[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Good morning, Westgate.
[00:00:18] Speaker C: How's everybody doing?
[00:00:20] Speaker B: It is great to see you.
[00:00:22] Speaker C: Let's.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Y' all ready to worship the Lord?
Let's do it. Let's stand and worship together.
Father, let your kingdom come Father, Let your will be done on earth as in heaven Right here in my heart Father, let your kingdom come Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven Right here in my heart Give us this day our daily bread Forgive us Forgive us as we forgive the ones who sinned against us Forgive them and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one Let your kingdom come Father, Let your kingdom come Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven Right here in my heart Father, let your kingdom come Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven Right here in my heart Give us this day our daily bread Forgive us Forgive us as we forgive the one who sin against us Forgive them and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one Let your kingdom.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Come.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: It'S yours, it's yours all yours, all yours the kingdom, the power, the glory we are yours it's yours, it's yours all yours, all yours Forever and ever the kingdom is yours.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: It'S yours the kingdom, the power, the glory are your it's your.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Forever and ever the kingdom is yours Father, let your kingdom come Father, let your will be done Wonder that's in heaven Right here in my heart Father Let your kingdom come Father that you will be done Wonder In Heaven Right here in my heart.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: Come all you weary Come all you thirsty Come to the well that never runs dry Drink of the water Come, come and thirst no more.
Come all you sinners Come find His mercy Come to the table he will satisfy Taste of his goodness Find what you're looking for.
For God so loves the world that he gave us his one and only Son to save us Whoever believes in him will live forever.
Bring all your failures Bring your addictions Come lay them down at the foot of the cross Jesus is waiting there with open arms See his open arms For God so loved the world that he gave us his one and only Son to save us Whoever believes in King will live forever.
The power of hell Forever defeated Now it is well I'm walking in freedom For God so loved God so loved the world.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Praise God, Praise God from whom all blessings flow we praise him we praise him for the wonders of his love.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Praise God, Praise God from whom all blessings flow Praise Him Praise him for the wonders of his love his amazing love For God so love the world that he gave us his one and.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Only son to save For God so.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: Loved the world that he gave us his one and only son to save us Forever believes in in it will live forever.
The power of hell forever defeated now it is well I'm walking in freedom For God so loves God so loves the world.
Bring all your failures Bring your addictions.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Come lay them down at the foot.
[00:07:32] Speaker A: Of the cross Jesus is waiting God so loved the world.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Amen. Amen.
[00:07:47] Speaker D: You can have a seat for a few minutes.
Welcome. My name is Julie and I am so glad that you have chosen to worship with us today. Today on this cold January day. It's great to be together and lift the name of the Lord. I have a few announcements for you. Hopefully you grab the sermon notes on your way in. If you did not do that, those are also in the app and we are going to continue to remind you about the app every week because it really is so helpful. We do not have time every Sunday to share all the wonderful things happening here and the app does a great job, has all the reminders of things coming up.
So make sure you get that. Download it if you haven't already.
If you are a guest today, welcome. If you've even been coming maybe for a little while and you haven't connected with us yet, we would love to get to know you. You can grab the Connect card in the pew in front of you and fill that out and take it to our guest services. Our friendly folks right out here, we'd love to meet you and just get to know you a little bit. We just would love for you to get connected.
In a couple weeks, two weeks from today, we are having our annual meeting and I actually look forward to this every year. You know, it is a bigger church, so it's kind of hard to stay in touch with everything that's going on. So if you have little kids, you probably know what's happening in kids ministry. If you have youth, you probably know what's going on in youth ministry. But this is a great way for us to know what is happening across the church. So whether you are a member or not, we would love to have you attend the annual meeting, but we would love to know if you're coming because we do offer lunch. So you can RSVP or let us know just by writing a little note on the Connect card and putting those in the buckets on your way out. Or you can
[email protected] events or you can use.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:09:53] Speaker D: You guys are so good at that.
Now, maybe you're not ready for that level of information at the annual meeting, or maybe you are ready to join our church as a member. On February 1st, we are going to have our Westgate 101 class. That's a great way to better understand Westgate and our denomination of the Christian Missionary alliance that shares a little bit more about what we believe.
If you are interested in joining the church as a member, that is the class that you need to take. Starting February 1st, if you take the class, you are not required to become a member, but that's the path you'll take if you'd like to join our church in membership. And it's also just a great way to get to know a little bit more. So those are a couple of the things that we have coming up.
Now that you've had a moment, why don't you stand up and say hello to somebody around you? Maybe look for an unfamiliar face and introduce yourself.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: I raise a hallelujah Louder than the unbelief I raise a hallelujah My weapon is a melody I raise a hallelujah Heaven comes to fight for me I'm gonna sing in the middle of the storm Louder and louder you're gonna hear my praises roar up from the the ashes Hope will arise Death is defeated.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: The king is alive Hallelujah.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: Raise this up I raise a hallelujah with everything inside of me I raise a hallelujah I watch the darkness flee I raise a hallelujah in the middle of the mystery I raise a hallelujah oh fear you lost your hold on.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Me.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: I'm gonna sing in the middle.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: Of the storm Louder and louder you're.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: Gonna hear my praises roar up from the ashes Hope will arise Death is.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: Is defeated the king is alive.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Do you believe that this morning we sing this song over the enemy. Amen.
[00:13:43] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Sing a little louder.
Sing a little louder Use your voice Sing a little louder Sing a little.
