Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Church how are you today?
[00:00:09] Speaker A: We're here and excited to worship Jesus.
When I'm in the roughest water, I won't go under, I won't drown.
And when I'm in over my head I know that you won't let me down.
And when I'm broken and I'll do nothing.
I know that you are always up to something good.
I know that you are always up you something good.
You'll make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing my love won't endure.
I know that you are always up to something good.
Do you believe that.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Even through the.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Deepest valley you go before me you are before. I know you'll never leave me your love surrounds me, I won't fear.
And when I'm broken and down to nothing.
I know that you are always up to something good.
I know that you are always up to something good.
I know that you'll make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing your love won't endure.
I know that you are always up to something good.
Declare this together.
Through the darkest night you are on my side you are always faithful. But through my fear and doubt you will lead me out.
I know you were always able through the darkest night you are on my side you are always faithful. Through my fear and doubt you will lead me out. I know you are always able, you'll see.
Cause I know that you are always up to something good.
I know that you are always up to something good.
Yes, you'll make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing your love won't endure.
I know that you are always up to something good.
Oh, I know that you'll make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing your love wanna do.
And I know that you are always up to something good.
Our God is good. Amen.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: Hey, good morning everybody.
We're gonna try that one more time. Good morning, Westgate Chapel.
It is great to be here together. You may grab a seat. Again, I just wanna thank you for coming and worshiping. If we haven't had the pleasure of meeting, my name is Rob Zimmerman, lead pastor here at Westgate and I'm thankful you've chosen to worship with us on this cold, blustery Sunday.
It is good. It is good to be here in this warm building with the opportunity to worship. I do wanna especially welcome you this morning. If you are a gu first time this morning or over the past few weeks or months. We are so thankful that you are here. I know that when people come and they're checking out of church, A lot of times they're a little hesitant to jump right in. You want to take some time to get to know us, to kind of find your place. I just want to encourage you that when you move to that place of saying, you know what? I want to get connected at Westgate. I want to find my place, my community. One of the great first steps that you can take is to fill out a connection card. Those connection cards are in the pew in front of you. And what I would encourage you to do is this. If today is that day where you fill out that card, you can actually hold onto it. And at the end of our service today, you can take it out to our main lobby and we have our guest center that is there. If you hand them that card, we'll give you a small gift just to say thank you for being with us. But also, our hosts would love to answer any questions you might have about the church, our different ministries, how to get connected. So I'd encourage you to stop by at the close of our service if you want to take that step this morning of getting connected into our church. Another way to to really stay connected is to also be a part of the Westgate Chapel app. Our app that you can get on your cell phones is chock full of information and events. I actually was going through it this morning, and the scroll is very, very long as we move into these winter months of a number of different things that are happening across the board. And I want to highlight just a couple for you this morning. One of the things that you'll see in the app is a reminder that next Sunday is our annual meeting as a church where we spend some time talking about what God has been.
God is leading us. But we also have this incredible luncheon that is going to take place at the end of our second service. It's going to be over in our gymnasium, and we would love to invite all of you to come and join us for that.
But what we need to do is have you let us know that you are coming. There are two ways you can do it. One, you can do it through our website. Go into events, click on the event tab for the annual meeting, and register you and your family. There's no cost. Just let us know you're coming. You can do that also through the events tab on the app, or if you're, like, not technologically skillful, you can grab a connection card and you can write it down on that for us. And you can drop it either in the offering or in one of our Giving, giving receptacles at the back. And so we would just encourage you to let us know you're coming as we're planning for food for that. But we're excited for a great day. Another thing that you'll see if you're scrolling through the app is that there are a number of things that are happening. One today, hopefully you noticed as you came in. Over in the cafe area, we are having our life group signup event. And if you're looking for a way to get connected into community with other people, to grow in Jesus and to have that place where you are known and can be known, we want you to get connected in a life group here at Westgate. And so I would encourage you if you're looking for that type of connection, you can stop by and talk to one of our life group leaders today. Look for a group that might be a good fit for you time wise and in your stage of life. So be sure to check that out. You'll also see on the app we've got a lot of different things that are going on. We've got grief share that is starting up. We've got things like Alpha that we want you to check that out. But even more, we have our spring serve that is about to begin. And I want to welcome to the stage Steph Bogner. Would you welcome Steph as she comes to share about our spring serve.
[00:08:09] Speaker C: Good morning.
