven good things. Joseph says, here's what's going to Happen you're going to have seven years of abundance. And you better not spend everything you get in these seven years. You better save and store up because. Because you're going to need it. After these seven years of abundance, you will have seven years of famine. It's going to affect the whole world. The whole world is going to come knocking on the door of Egypt. And if Egypt gets ready for this famine, you will be positioned in power to impact the entire world. Pharaoh goes, this is incredible. What a strategy. Who give, who gave you this kind of wisdom? Joseph said, God did. God's going to get the glory through you. And Pharaoh goes, I need someone to do it. Joseph says, yeah, you need someone who's wise, someone who can be trusted, someone who has integrity. I love that. We don't see Pharaoh going, hold on, let me see your resume. What did Potiphar's wife say about you 13 years ago? What?
- [39:21]
B
What, What?
- [39:21]
A
What did you walk through? When God has a plan to promote you, it doesn't matter what's happened in your past, what's happened in you, what's happened to. When God. When God blesses you, hell cannot curse you. Hell cannot stop. When God's hand is on your life, don't count anybody out. God has a way of using the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, the weak things to confound the strong. Pharaoh goes, you're the man. Joseph says, yes, I am. And he puts a ring and a robe on Joseph. Everybody say, a ring and a robe. This represented authority and power. Pharaoh said, with this signet ring, with this robe, you're no longer a prisoner. You're no longer the prodigal son. You've stepped into the house. You're in charge. Joseph, you only answered. Do you see the New Testament shadows and types in this? And Joseph moved from prisoner to leader of Egypt. Prime minister, prime minister, prime minister, prime ministry. Your greatest ministry will flow out of your. Your greatest misery. God will take the joy of your future, will swallow up the pain of your past. Your latter years will be greater than your former years. What the locust tried to destroy. And God's about to restore everything, the enemy. You know, Joseph lived another 80 years after this. So 12 years of pain, 13 years of pain. And 80 years of blessing and prosperity. What I'm trying to say is it's going to get better. And it's going to be so much better. Better. And your better years, your latter years will be so much better than your hard years. So Joseph stores up seven years of Abundance. And then the famine hits. Two years into the famine, Jacob, the father of Joseph. The series that we've been in, who thinks Joseph's been dead for 22 years. Jacob has believed a lie that his son is dead. He sends his 10 sons. He says, it's a famine here. We're going to die. We need food. Go down to Egypt. There's food down there. See if there's anyone that will help us. And in Genesis 42, when the brothers showed up, it says in verse seven that Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize him. He recognized them. There will be people who see you that don't even recognize you because you are so different than who you used to be. You have changed. By the grace of God. I'm not who I was. I may not be who I want to be, but I'm not who I used to to be. Aren't you thankful you're not who you used to be? God has changed you. They didn't even recognize him, and they bowed their faces to the ground. Now, this was the fulfillment of Joseph's dream. Joseph had a dream when he was 17 that all of his brothers were going to bow. And as they're bowing, Joseph has a little sense of like, justification, vindication. He's like, there it is. They don't even know they're bowing to their brother. He knows. And before Joseph forgives them, Joseph plays games with them. Joseph is kind of harsh with them. He's not really nice at first. And Joseph says, where's your other brother? He knew they had another brother. And then he says, I'm gonna hold one of you captive here and until you bring the other one back. So they bring the other one back, and it's Benjamin. It's his blood brother from his same mom. Benjamin comes in. Joseph can't contain it. In Genesis 44, he starts weeping to the side privately, because he hasn't seen Joseph in 1322 years. Last time he. Last time Joseph saw Benjamin, Benjamin was like 6 or 7 years old. And now he's like 20 something. And so Joseph's like crying. He comes back out, he sits down, has dinner with his brothers. He puts a bunch of grain in their bags. He says, take this back home to your fathers. Your father's still alive. They said, yes. They said, I still don't know. It's Joseph. He's dressed up as an Egyptian. You can dress up like somebody else, but who you are is still true on the inside. You can't take the Oklahoma out of you. You can't take the country out of you. It's still you. Somebody say it's still you. So finally, Joseph sneaks a silver cup in the bag of Benjamin. And Jacob told his boys, he says, if Benjamin doesn't come home, back to Canaan, I'm going to die. I've already lost Joseph. If I lose one more son that I really love, I'm going to die. All my life is tied up in my kids and Judah. One of the brothers says, if we don't bring Benjamin home, I'll lay my life down. I will sacrifice my life, Dad. I promise you, I'll give my life for Benjamin. And Joseph chases down the brothers. He says, one of you stole a silver cup for me. And he looks inside Benjamin's bag. He says, it's Benjamin. He's got to come and be a slave for the rest of his life. Judas says, don't do this. Our dad will die if we don't bring Benjamin back home. Don't do this. Take me instead. I'll take. I'll be the scapegoat. Let me take what was supposed to fall on Benjamin. Let it fall on me. Judah says, now from the tribe of Judah would come Jesus, who would take all of our sin and all of our punishment and lay his life down for us. And so as Joseph is watching this, Joseph is overwhelmed with emotion. In Genesis 45, verse 1, he can't control himself. He can't control himself. And in front of all of his attendants, he says, everybody out. And everybody's looking at Joseph like, what's going on? He's overwhelmed with emotion. He starts weeping. He says, everybody leave.