[00:14:05] Speaker A: Louder let's sing a little louder Sing a little louder Sing a little louder in the presence of my enemy oh, sing a little louder oh louder than the unbelievable we're going to sing Sing a little louder My weapon is a melody yes. Sing a little louder Heaven comes to fight for me we sing a little louder in the presence of my enemy.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: I'm going to sing a little louder.
[00:14:45] Speaker A: Louder than the unbe Sing a little louder My weapon is a melody Sing a little louder Heaven comes to fight for me Sing a little louder I'm going to sing in the middle of the storm Louder and louder you're going to hear my praises Roar up from the ashes Hope will arise Death is defeated, the king is alive I'm gonna sing in the middle of the storm Louder and louder you're gonna hear my.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: Praises Roar up from the ashes Hope.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Will arise Death is defeated the king is.
I raise a hallelujah.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: I raise a hallelujah.
[00:16:04] Speaker A: I raise a hallelujah.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: I raise a hallelujah.
Thank you, God.
Thank you, God.
Oh, I want jesus.
Oh, I want him.
O.
Jesus, take this world and give me.
Sing it out, your voices.
[00:16:51] Speaker C: Sing it out.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: Raise your voices now.
Jesus, take this world and give me no more mixture.
Give me the God of scripture no more idols or lesser loves no substitute will ever do.
There's nothing more I'll ever pursue.
Oh, I want Jesus.
Oh, I want you. Give me Jesus.
O Jesus, take this world and give.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: Me Here.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: I surrender until my heart grows tender.
Here be my treasure, my greatest call.
No substitute will ever do.
There's nothing more I'll ever pursue. We lift it up to you.
Oh, I want Jesus.
Jesus, take this world and give me.
Do you mean these words?
Oh, I want Jesus. It's heavy.
Oh, I want it. Only Jesus can satisfy.
Only Jesus.
Take this world and give me.
Oh, take this world and give me hell.
You are enough.
You are enough. My king, isn't he enough?
Isn't, isn't he enough?
Jesus is everything, all that I'll ever need.
Isn't he enough?
Isn't he enough?
Jesus, my king of kings, you satisfy me.
Isn't he enough?
Isn't he enough?
Jesus, this is everything, all that I'll ever need. Isn't he enough?
Isn't he enough?
Jesus, my king of kings, you satisfy me.
[00:20:53] Speaker C: Oh.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: I want Jesus.
Oh, I want him.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Only you satisfied?
[00:21:10] Speaker B: Only Jesus.
Take this world and give me.
Raise your voices.
Oh, I want Jesus.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:21:30] Speaker B: I want him.
[00:21:35] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:21:37] Speaker B: Only Jesus.
Sing this world and give me.
Oh, I want Jesus. Raise your voice.
[00:22:02] Speaker A: O.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: Only Jesus.
Take this world and give me him.
Take this world and give me him.
Take this world and give me him.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:22:30] Speaker B: Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Amen.
Amen.
[00:22:37] Speaker C: Ah, Lord, may the words that we sing to you truly be the meditations of our heart.
The Father. As we look at the world that surrounds us, that it would hold nothing we desire.
That our whole desire would be you, the Father. Our lives would be guided by the truth that all we need, all we want is you, the Father. You fill our every day in such a way that our deepest longings and deepest pursuits are a more intimate relationship with you and to be used by you.
That we would understand, Lord, that all of the things that this world tries to tell us, we need that they are passing away.
But you, God, you alone will remain. And our desire is to be with you and to reign with you.
And so, Father, I thank you. I thank you that you have given us this place where we come together this morning, to worship together, to lay our hearts before you.
We walk in, God, in different places, wrestling with different burdens, different things that might distract us from what we have going on today.
But, Father, I pray that you would help us to set those things aside and just to see you and to hear from you this morning and to worship you with all of our hearts.
That God, the deepest desire of our heart would be that we would give up everything in this world just to be with you.
And so, Father, I pray that as we continue to move through our service, as we get into your word, as we study it together, God, I pray that your spirit would speak into our life, that you would be transforming us. That we wouldn't, as we study scripture, wouldn't just be about our knowledge and what we're learning. But truly, God, letting your spirit change us.
So create that desire for you within us, God, as we come to our time of offering as well, Lord, we worship you. Let it never be just a tradition that we go through or a rote practice.
But, Father, we want to give as an act of worship, as a response of our love for you. And so as we give our tithes and offerings today, God, we just pray that you would multiply them so that more people would know, your son and God, that you would be glorified in our lives in this church and throughout the world. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
We're going to take our morning offering. And so if you're here on the center aisles, you can grab the offering buckets. We'll pass them out to the sides. They're in the corners up in the balcony. And you can pass those in. And we'll just continue to worship the Lord with the giving of our tithes and offerings. Then we'll jump into God's word in just a minute.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Sam.
[00:25:59] Speaker C: So in my reading of the news this past week online, I saw that there was an earthquake here in northwest Ohio. Did anybody feel it? Anybody? I think it was like a 2.3.
I call that falling out of bed. Okay.
As I've shared with you before, coming from Southern California, a 2.3 is nothing more than falling out of Bed or a truck driving by on the road. You know, much in the same way in California that when we say we think there was a tornado, you guys kind of chuckle.
You go, yeah, you have no idea. Right.
Well, growing up in California, earthquakes were a big deal. Especially when I was a sixth grade boy laying in bed early one morning and the first earthquake I remember sounded like a freight train was about to barrel through my house. The rumble was coming. The next thing I heard was the yells and screams of my mother from her room to get out of bed. And so I ran towards her, towards the door jamb. And as I started to move, the entire house started to just shake back and forth. It was a 5.9 earthquake centered in Whittier Narrows, California. And I had never in my life seen the walls of a house move like that. I was terrified. Not only that, as I looked across the living room, there was our fish tank with my fish Henry in it. And the water was doing this. And then all of a sudden, boop. There went Henry. Right? And so don't worry, he made it back in. But I mean, it was pretty intense. And I can remember when that was happening that all I could think to myself is, I hope the house holds up. Right. I was hoping the structural integrity of our home would maintain the.