Yes, Pastor Rob said. I'm Stephanie Bogner, part of the outreach and missions team here at Westgate Chapel. And as I was thinking through this morning, a story came to mind from an author that I read years ago. Her name's Rebecca Pippert and she was was speaking about a time when she was working in the state of Oregon and was working on some college campuses there. And she met a young man named Bill. And Bill was brilliant. He was a deep thinker, had the messy hair, never wore any shoes. And while Bill was at college, he came to know Jesus and have a personal relationship for the first time. And at the same time that this was happening in Bill's heart, God was placing it on the heart of the across the street to start to build relationships with the students on the campus.
And so one day Bill decided he was going to go to church. So he walked across the street, was wearing what he typically wore and walked in and he started coming down the center aisle looking for a place to sit.
Now church that day was for some reason very, very full. And so as he's coming down the aisle looking for a place to Sit. He finds himself all the way at the front, no seats.
So he just sits on the floor because that was what was available.
And at the same time as that, an elderly gentleman in the back stands up and slowly starts making his way down the aisle. And by this point, everybody in church is paying attention because this was definitely out of the ordinary.
And so everybody's wondering, is he going to go scold Bill? Is he hopefully going to help him find a seat? What's going to happen here?
And so when the elderly gentleman finally makes his way all the way to the front, very slowly and awkwardly, he lowers himself to the floor, sits with Bill and worships the entire hour with him down there on the floor.
And I love this story because that is just a barrier breaking kind of love that this gentleman showed to Bill. And I am proud to say that here at Westgate Chapel, we have partners here in Toledo and all over the world that every day work to break down barriers to the gospel for those that need it and the need to hear the hope and goodness and beauty of the gospel. We have partners that serve in our poorest neighborhoods with education and healthcare support.
We have young people in high school and college who are trying to figure out just who they are that we're serving.
We have partners that work with internationals, students and families who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.
We have people who serve with those dealing with unplanned pregnancies or needing healing after an abortion. We have partners who serve with prisoners who've fallen out of grace in their communities but are not too far out of God's reach of grace.
Jesus in Matthew 25 says, Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Truly, I say to you, as you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me.
Our partners here at Westgate are asking for us to join them.
Over the past few weeks, we at Westgate have been compiling a list of their needs that they have sent to us. Some of these opportunities are one time opportunities. Some of them are ongoing. Some can be done individually, some can be done with your family, friends, life, group.
And if there's so many ways that we can, as a church show that barrier breaking love, and we just want to make you aware of them on the entrance tables today, or as you're leaving, you can call them the exit tables is the Spring Serve postcards and there's actually full printouts on the tables too of just the whole list of opportunities available to you. You can also find them on our website and on the app with SpringServe on the website. But we just want to make sure you have all these opportunities before you to be able to see what God might have you do. If you'd like to chat with me about more opportunities of what it might look like for you to break down barriers, please let me know.
As we move into the next part of our service, I want you to go ahead and stand up and say good morning today to maybe somebody that you haven't had a chance to, or maybe even somebody you haven't met. And if you'd like, tell them how you like to stay warm on cold mornings.
[00:13:20] Speaker D: I have this confidence because I've seen the faithfulness of God, the still inside, the storm, the promise of the shore.
I trust the power of your word.
[00:13:45] Speaker C: Enough to seek your kingdom first beyond.
[00:13:49] Speaker D: The barren place, beyond the ocean waves.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: When I walk through the water I won't be overcome.
[00:14:02] Speaker D: When I go through the rivers I.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: Will not be drowned. My God will make a way so I am not afraid.
[00:14:21] Speaker D: You keep the promises you made.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: There.
[00:14:27] Speaker D: Isn'T one that is delayed so I will not lose heart here I will lift my arms.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: And start to sing into the night My praise will call the sun to rise declare the battle the one declare that it is done.
When I walk through the waters I won't be overcome When I go through the rivers I will not be trapped. My God will make a way so I am not afraid.
When I am in the fire I will not feel the flame I'll stand before the the giant declaring victory My God will make a way so I am not afraid.
Before me, behind me, always beside me no shadow, no valley where you won't find me no I am not afraid.
Before me, behind me always beside me. Your shadow, your valley where you will find me know I am not afraid I am not afraid.
When I walk through the waters I won't be overcome. When I go through the rivers I will not be be drowned My God will make a way so I'm not afraid.