- [44:40]
B
Just me and them.
- [44:41]
A
Just me and them. Nobody else here. This is how reconciliation is supposed to work. It's not meant to be aired out on Facebook and TikTok and Instagram. We're not supposed to throw stones at people. We're not supposed to have public dirty laundry out there. It's supposed to be private. No one knows about this story except for us, because Moses heard about it through the stories that were passed on to him. But no one that day was a part of this moment except for Joseph and his brothers. It was private. It was sacred. It was holy. And they're looking at Joseph and he's looking at them, and he starts weeping. In verse two, he wept so loud, all of Egypt could hear him screaming, ah, God, you don't know what you've done to me. Joseph is overwhelmed with emotion. He's releasing 22 years of pain. He's releasing 22 years of separation. Separation from his dad. He's releasing 22 years of carrying the weight of trauma, the weight of what his brothers did to him, the weight of Potiphar's wife's words, the accusations, the labels. He's just pulling it all off at the altar and he's saying, ah. And in verse three, he looks at his brothers and he says, I am Joseph. And his brothers are staring at him. They can't even say a word. The Bible says that this was the speech that left everyone speechless. No one said a word. And he's staring at them. He takes off the Egyptian headdress, He takes off the Egyptian wardrobe. He reveals himself to his brothers. He says, it's me. It's me. It's the kid you left in the pit. It's the kid you stick sold for 20 pieces of silver. I am Joseph. You tried to destroy me. You tried to kill me. You betrayed me. You slandered me, man. You slandered me. You told my dad I was dead. And I've been by myself in this country for 22 years. His brothers didn't know what to do. And in verse four, they almost believe him. He says, come close. Everybody say, come close. This is what Jesus said to his disciples. He says, come close, Thomas. Thomas said, I won't believe it's you unless I see the marks in your hands. Jesus says, thomas, come close. Do you see this? The scars? The nails that went through my hands? Do you see the spear that was pierced in my side? Joseph says, brothers, come close. It's me. It's me. I know I don't look like I used to look. And I don't sound like I used to sound. I've been weathered, I've been torn. I've walked through a lot of pain. It's just your basic riches to rags, to slavery, to seduction, to the prison, to the palace, to riches story. But it's me. Somebody say it's me. And I love what he says. Next. He says, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold. But I got an interpretation on my suffering. I got an interpretation on that word sold. Sold to me felt like the most painful word that could happen to me by you guys. But in verse five, he says, let me tell you the interpretation God gave me. Do not be distressed. Do not be angry with yourselves for selling me. Because you didn't sell me. God sent me. God sent me when you sold me God, somebody say, God sent me. He says, what you meant for evil, God used for good. What you meant to destroy me. The only way I'm able to feed you brothers, the only way I'm going to be able to take care of you for the rest of your life. And you will never have to worry about it. I'm going to give you a job. I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to pay for your kids schooling. I'm going to pay for your grandkids schooling. You will always have what you need. And it's only going to happen because I got an interpretation. Everything that should have made me bitter, everything that should have made me a victim, everything that should have led to a story of revenge. I got an somebody say I got an interpretation. And we see this interpretation in Genesis 50, verse 20. This is what he says in Genesis 50, verse 20. You intended to harm me, but God. Thank God for the but God moments. Intended it for good. It's all good. What you did to me is not good, but God's turning it for good. What you did to me was painful, but God is using it for good to save many lives. Would you stand to your feet all over this place? We got to do one more week on this Jacob series because we didn't even get to his dad and him getting to meet up together. Next week we're going to close this out. It's going to be powerful. Holy Spirit, I pray that you would remind us today that you can change anything that has happened to us for good. You can turn it for good. Lord, even when we have interpreted it one way, you can give us a better interpretation. God, you can rewire even the the things in our brain that have accepted things in a negative light in a bitter way. You can help us to see through the lens of forgiveness, through the lens of mercy, through the lens of grace, through the lens of hope, through the lens of faith. With every head bowed and every eye closed, I feel like there's someone in the room that you. You are like a Joseph. You have walked through some very hard things. And maybe you're walking through some things that are hard. You're walking through your own prison, you're walking through some of your own seasons of just misinformation. Hurts and wounds people not understanding the whole story. Maybe you're here right now and you just go, honestly, I've just believed some lies of the enemy. I've allowed the enemy to misinterpret some things in my mind about people and about my own life. And I've been so focused on my flaws, so focused on my sin, on my failure and my shame that I've not given room for the Holy Spirit to speak a better interpretation that God can turn what the enemy meant for evil to be something good so that more people could come to know Jesus through my story, my testimony, with heads bowed and eyes on closed. If God's been speaking to you in this service right now, specifically in the area of just trusting him, just allowing him to