And these walls moving back and forth. Well, that same thing was tested years later when I think I was like a freshman or a sophomore in high school when the San Francisco earthquake took place. Now, I still lived in Southern California, but the San Francisco earthquake. I had family that lived in Northern California at that time. And when that earthquake happened, there was in San Francisco. They still have it today. A little bit different than back then. There's this big glorious Bay Bridge. And you'll see a picture of it here on the screen. The Bay Bridge spann from Oakland all the way across to San Francisco. And it was a double decker bridge. So you had traffic going one way on the top and then underneath you had it going another. And from the appearances of it, this thing was mighty and powerful. I mean, you look at this thing, the structure of building, it was incredible. And it looked great from the outside, but you know, something can look great from the outside and yet you don't realize that there are sections of it that could be compromised that might cause it to lack structural integrity. Well, when the 6.9, almost a 7.0 earthquake happened in San Francisco, one of the things that happened and was shot all over the news was this next picture was a section of it actually fell in crushing cars that were on the bottom. A couple cars went over the top and down into that crevice. And it was kind of a terrifying, terrifying sight to see. And it really brought to point that these bridges and highways were not made with the same structural integrity that was needed to withstand the pressure that these earthqu were putting on them. You'll see the next picture.
This is the Nimitz Freeway that was also a double decker freeway at that time, right off of the 580 and it crushed down and killed many, many people. There was a lack of structural integrity that was causing these highways and bridges to collapse.
I want you to think about that this morning because moral integrity works much the same way.
We can look on the outside like we have it all together, like our life is good, like we've got everything in its right place and things are moving along as they should. We go to church every Sunday. We look great on the outside.
And yet at the same time, while we can look like we have it together.
I have found that the pressures and temptations of life, even sometimes success, have a way of exposing places where our character is compromised.
We heard another story this week in the news of another Christian leader who has fallen to the temptation of infidelity in his marriage. I am so sick and tired of hearing these stories.
I sit Philip Yancey's book what's so Amazing About Grace was such an impactful book in my life. And I look and go, how is it that Christian leaders, any of us for that matter, as we follow Christ, can come to a place where that type of failure happens in our life?
And I will tell you that where it begins and where integrity fails is when the pressures and temptations of life, but even success expose places where our character has been compromised.
Today we're gonna continue in the series that we began last week together studying the life of Joseph. And as you think about Joseph's life, this series is entitled Forged for God's Purposes. We're gonna be taking a look at how God forged his character into Joseph's life for his purposes. We began last week in chapter 37 of the book of Genesis. And what we want to do as we continue this morning, we're gonna be in chapter 39 together is we want to look at how God used this current season of Joseph's life to forge specifically integrity into his life. If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Genesis, chapter 39. We're going to begin together here in verse one. We're going to walk through it a little Slowly this morning.
And then also, if you have your sermon notes, I'd invite you to pull those out and follow along. We give those to you each week as a resource to be able to go back, study the passage some more, write down some thoughts, questions, and even what the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. So you can just continue to marinate on His Word and understand what the Holy Spirit wants to teach you. But what we'll see as we jump into Genesis 39 together this morning is this, is that one dream dies, another one is going to begin.
In Genesis 39, verse 1, it begins this way. It says, now Joseph has been brought down to Egypt.
And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down there.
As we're beginning in your notes, letter A. Joseph's world had been upended by his brother's betrayal. We saw this together last week. We noticed that Joseph, as we read in chapter 37, that Joseph himself was a bit naive about being the favorite.
He was no doubt the favorite of his father. He got special treatment, a beautiful robe that none of his other brothers got. And it wasn't just the robe. There was no doubt all sorts of special treatment he was receiving in his life as the favorite child of his father in his old age. But not only did he get special treatment, he was also his dad's eyes and ears to make sure that his older brothers were doing what they were supposed to do.
We talked about last week. That never goes over well in anybody's household when the little one is running around tattling on the older ones. And here's the deal.
Joseph also was a bit naive and not really understanding that his brothers probably wouldn't respond well to being told twice that their future included bowing down to him. You know, I think about those things and I go, man, Joseph, such a young, naive guy, even at the ripe age of 17.
And yet what we understand is that as he went through that, as he was the favorite child, as he received special treatment, as he was his father's eyes and ears, as he himself was naive in just telling his brothers what they would eventually do, it tells us that his brother's hatred grew to such a point that they wanted him dead.
In other words, hatred, you know, sometimes, like we may carelessly say, I hate something, or I hate someone, and we may mean extreme dislike. But the force of the word that is used here, and we see it in what takes place, is that they wanted to kill him. They wanted him done away with. They didn't want to ever have to deal with him again.
And here's the deal. That hatred grew. But Reuben convinced them that this was an incredibly bad idea.
And so here's where we left off last week. Joseph has been roughed up by his brothers. You remember that he was traveling to them to find them. To be his dad's eyes and ears. As they see him coming, they want to kill him. Reuben says, not bad idea. Let's not get his blood on our hands. So he gets roughed up. His robe is stripped from him. He's thrown into a pit, which would have been a cistern that holds water. But the passage tells us that it was dry. And so he gets thrown in there.