When I am in the fire I will not feel the flame I'll stand before the giant declaring victory My God will make a way so I am not afraid.
My God will make a way.
My God will make a way so I.
Praise God.
Praise God. Our God is good.
[00:17:18] Speaker E: Amen, man. We. We're going to do a new song this morning.
Before we do, it's really easy to think about the times in our lives.
Actually, it's really hard to think about the times in our lives sometimes where we question whether God is there. But I know we've all had those experiences, right?
Maybe it's easy. Maybe it's hard.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:17:40] Speaker E: But for me, I can think back in the times of my life where I remember feeling like I was alone.
But the reality is, when I look back those times and I remember how I felt then, I see God's hand all over it.
I see him guiding. I see him never failing.
He's lifted me out of some pretty terrible things in my life. And I know for each of you, maybe you're in that spot right now where you're like, man, Adam, I gotta be honest with you. I don't feel God's presence right now.
I promise you, if you're a believer, God's hand is over all of it.
He is watching you. He is protecting you. He is with you right now. He's walking with you through the fire.
Same fire that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego found themselves in. He's walking. He's in the lion's den with you.
He's right there with you in the midst of it. Maybe you're coming today. Maybe you're rejoicing. Maybe you're in that spot where you feel God's presence reactive in your life. But for each of us, we can look back on our lives and see God at work. What I want you to do now.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: Every head bowed, every eye closed.
[00:18:52] Speaker E: And I want you just to thank God for those times in your life where you didn't feel him then, but you look back and you see he never failed you. Just thank Him.
I want you to take a moment and thank God for being with you right now.
Wherever you are in your life, wherever you are in your walk, I want you to thank God for being with you right now.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Sa.
He's been my fourth man in the fire.
Time after time.
Born of his spirit, washed in his blood.
And what he did for me on Calvary is more than enough.
I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail.
He will never fail.
Yes, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail.
He will never fail.
I see perfect submission.
All is at rest.
I know the author of tomorrow. And so did my. My steps. Yes, he has.
So this Is my story and this is my song I'm praising my risen king and savior all the day long I trust in God oh, I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never fail he will never fail Yes, I trust in God, my Savior the one you will never fail he will never fail.
I savior, My trust.
Yes, I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust him I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord Then he heard and he yes, he answered me that's why that's why I trust why I trust him I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord.
And he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never fail he will never fail I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never fail Fail he will never fail I stop the Lord I stop the Lord and he heard and he answered I stopped the Lord and he answer I stop the Lord and he heard and he answer that's why I trust him that's why I trust him I stop the Lord answer the eyes of the Lord yes, he asked and he answered the eyes of the Lord and he heard and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never fail he will never fail Sing it out. I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never fail.
Yes. Amen.
Give God praise.
[00:26:09] Speaker E: Amen. He is faithful.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: May grab a seat and let's go to prayer together.
Father, we praise you because you are faithful, Father, because of your faithfulness to us, as we'll read this morning, because of your steadfast love, Father, we know that we can trust you in any season of life.
That, Father, you will come through.
And that, Father, even in the moments that are hard. That, Lord, you are shaping us and refining us. And you have purpose in those moments.
God, I pray that you would help us to press in in those moments of our life where it's hard to experience you and to know you in a deeper and a more profound way that builds our faith and our trust and help us to do that, God, because we have the ability to lean on and to remember Your goodness and your love for us that was displayed through Jesus Christ, his death and his resurrection.
You've proven to us, God, that you are for us. So teach us to trust you.
Lord, I thank you that you've given us this family where we can come to together week in and week out. We can be encouraged by one another, supported, challenged.
We have the opportunity, God, to seek you together in community.
I pray that today, God again, would just be a sweet moment for us as we gather together to read your word, to hear from you, to allow you to speak into our lives and to transform our hearts. God, we just surrender who we are to you.
We also come, Lord, at this time to take our offering. We go through this process every single week, Lord, of taking up our offerings. And I pray, God that it would never become just tradition or routine. But truly, God, a response of our hearts thankfulness to you for all that you have done for us.
Whether we're giving in the buckets this morning or we give online, Father, we are reminded of how you have been generous to us. And so, Father, we want to give back generously to you and we ask that you would take these gifts, that you would multiply them so that more people would come to know your son, Jesus Christ, and the hope that is found in him and him alone.