minister to your soul, I want you to just lift your hand up all across this room. Yeah. And maybe you're in the middle of something right now where you just go, I just need God's help to get through this and to see things turn for good. I'm believing that God is going to turn things for good. I'm believing, like you said, Paul, that the joy of my future will swallow up the pain of my past. Some of you are in the pain of your present right now. God says, I can change it. I can turn it. Maybe you're here today and you say, I just need to repent and get right with God. I need to surrender. I need to release bitterness in my heart and I need to forgive some people who have hurt me deeply hurt me. I need to choose. The path of forgiveness may not happen overnight, but I want to get on that path. I want to step into the process of forgiveness and I want to release and I want to surrender. If that's you, just raise your hand. God's speaking to you, Joseph. Some people you need to forgive. Some areas you need to lay at the altar. Some things you just need to say, God, if you raised your hand or you wanted to raise your hand, I want you to just leave your seat, come and meet me at the altar. The altar is open today. God wants to meet you here. He wants to bring healing, he wants to bring hope. He wants to give you the right interpretation of what's on, going, going on. What has happened in your past, what is going to happen in your future. And we're going to cheer on brave men, brave women, moms and dads, husbands and wives, college students, teenagers, young adults. Whatever season of life you're in, there's room at the altar for you. And we're just going to worship for a few minutes. We're just going to let the Holy Spirit blow on this place. His grace and his peace and his life and his joy. And right there, even from your seat, if you're not coming to the altar, just let God minister to you. Let's just worship. Go ahead, Faith for me. If you need to get saved today, if you need to surrender today, Come and join us at the altar. If you need hope today, if you need healing today, come and join us at the altar. I just pray God for fresh hope, forgiveness. Lord, I pray God that you would write his story, his testimony. God, I thank you that you're not finished with her yet, God. I pray, Lord, where she has felt wounded and forgotten and alone. I thank you God, that you're ministering to him, you're speaking to him. God, I thank you. You're not done, you're not finished. The best days are not behind you. In Jes. God sees you, he knows you. He loves you. He's for you, he's with you. He's not abandoned.
- [54:31]
B
He has good. He has goodness for me. If I know my father, I know my father has goodness. I know he ask.
- [54:57]
A
So.
- [54:57]
B
Surely your goodness, your mercy will follow after me, will find me. And I'll be dwelling in the house of God. Surely your goodness and mercy will follow after. If it will not find me. Cuz I'll be dwelling out to God. Surely your goodness, your mercy will follow our time. If you will not find me. Cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God. Surely your goodness, mercy will follow after me. You'll feel it. I'll find me. Cuz I'll be dwelling in the house of God. He ask good plans, he has good plans for me. And I will take heart. He has good plans, he has good plans for me. And I know my father, I know my father. All my life you have been faithful. It's all my life you have been so, so good. With every breath that I have made s I will sing of the goodness of God. All my life. All my life you have been faithful. And all my life you rap it so, so good with every breath that I made. And I will sing of the goodness of God.
- [57:10]
A
The other day, we were carrying my son's science fair project to school, and right as we were getting close to the car, it just dropped and just broke all across the ground. He had been working on it for a month, just a mess. And he began to just, like, get really sad and overwhelmed. Like, no, I worked so hard on this. It's gonna be terror. It's a mess. And me and Ashley and the kids, we all gather around, we said, no, Liam, it's okay. It's. We're gonna make it. We're gonna fix it. We did our best to patch it together. And he was afraid that it was gonna, you know, fail. He ended up getting a hundred on as science fair. We found out And I said, liam, God has a way of turning our messes into masterpieces where we feel like we dropped it. I failed. And I was like, this is like life. You have a hypothesis that it's all going to be great science fair project. You got, like, decisions in life you think are going to be perfect and awesome. And then sometimes it doesn't go. You drop it and it flops and it's a mess. But God picks up the pieces. Joseph, Joseph. And he puts it back together and he turns messes into masterpieces. He turns things in our life that seem so painful. And he goes, God has a way of turning it for good. Joseph said, what you meant for evil, what the enemy meant to destroy me, God used it for good. So I want us just to pray this together across this room. Those that are watching online, if you need to give your heart to Jesus, this is a great moment to join in with us right here. Just say, Jesus, thank you. That you can turn what the enemy meant for evil for my good. You can turn messes into masterpieces. God, I trust you. Even when I don't understand, I trust you. My future, my past, my present, I surrender to you. Have your way, Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done. And I choose to forgive those who have hurt me. Lord, I repent of my sins. I confess that you are the Lord crucified and risen, and I receive your forgiveness. I receive your salvation. And I thank you, God, that you're not finished with me yet. And my best days are right in front of me. And I have victory in my life because Jesus lives in me. Amen. And amen. I love you. God loves you. Be blessed.