And then his brothers devise this great idea as they see this Ishmaelite trading caravan coming through, that they will sell him to them. They'll make a profit off of him. But also then they will finally be done with him. They don't need to deal with him anymore or worry about him. He will be good and gone without his blood on their hands. And it's there that Joseph's dreams were left to die.
And that's where we pick up our story today.
The passage that we just read begins with this. Joseph was brought down to Egypt. I want you to look at this map with me. Together, the map on the screen will give you this picture. The first kind of yellow marker or pin that you will see. Kind of in the southern section, right across from the Dead Sea, is Hebron. Likely where Joseph would have been sent out from his father to go and to check up on his brothers. To make sure they were doing what they were supposed to be doing as they were grazing the sheep.
He would have traveled up to that second pin at Shechem. And Shechem was the area where they were supposed to be. But they had moved on from there up to Dothan. And that Dothan is where that third pin is. And so Joseph travels up there, and that's where the passage tells us that as they see him coming, all they can think about is how they can kill him or how they can get rid of him. But after they threw him in the cistern and then pulled him out and sold him to the Ishmaelites. He travels from Dothan on a major trade route that went along the Mediterranean Sea and all the way down to Egypt. This trade route was called the Way of the Sea, also called the Via Maris. It was a special known trading route about 250 to 300 miles from Dothan all the way to Egypt. This would have been traveled by them on foot in a caravan that would be moving incredibly slow with all of the goods that they would be trading and or people that they would be selling. They would need to stop often to water the animals as they would go through this kind of dry and arid space.
Likely only moving about 15 to 20 miles a day on a good day. And so the trip itself, as they would move on foot, would likely take about a month in order for them to get there. This is Joseph's journey. He is sold by his brothers, left to be gotten rid of, and he is taken and he is walked and walks every single day for a month in order to get to Egypt.
No longer is Joseph the favorite son.
No longer is he one of 12 brothers.
No longer will he be the one that his family, in his mind, will ever bow down to.
His dreams have been broken.
His life has been destroyed by all worldly definitions.
And now Joseph finds himself as nothing more than a commodity that is going to be sold to a man in Egypt by the name of Potiphar. Now, as we looked at that passage, it says that he went down there and there was this man named Potiphar who actually purchased Joseph. Well, who was Potiphar? Potiphar was an officer of Pharaoh is what the, what the passage tells us. Now we need to understand what that means.
Being an officer of Pharaoh meant that he was part of the royal administration of the kingdom. In other words, he was a high ranking government official that came with incredible wealth. But also, not only did it come with wealth, it came with incredible influence and power. Pharaoh was someone who was trusting, trusted deeply by Pharaoh, being a part of his inner circle and as part of that administration, it means that there was incredible loyalty that he had to Pharaoh, but also incredible competence to do the job that had been entrusted to him. And the passage continues, and it tells us that not only was he an officer of Pharaoh, but specifically his job was that he was the captain of the guard. In other words, he was responsible for Pharaoh's personal royal guard, ensuring that the security of not only Pharaoh, but the security of his family and the security of the entire palace complex itself.
And here's Joseph now being purchased and becoming nothing more than a slave in this man's home to do his work and his bidding.
You could look at this and you could think to yourself, here we go, Joseph, his life is ruined. It's going to be this horrible life of servitude forever. Except the passage, as we Move into the next verse. Beginning in verse two tells us that something radical is going to happen. And it's probably the single most powerful words in this entire chapter.
It begins and tells us in verse one that he was taken down, sold to Potiphar, and he was brought by the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. But verse two begins with this five words. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with him. What does that tell me? That in spite of the fact that Joseph has just lost everything, let her be. But God.
God is here. God is in control.
God is with Joseph. What happened in Joseph's life did not catch God by surprise.
God hadn't removed his hand of blessing. He hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel. He wasn't punishing Joseph, nor had he broken any of his promises or intended evil upon Joseph. It merely tells us this important truth that the Lord was with him. And I think this is incredibly important for us to understand because these are often the ways that we feel and struggle when bad things happen in our own lives. Lives. Where is God? Has God removed His hand of blessing from my life? Is there something that I did and now God is punishing me? Has God fallen asleep at the wheel? Is he far off and not even paying attention? Or does he intend harm and evil towards me? Has he broken his promises to give me something that he's not doing? Those are the questions we wrestle with when our dreams are taken from us.
But the passage reminds us that in the darkest moments of our life, just like with Joseph, that the Lord is with us.
He wasn't far off.
He was near to Joseph.
God knew exactly what would happen in Joseph's life before it ever came to be. I'm reminded of the words of King David in Psalm 139. When he says these words, he says, every single day of my life was written before one of them came to be. It's this understanding that God sees all of time and knows and understands exactly what is taking place. It does not catch him by surprise. And he is using every moment of Joseph's life, and he uses every moment of our lives to shape us for his eternal purposes and to pour out his blessing and his dream for our lives that are far beyond anything we could even imagine. Especially as we walk through the dark moments where we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
What these words, these five words tell us the Lord was with Joseph is that God was not absent. He was incredibly close, even in the moment. If Joseph couldn't feel it and it tells us that we see that and we know that letter C because God caught Joseph to prosper in every single way.
If you look with me at Genesis 39, verses 2 through 6, we get this vibrant picture of the way in which God caused Joseph's life to prosper. It says these words, verse 2. The Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man.
And he was in the house of his 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. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him. And he made him 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 Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all he had in the house and field. So he left everything he had in Joseph's charge. And because of him, he had no concern about anything but the food that he ate. Now, Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
What it tells us is that because God was with Joseph, he became successful. And I think what is so incredible about this is it says that his master saw that the Lord was with him. This tells us something significant about Joseph.