So God, I just pray that as we go through the service, as we worship you in our giving, as we get into your word, that God, you would be using all of it to continually draw our eyes to you and to transform our hearts, that we would more fully represent the beauty of your son to this world. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
We have our offering buckets that are here in the center aisle. And so if you could grab those, we'll just begin to pass those out to the sides. If you're in the balcony with us, they're in the corners and we'll pass those in and we'll continue to worship the Lord through our giving. And we'll jump into God's word here together in just a moment.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Sam.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: Well, if you are here with us today and new, this is your first time visiting or maybe you've been with us over the last few weeks. We have been in a series together on the life of Joseph. And as we've been going through this series together, it's entitled Forged for God's Purposes, we've been going through and recounting and looking at the life of Joseph and the various different sufferings, if you will, that he went through and the journey that he went through with God as he suffered. As I was thinking and preparing for our message this morning, one of the things that I think I recognize is this, is that I actually think. I think we're good, generally good with suffering as long as we understand its purpose, we desire the outcome it's producing and also have some sense of control.
Let me give you an example I've shared with you before that when I was in high school, the high school football coaches eagerly desired for me to join the team. They looked at me, they saw a guy that was on the bigger side and were looking for some linemen, and they wanted me to come and to play football with them. But here's the. The deal. I watched what they put the other players through, week in and week out, all through the summer, going through the heat of that Southern California sun, with all days going through hell week, practicing every single day, not only in summer, but then every day after school, people getting injured, they're getting yelled at. And I thought to myself, why in the world would I want to put myself through that? I wanted nothing to do with it unless it was on my own terms. That's why my senior year, when they came again to ask me if I would play, I looked at him and I said, well, Coach, I said, if you'd like me to play, I only want to practice two times a week and I want to start. Can we work that out?
And of course, Coach Schirrar looked at me and kind of cocked his head and was like, are you kidding me, Zimmerman?
Like, well, I thought this was a negotiation, right? I mean, I've got all the control. I'm not sure I want to do it. You want me to do it. So maybe there's a middle ground. Well, suffice to say, I didn't play that year.
And the reason is I hated the thought of it. I didn't like the idea of going and putting myself through all of that hard work because for me, the end goal wasn't really what I desired and I would lose control and give it all over to them. But I did watch all of my friends that played football, and they loved it. They loved going to practice, they loved getting in and working hard because of what it would produce and because in the end, they desired this outcome of winning and being the best, and yet they still had some control over their environment.
You know, as I said, we're generally good with suffering as long as we understand its purpose, we desire its outcome that it's producing, and we have some sense of control. I didn't like that idea in high school. But I'll tell you, when I went through seminary, it's one of the hardest things that I think I've done in my life for a number of reasons. In the last three years of my master's classes, I spent about 30 to 40 hours a week doing homework on top of my day job, my full time job, having a family and kids involved, and sports. Oftentimes finding myself studying in the middle of the night from 8pm to 2am on most evenings, I'd operate with very little sleep and little time for myself or even to hang out with friends. And why did I endure that? Why did I push through that season? Of that I would most definitely call suffering Because I understood the purpose, I wanted the desired outcome of the learning and the growth that God would take me through. And because I had control.
There were points where I definitely thought to myself, I'm going to quit. I'm tired of doing this, this is hard. And then my wife was like, you put us through too much to quit. Keep going.
And so I did. And we got to the end of it. But right, we're good with suffering as long as we understand its purpose. We desire the outcome it's producing, and we feel like we have some sense of control. But here's the difference. As Christians, when suffering comes into our life, it rarely comes with clarity. It doesn't come with a syllabus. There is no timeline and there is no guarantee of the outcome.
And because we don't understand its purpose, we can't always see what it's producing. And we definitely lack control. We either find ourselves resisting it or being crushed underneath it. And when this happens in our lives, we often result to questioning God, questioning His wisdom, his justice, his care, and even his goodness.
You know, as we dive back into the life of Joseph this morning, we'll begin at the end the day of of Genesis 39 and jump forward into chapters 40 and 41. What we will see is that it's going to teach us that suffering was not a detour from God's purposes for Joseph's life.
No, that suffering was the means by which God would prepare him for his purposes. And so we're going to see this own truth in our own lives is that God often does his deepest preparation in seasons of suffering, of silence, and of waiting.