It wasn't just that the master looked at Joseph and went, you're a hard worker, you do good work, you have really strong work ethic, you're a really smart individual, so I'm going to promote you. No, it specifically tells us that his master saw the Lord. Capital L O R D Yahweh, the God of the Jews was with Joseph.
He would not leave him. He was with him.
Specifically, Potiphar saw Joseph's God was with him.
It was evident in his faith.
It was evident in his attitude. Can you imagine for just a moment having your brother sell you, taking a month long journey, walking through a desert down to Egypt, getting sold to this guy. Could you imagine the depression he could have been walking through, the anger that he could have been dealing with.
But God was so with him that he must have affected not only his attitude, but even his work ethic. Therefore, the knowledge of God's blessing was evident to Potiphar.
It was evident in the way that Joseph lived out his faith and trust in God in the darkest of moments. And it says that he also saw that everything Joseph did would succeed because of God's blessing.
In other words, Joseph's faith was forefront and Potiphar knew that it was God that Was working. And so what happens? Joseph gets a promotion. And talk about a great promotion. I remember the first promotion that I ever got and the first job that I ever had. I worked at McDonald's for three years, coming out of high school and going into college. And when I started in that job, I was the fry guy. The lowest job on the totem pole at McDonald's. It's the worst. All you do is you stand in front of a fry vat all day long, getting grease all over your face and body. And then you sit there and you're shoveling fries into these boxes and setting them up, and you just do it over and over and over again for four to eight hours. Nobody wanted this job. It left you greasy. It left you smelly, and with a really bad acne. Low point in my life. All right?
And I'll tell you what, though. I worked hard at it. I did my best to be the best fry guy that was there. And because of that, I started to get a little bit of perks from that. All of a sudden, I was no longer just the fry guy. I also worked my way up the ladder and became the drink maker. I got to stand there and, like, make drinks and pass them on to the drive through window. And after that, I got another thing that I got to learn. I got to cook, which was actually kind of fun because I made some crazy creations when I was working back there. I'll tell you some wild stories about what happens in those McDonald's grills. But aside from that, then I got moved to being able to hand food out the window in the drive thru. And then the glorious job of all. I got to be the one on the headset taking people's orders in the drive thru. And little old ladies would come through, and they'd be like, you have the greatest voice. You should be on the radio. And I'm like, I know. Come on, right? You guys are so sweet. Well, that was kind of my experience. But then it was even better. They were gonna promote me to crew chief.
Crew chief. That was fantastic. You know what that meant? It meant I hit the top. I went from the teal shirt to the purple shirt.
I stood out from everybody else. I got to tell people where they were gonna work. I got to let them know when they were gonna go on their brick and when the managers were being lazy, which was all the time. I got to run the floor. It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of power.
But if you want to talk about promotions, Joseph goes from being floor Washer to being the personal assistant of one of the most powerful people in all of Egypt, the captain of the guard.
Literally. What we understand is that Joseph has been put in charge of his entire estate.
It tells us that Potiphar trusted him so much because of God's hand of blessing on him, that he ran his entire household, the entire estate.
And basically he had control of everything except the man's food, which. Amen. Don't touch my food. Right. You know, don't let anybody else mess with that. And his wife. But everything else was Joseph's.
However, I want you to understand that even as Joseph all of a sudden goes from like this, this place of being lost and probably depressed and sold by his family and nobody cares, and now he moves to this great position of power, we need to understand this truth. With great success comes great responsibility, but also great danger.
I want you to catch this this morning.
The greatest danger that comes with success is what?
Pride.
Pride verily very easily seeps into our lives when we are successful.
Pride weakens our dependence upon God.
What does pride do? It causes us to say, look at what I have done.
And it causes us to look at life through a me centric lens where no longer do we understand, understand that God is the one that is moving our lives and blessing our lives. But we begin to think that somehow I myself am the one that have done all of these things and brought this blessing into my life. And the greatest danger is that we may even walk into a church and live a Christian life and say with our mouths that we believe we need God, but functionally, we actually live as though we don't because we can take care of it. And I want you to understand that this type of pride is an incredibly slippery slope in everyone's lives.
Because pride also separates us from other people.
It tells us that somehow we're better than they are. It causes us to see people as a means to our ends, people that we can use. Or sees people as lesser than and unworthy of my time or attention because of the pride that sinks in, not only can it separate us from others, but pride can also create a false sense of invincibility where we come to a place where we can't admit our own weaknesses and say that there are areas where we need to grow even more. It can move us to a place where we won't ask for help because that would show weakness. And it makes it almost impossible to utter the words, I was wrong.
And when we can't admit that we are wrong to people we continue to erode relationship and trust to where we actually begin to lose face in the eyes of other people.
But it also opens us up to a sense of entitlement which can lead to all sorts of sin in our lives, to abuse of power, to cutting ethical corners, misuse of of funds, neglect of family, even as we will see sexual sin.
And what I want you to catch is this, is that pride doesn't just say, look what I've done.
It eventually says I deserve more, I deserve better, and I deserve exceptions.
And once we believe that we deserve exceptions in our life, our integrity is in major danger. For we have compromised the foundation of our life, which is a humility that has dependence upon God and sees that every good and perfect gift comes from him.
And so we see here with Joseph's life that the tempter comes knocking. If you follow along in your notes, as we're looking at this, we see that Joseph has hit the peak of success and power in Egypt, and his own integrity is about to be put to the test. Letter A. Joseph comes face to face with the opportunity to forge his own path at the cost of his integrity.
He is going to hit a moment here as we are going to read, where he can either choose to continue on a path of integrity with God or forge off on his own, believing that he is in control of his life and that somehow he deserves because pride has seeped into his heart because of his power and his position.
Look at it with me here in Genesis 39, 7.
It says these words after a time. So he's been in this position of power over the household doing all of this stuff for a time. And it says his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, lie with me. Now remember that what was said in this passage about Joseph, he was not only successful and powerful because of God's hand of blessing, and that God was with Joseph, but verse six at the very end also essentially tells us Joseph was hot, all right.
And I don't mean 120 degrees in the Egyptian desert type of hot. I mean Egyptians. People Magazine, Sexiest Man Alive type of hot. The passage says he was handsome in form and appearance. Not only did he have good looks, but he was a fine physical specimen. And he catches the eye of the boss's wife, who the passage says very curtly with just a few words. She says, lie with me, a direct command. What does it tell us?
You know, in some circles I would call that cutting to the chase. There's probably other words I could use, but they're not appropriate in church. However, what is she really doing?
Essentially, she is attempting to use her power and her authority to seduce Joseph because she has already compromised her integrity.
Her own relationship with her husband does not matter.
And now Joseph sits here at a crossroads.
What's he going to do?
Will he take the bait and leave his integrity at the door? I believe that the way that the author writes this, with just such a curt statement from her that stops cold turkey, lie with me, do it is because it wants us to understand the hard crossroad that Joseph sits at. Will he leave his integrity at the door and take over for his own personal pleasure and take control of his life in his hands, or will he continue to walk with God and keep his integrity?
And what does the passage tells us beautifully with only three words in this next verse. He but it says, but he refused. And I want you to see what he refused, letter B. There were many reasons for Joseph to refuse Potiphar's wife.
There are many different reasons. And I want to begin by taking a look at Genesis 39 beginning in verse 8.
Look at what it says. It says, but he refused and said to his master's wife, behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house.
No concern.
What did he stand to lose? Number one, a loss of trust and a loss of relationship.
He had developed this incredible relationship of trust with Potiphar, where Potiphar trusted him with. With everything that in his household, because of his character, because of his integrity, because of his faith, and he saw that God was with him, he stood to lose trust and relationship with Potiphar himself. As the verse continues, the second part of verse eight tells us also that Joseph says to her, and he's also put everything that he has in my charge. In other words, he stands, number two, to lose power.
Power and authority that had been given to him.
He could lose it all. And then he continues in telling her the things why he can't do this. In verse nine, he says he speaking of Potiphar is not greater in this house than me.
What he's saying is number three, he stands to lose position.
And Joseph didn't have this sense of superiority over Potiphar.
What he's saying is, potiphar has given me full authority over everything that is in his household. The servant me, the servants of this house answer to me. The business of this house goes through me. The daily operations depend on me. Like literally, Potiphar seems absent in the running of his own home. He's just kicking Back somewhere enjoying a tea, watching Joseph do everything for him.
But look, he also stands at the second part of verse nine to lose something more. It says, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife number four. He stands to lose character and reputation with his master that has been built because of his faith in Christ or in God.
I would be.
He essentially looks at her and says, in order for me to do this, I would be breaking a sacred trust that has been built.
Think about all this stuff that he talks about that he could lose.
Joseph could lose trust, relationship, power, position and authority. He can lose his character, he can lose his reputation. That's a lot of stuff to lose. But have you ever noticed even in the Christian world, there's a lot of people that are willing to throw that stuff away just for a little bit of a good time?
It's sad the way that our world works.
But what's the ultimate reason that Joseph doesn't follow through that he says, no, I reject this request. It wasn't because he could lose power and position and authority and wealth or any of those things. Joseph, Genesis 39, the very end of it, says that he said, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
The very foundation of what drove Joseph to holy living and keeping his integrity was that his greatest concern, letter C was not Potiphar. It was sinning against God.
The most important thing that was on his mind was his relationship with God, his faithfulness and fidelity to God.
But ultimately this woman would not take no for an answer. As we continue to read in verses 10 through 12 of chapter 39, it says this that as she spoke to Joseph, day after day, she continually pursued him. He would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her. But one day he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house were there in the house. 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, ran for his life.
And what we see, letter D, is this truth that Joseph actually reveals that godly integrity is forged through day by day faithfulness and a continual awareness of God's presence.
It's not just by having strong moral values. Integrity isn't just because I believe that something is good for me to do.
And moral integrity is not something that we hold onto because we are strong enough in our own power to white knuckle it and to be good people so that we can thump our chest and say, look at me.
We understand from our own experience in this world that when temptation comes, we are weak individuals. We will easily throw many things away in order to have something that will ruin so much in our lives.
But what is the secret for Joseph to this strength, to this resistance to sin?
It's the fact that he himself was determined to have a day by day journey with God day by day. As she came day by day, he told her no, because I will not be unfaithful to God and what he desires for my life.
He surrendered his life and his will to God and understood that God was with him and he did not want to lose that blessing.
I will tell you and just pause for a moment to say that this reveals to us why it is so important for us as followers of Jesus Christ to be in God's Word and praying daily. When I grew up in the church, I believed that the reason I had to read God's Word and pray daily was because that was what it meant to be a good Christian. And somehow if I did this enough that I would be acceptable to God, I would be pleasing enough to God. I actually went through moments in my life where I really struggled with feeling like God loved me and God cared about me and that God looked at me with favor because I didn't read my Bible enough. I didn't like reading and I really struggled with prayer.