If you have your Bibles, I'd encourage you to turn there with me to Genesis chapter 39. We'll begin just in a couple of verses there. If you have your sermon notes as well I'd encourage you to pull them out. You can use them to follow along today and then revert back this week to just looking over them and thinking about what God has for you in this time. TEXT of Scripture but what you'll see is I want us to begin again by taking a very quick look at where we have begin where we have been studying Joseph's life and what has taken place. You'll see the first note there.
From one pit to another with no hope in sight. It seems like Joseph's life is this constant moment of pitfalls where he has a very difficult suffering experience. He raises up and then back down, and then raises up with hope and then back down. And we'll see that it's no different this morning.
Let's take a look here. Letter A. Remember that Joseph's betrayal by his brothers took him from being the favorite child to nothing more than a commodity in Egypt. Now when we say that he was nothing more than a commodity in Egypt, what we're talking about is that when his brothers threw him in the pit, sold him to slave traders, he was taken down to either Egypt. He was stripped of many things. He was stripped of his identity. He was no longer a son, a brother, a shepherd, a friend. He was nothing more than a slave.
He was stripped not only of his identity, but also of his agency. He, as a slave, he had no control over his life. He merely existed for to produce benefits for the lives of other people.
Not only that, he had no security. He was powerless. At any moment, he could be sold again, he could be punished and or he could be discarded. And because of this, he lacked any value in that society. He was no longer the favored son who got all sorts of special treatment and who could get his brothers in trouble. No, he was nothing more than inventory with a set price tag. That is what he had been devalued down to as a commodity.
And what we talked about in the first week as we looked at this is Joseph didn't lose all of his dreams for his life because because of sin. He lost his dreams because of circumstances that were outside of his control.
The Bible doesn't soften this point. It actually helps us to understand in a very deep way what happens to Joseph here with his family wasn't discipline. It was injustice. It wasn't correction, it was cruelty. Even more, it wasn't fair. It was purely evil, meant to bring intense harm on his life. And yet in the midst of this, the most powerful words that we read all throughout these passages on Joseph's Life, beginning in that first one in chapter 37 and even continuing in our text today are the words that the Lord was with Joseph. You see letter B. Even though this had happened, but God caused Joseph to rise from servant or slave to personal assistant of one of the most powerful people in all of Egypt. We read this last week together.
The passage says, the Lord was with Joseph. And as the Lord was with Joseph, he caused everything that he would do to prosper. He went from being nothing more than a floor washer and somebody doing the menial tasks of a home to being the personal assistant of one of the most powerful people in Egypt, the captain of the guard. And it tells us that Potiphar himself, the captain of the guard, saw Joseph. And not only did he see that he was a hard worker, that he was ethical, all of those pieces, but it states clearly that he saw God was with him. There was something special and unique about him because of his own faith and trust in God and how that caused him to rise to a position of notoriety and power. And because of it, literally, Joseph is put in charge of the entire estate of Potiphar. Servants come to answer to him, business goes through him, daily operations depend on him. Life is good. You might even venture to say it feels a whole lot better than just simply being the best son of his father. Yet we see letter C that what happened last week was Potiphar's wife falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape.
It tells us that day after day she attempts to seduce him into an extramarital affair. And. And it says that Joseph stood a lot to lose.
Like, as she confronts him and she grabs him, he goes and he reminds her of, like, man. Like, how could I do this? There's so much that he could lose. He could lose the trust of Potiphar, one of the most powerful people in Egypt. He could lose power that he has over the entire household. He could lose position, in other words, the authority that was given to him. But even more, his character and his intention, integrity, were at stake if he were to choose to do what this woman wanted him to do.
But what's incredible in this passage is that we see the development of the character of Joseph in this season of refining that God has taken him through, that what mattered most to him was not power, position, character, integrity, and trust of Potiphar. He says these words, how could I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
Potiphar wasn't even part of the equation because God was central in Joseph's life, where he had all of this power and position and authority. And he was respected by people and had great integrity.
None of that was more important than his devotion to God.
All of it came underneath. And because of that, he rejects the advances of Potiphar's wife. But here's, here's the deal. Joseph's integrity doesn't deliver him. And we saw this, but I will say this.
It didn't deliver him, but it did continue to refine him. And we'll see that as we jump into the text this morning. And so what happens? Because of this woman, letter D, Joseph lands in prison with no light at the end of the tunnel.