And because of that, I felt like I got to do these rote Christian activities to be good enough. But that's not what it's about. And we see that here as we even think about Joseph's life. You see, when we read God's Word and we get into prayer, the whole purpose of it is to have intimate communion and fellowship with God. Because we are weak as human beings and our flesh, we so easily give ourselves over to the things of this world. And as we pursue God in His Word to know him in a deeper and more intimate way as we seek him in prayer and ask for his strength on a day by day basis, it's not us in our strength saying, look at me and what I can do, but it's the very Holy Spirit of God who is giving us the power that we need to overcome sin and to live righteously. In other words, it's not our righteousness, it's the righteousness of God that is being produced in our hearts by the very spirit of God. And I believe that as we look at Joseph's life, this integrity that he has, we see that in the darkest moment of his life, where he should be despondent that there is a faith that is so palpable that this powerful man in Egypt, who does not know the God of Joseph, looks and goes, this guy's God is radically changing his life, and he is with him. And it shows up in the way that Joseph, as he is pursued with this temptation every single day, that he rejects it. Why he rejects it because he does not want to sin against the God he loves and the God who is with him.
And because of this, what we see as we continue in this passage is that integrity for Joseph did not end in reward.
It actually ends in chains.
Genesis 39, verses 13 through 18 says these words.
As soon as she, Potiphar's wife, saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, she called the men of her house and said to them, see, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to lie with me, and I cried out in a loud voice. And as soon as he heard that, I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.
And then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home. And she told him the same story, saying that he, servant who you brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. But as soon as I lifted my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.
What we see, letter A, is this truth. That Joseph's resistance to sin actually resulted in persecution.
Doing right did not protect him from suffering.
He wasn't being punished for wrongdoing, he was being punished for righteousness.
And integrity did not remove him from trouble, it actually placed him directly in it.
And I want us to catch this truth this morning. That sometimes the cost of holiness is not inconvenience, it is injustice.
And it begs us to ask ourselves this.
Do we trust God enough with our lives that no matter the cost, we will cling to godly integrity, putting him first in every choice and decision of our lives?
Think about it. In your workplace, you refuse to lie, to cut corners, or to shift blame.
And you're the one who gets passed over for the promotion.
You won't participate in gossip or unethical practices, and suddenly you are isolated from the group.
You speak truth respectfully and clearly, and now you're labeled as the difficult person, or the one who is not a team player.
Or what about in your relationships? You set good godly boundaries, but because of it, you lose the relationship that you desired or you refuse to join sinful behavior. And now you are mocked, excluded or misunderstood. When I. When I worked at McDonald's for those three years, that was probably one of the biggest things I wrestled with when I became a cook in the back. They were some of the most ungodly people I've ever met in my life. And when they found out that I was a Christian, that I wanted to be a pastor, and that I was saving sex for marriage, I went through some of the worst ridicule that I think I have ever faced in my life on a day to day basis. Every time I worked, I was called all sorts of names, all sorts of things that you couldn't imagine any. It was painful. I hated going to work, except that there was this crazy little joy inside of me that kept saying, they see God in you, find joy in where God has placed you.
But there's a cost.
You could choose forgiveness instead of revenge, and other people seem to get away with it. There's a cost. In our family situations, you follow Christ even when others don't and you're the one that's treated like the problem.
Or even more, you won't compromise conviction to keep peace. And now there's tension at every single gathering.
You recognize that Joseph could have said, if this is what I get for doing right, then what is the point? Why am I doing this? But instead, what we read is that he trusted that God was still writing the story of his life and therefore he placed his full trust in him.
It's important because letter B. Godly integrity is not a strategy for success.
It is a testimony of trust in God.
We are living friends in an ungodly, evil world where every single day we can see it when we turn on the news and conversations that we have with people where the lines between right and wrong are consistently being blurred. And I will tell you that I believe if Jesus isn't coming soon, I am terrified to see what this world is going to look like in the future when he does.
But even more, it reminds us that we need to humble ourselves before the Lord to pursue him alone and allow his righteousness to be the foundation of our lives. That builds a consistent godly integrity and shapes the very core of our character that not only would God be glorified, but that others would see him in us.
Now, as we continue, we see letter C that if you read closely, Potiphar's response to this entire thing that happens was actually a blessing. It sounds crazy to say that, but Keep reading verses 19 through 20 as soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him.
This is the way your servant treated me. It says. The Potiphar's 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 that prison. You look at me and say, how can you call that blessing? He's gone from being abandoned by his family, dragged off to Egypt. He knows no one. He's finally raised up to this position of power, and now all of a sudden, because of the. This crazy, lustful woman can't keep her eyes off of him, he's being thrown into prison unjustly. How can you say that's a blessing? Here's how. Even though he goes from one pit to another, you need to remember that adultery was far more than what it is in our world and culture today. We look at adultery in our culture today as sin and social shame. But you know what it was back then? It was an incredibly severe legal offense.
Your punishment was not ridicule socially or people looking down on you. It was your execution.
You would be put to death.
How is what happens to Joseph a blessing?
Prison was an incredible grace that was given to him because if what the wife said was true, he should have been put to death.
But what does this tell us?
I personally believe that this passage begins with Potiphar saying that he saw that the God of Joseph was with him for a reason.
He knew his character, his reputation.
He visibly saw God's hand on Joseph's life.
He saw Joseph's dedication to his God, and he probably knew a little bit about his wife's character as well.
And in that moment, one of two things happens, which I actually think it's both.
Potiphar shows incredible grace by not having him put to death.
But number two, I believe that what we see again is the very sovereign hand of God guiding Joseph's life consistently with him, forging integrity and character that would be essential to his plans that he had for him. Letter D. God forged integrity may cost you today, but it will never be wasted in God's hands ever.
Genesis 39, verse 21:23 3.
The Lord was with Joseph in that prison and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. And whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made succeed, no matter what situation Joseph faces. And we don't get all of the details of the specifics of Joseph's wrestling with God and all of the mess that is happening, but what we do see is a steady and consistent faith and trust in God.
And in that God continues to raise up his servant and to prepare him for a life of serving him in ways he could have never possibly dreamed or imagined.
I would ask you these questions for reflection this morning as we close our time together. Something to think about this morning, to think about as you go through the week.
What does it look like for you to have integrity in your personal life, in your family, and especially in your workplace?
Secondly, in what areas of your life do you struggle with maintaining godly integrity? And can I pause us for just a second and remind us, in order to answer that question, we have to set pride aside and allow the Holy Spirit to do a surgical work in our hearts to say, this is an area.
This is an area that you need to yield to me.
And sometimes the greatest prayer that we can pray is, God, remove my pride and allow me to see myself as I am so that I can give you the space to work in my heart and life.
But would you be willing to ask yourself that question this morning? What areas do you struggle with maintaining godly integrity? And would you be willing to ask the Holy Spirit to come into that place and to reveal that to you? And number three, what steps can you take then to invite God deeper into your day by day and allow him to forge greater integrity in your life?
Friends, integrity is not something that you just simply do on your own because you believe that you need to be a better person.
It comes from a, as we have seen this morning, from a moment by moment walk with God day by day, where he is transforming our hearts as we surrender to Him. And that integrity that is created is not of our own doing. It is a move of the Spirit within us giving us godly integrity, which produces godly righteousness so that I don't get the glory, but only he does.
Pursue him every day and let him shape your heart in that way. Father, I thank you for our time and your word this morning. And I just ask that as we walk from this place today, as we finish singing this song, that the thing that would be deepest on our hearts, Lord, is being able to come to you and lay ourselves barren. Just say, God, where, where do I lack integrity in my life?
Would you give us the humility to let you speak and even to own those areas.
But most importantly, God. God, would you teach us that the answer to our wrestling with integrity is not in trying harder.
It's not in a self help book, it's not in a ten step program.
It is in the surrender of our hearts to you every single day.
Not once every single day. God, we need you and we need your spirit's strength to change us from the inside out. And so teach us to go to that place of surrender as we can see that Joseph did.
And God, allow our lives to be the light of your son Jesus Christ to others because of it. In Jesus name amen.
[01:15:02] Speaker B: You came to the world you created trading your crown for a cross.
You willingly died. Your innocent life paid the cost Wash counting your status as nothing.
The king of all kings came to serve.
Washing my feet, covering me with your love.
If more of you means less of me.
Take everything.
Yes all of you is all I need.
Take everything.
You are my life and my treasure.
The one that I can't live without.
Here at your feet. My desires and dreams I lay down.
Here at your feet. My desire, desires and dreams I lay down.
[01:16:40] Speaker A: I lay them all down.
[01:16:42] Speaker B: If more of you it's less of me.
[01:16:47] Speaker A: Take everything.
Yes all of you is all I need.
Take every.
If more of you means less of me.
[01:17:07] Speaker B: Take everything.
[01:17:12] Speaker A: Yes all of you is all I need.
[01:17:17] Speaker B: Take everything.
[01:17:22] Speaker A: Oh Lord, change me life like only you can hear. With my heart in your hands Father I pray make me more like Jesus.
This world is dying to know who you are.
You've shown us the way to your heart.
So Father I pray make me more like Jesus. Oh Lord, change me like only you can.
Here with my heart in your hands Father I pray make me more like Jesus. This world is dying to know who you are.
You shown us the way to your heart.
So Father I pray make me more like Jesus.
More like Jesus I pray make me more like Jesus.
If one of you he's lesson me.
Take everything listen of you is all I need.
Take everything.
If more of you means less of me.
Take everything.
Yes all of you is all I need take it everything.
[01:19:48] Speaker C: I was ready to go around again.
God take everything.
Our prayer team's here at the front. If you have needs this morning, somebody you'd like to talk with, pray with. Our team would love that opportunity to minister you to this to you this morning. And so I just invite you at the close of our service to come forward.
Yeah Lord, Lord, would you just take all of us. Would you shape us? Pray with me, God. Would you.
Would you teach us, God, to walk with you step by step, moment by moment, every single day where we yield more of our hearts and lives to. To you. So that godly integrity and righteousness are forged into the very fabric of who we are.
Not because of our strength and ability or what we have done, but because we have surrendered to you. And you, God, are producing it within us.
That every day we would live with an integrity that shines like a beacon of light in a dark world.
So that when people see our lives, Father, they see and God, I pray that they would hunger for you.
And so God, as we go from this place today, we want to go in a posture of humility.
A posture that says, I'm not thinking about the person that needs to hear this message.
I need to hear it.
And I need you to speak to me, God, and give us the humility to let your spirit speak into our lives in places where we need to grow and our surrender to you and in our integrity.
And as we surrender those areas, God, we pray, do pray that you would produce that spiritual fruit within us that glorifies you first in our lives, but then becomes a light to the world that is around us.
And so Father, we surrender our hearts to you. We love you. And we pray that as we go this week that you would go with us and continue to transform our hearts. That our our lives would be a fragrant offering before your throne of worship. We pray this together in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you church for worshiping with us today. We look forward to worshiping with you next Sunday. Have a great week. As you serve him.