And with no light at the end of the tunnel, we know that God, we talked about this truth at the God forged. Integrity may cost you today, but it is never wasted in God's hands. Even in the moments where it feels like God is silent or God isn't present, God is working. And he never wastes these moments of suffering and having integrity for his sake to continue to develop us.
But here's the deal.
What we find is that in moments that feel like unjust suffering in our own lives, we talked about how those are the moments that Satan loves to whisper into our ear.
God isn't good.
He's actually cruel.
How could a God who loves you have allowed this to happen?
He's not even paying attention to you. Your prayers, they don't matter. He's not answering. He. He's left you here alone. You don't need him. And he definitely doesn't have your best in mind.
You know what's funny? We know that that's true because in our own seasons of difficulty and suffering we've walked through. I venture to guess most people in this room have heard those words in their own head.
God, where are you?
You don't care.
I've been praying and I can't hear a thing from.
And we begin to go through that thing in our head where we listen to the whispers of Satan. And you know what's intriguing to me is those whispers are no different than what he said to Eve and Adam in the garden. No different. You can't trust him. He doesn't have your best. His tricks are no different, friends.
But here's the thing that Satan doesn't tell us.
Satan doesn't remind us that human suffering is part of living in a broken world that was broken by sin.
And because of that sin that entered into the world, unjust things happen in our lives.
And in the Bible, God does not ever promise us a perfect life as Christians without pain. And sorrow, quite the opposite. We're told to expect it. It's part and parcel of living in the middle of a broken world that has been broken by sin, our sin.
And yet we are promised all throughout Scripture, and specifically I think of Romans, chapter 8, where Paul says these words that even in the midst of this brokenness and the suffering that we face, that God works all things together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. And what we're going to see this morning is that this truth is on full display as we continue to examine Joseph's journey with God through his own seasons of suffering.
In your notes, you'll see that where we pick up is this is that God was refining Joseph for his future purposes.
God had a plan for Joseph's life, and these moments of suffering and silence had a purpose. In Genesis, chapter 39, verse 21, look at the words that it says here.
It says, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love.
[00:44:13] Speaker A: Love.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: And gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Now, I want to just pause there because the first thing that I see, letter A is this, is that God is still present and active in Joseph's life. The passage begins with what we've already seen. When he landed himself in Egypt and in Potiphar's house, the Lord was with Joseph. He hasn't left him. He is not far, he is near. He is with him. He's active.
But even more important, to help explain how active God is in Joseph's life, we see these words not only that the Lord is with Joseph, but it says he showed him his steadfast love. Now, what does that mean?
It's confusing because in the English language, our understanding of the word love is rather flimsy. It's been watered down by a culture that to used uses love for Hey, I love my dog. Hey, I love corn flakes, I love a certain sports team. Or I could love an individual or a person. But we've seen in our culture how love for people can very quickly and easily be discarded. And so that word love, when we think about it and it says that God showed Joseph his steadfast love, can feel a little bit flimsy. But I want you to understand the Hebrew word behind steadfast love. The Hebrew word is hesed, and it has a much deeper and significant meaning than what we would see in our English context. Oftentimes in English is nothing more than emotion. But here is what it can be translated as. And look at the breadth of how it is defined, hesed can mean loyalty, it can mean faithfulness, it can mean goodness, it can mean graciousness, it can mean kindness, and it can also mean loyal love.
I want you to take those words with me and insert them into the text to gain the understanding of what the passage is saying.
The Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfastly.
The Lord was with Joseph and showed him loyalty, faithfulness, goodness, graciousness, kindness, and loyal love.
Do you understand that this word hesed is used 240 times in the Old Testament? And as it's used 245 times in the Old Testament, it is constantly a picture of the king, character and integrity of who God is. It's far more than just a mere feeling or an emotion. It describes God's active covenant love for his people.
It describes God's loyal, gracious, faithful, good, kind, and unending love that is bound up in the promises that he has made to his people.
And it's not just any loyalty. It is covenant, covenant loyalty. I want you to understand the depth of that because it's actually significant for this passage. You'll remember that when we use the word covenant, we're talking about the covenant that was made between God and Abraham here within this context.
If we were to go back in Genesis, we would see that God came to Abraham. And when he came to Abraham, he made him a promise, a covenant promise that said, I am going to cause to come from you an incredibly great nation. And that nation, I am going to give that nation land. Not only am I going to give the nation land, but I am going to be with your people. And not only am I going to be with your people, I am going to protect your people. And not only that, but this nation, this people that comes from you, are going to be a blessing to the entire world. It was this incredible promise that God made to Abraham. And to seal it, he made a covenant with him. Now, when we hear the word covenant, sometimes we think of it in terms of a contract, right? But in our culture today, we can make contracts and break them rather easily. But the idea of covenant in the Old Testament was very different.
You see, when a person made a covenant with another person, what they would often do is they would go and find a heifer or goats or rams, and they would take these animals and they would divide them and cut them in half and spread their parts apart. And then blood and the guts and entrails of these animals would flow into the middle in order to seal the promise. Or covenant the two people were making with each other. They would then go and walk together through the middle of the blood and the entrails. And the purpose for it was this, is that it was to say that if either one of us breaks this promise or this contract with each other, then what has happened to the these animals, may it happen to me?
And we think of the Abrahamic covenant now and the covenant promise that God made to Abraham. The passage tells us that God tells Abraham to go and to get these animals and divide them up and separate them. But God doesn't walk through it with Abraham. God walks through it alone.
And essentially he looks at Abraham and he says, this covenant promise that I am making to you does not depend on, but it depends fully on my character and my love and my promise that I will cause it to come to fruition. I will do this. And my name is the only name that is at stake.
It's important for us to understand this because that is a picture of the covenant, love and loyalty of God. And when we read this word, hesed, that is translated for us as, as God's steadfast love, it's a reminder for us, number one, that for Joseph, Joseph falls in the line of Abraham in the fulfillment of this promise. The promise would go from Abraham to Isaac to his father Jacob. And as we read the story, we will see that Joseph is going to play an essential part in the preservation of this nation that is to come. That will be a blessing to the entire world. Therefore, God's covenant promise, his hesed, his loyal love, is for Joseph in such a way that he promises he is going to fulfill exactly what he has said he will do. And this is the same love that all throughout Scripture that it says God has for his people and for us.
This hased a loyal covenant love.
God's steadfast, loyal love toward Joseph was rooted in his covenant promise to Abraham. And in that having put Joseph in a position of silence, of waiting and learning to trust, once again, God shows his purposes by raising Joseph to a position of prominence. And it tells us that the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all of the prisoners. Just like happened with Potiphar. Potiphar recognizes that God was with Joseph and he gives him this incredible power. The same thing happens in the jail. Joseph has risen and given charge over everyone that is there. And what we see happens, letter B is this, is that Joseph has a unique opportunity to find his way out now of this unjust predicament that he has found himself in. Genesis chapter 40, verses 1 through 4, say this.
Sometime after this, being in jail, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord, the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. And he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them, and they continued, continued for some time in custody.
Now, what we read here is this is the cupbearer and the baker were two powerful people in the kingdom. Based on their proximity to Pharaoh, the cup baker traditionally was believed to be in charge of the king's wine. No doubt the baker was in charge of the king's food. And some scholars assume that what happens here is they are thrown into jail is that there was likely a plot to kill Pharaoh by poison poisoning. Thus the cupbearer and the baker would have been held on suspicion of their involvement in that plot.
And the passage tells us that Joseph was given the ability to oversee them and to attend to them. And one day, when he comes to them after they've been in prison for a little bit of time, it says that he encounters both men with a downcast spirit, not just because they've been put in prison, but he notices that there's something else that's going on. So he says, hey, what's going on, guys? And they tell him that they've had these dreams that no one can interpret. Remember that dreams in this culture, in the ancient world, had significance because people believed that they held deeply significant meaning and often foreboded something that was to come in the future.
And so they're distraught because there's no one that can interpret the dream. And the cup baker looks at Joseph and says, well, here, let me tell you my dream. And the dream was this. The cupbearer there says, there was this vine that is in front of me and three branches that came out of it and blossoms shot forth from it. Clusters ripened full of grapes. They were bountiful. And so I took the king's cup and I squeezed the grapes and filled it with juice to give that cup again to Pharaoh.
And Joseph, as he hears this, gives an interpretation and says, this is what the Lord says, says, in three days, Pharaoh will restore you to your position.
And can you imagine what that must have been like for the cupbearer? Are you kidding me? That's what it means. I'm going to get out of this hole, my life is going to be spared. This is fantastic news. He must have been jubilant. And in the midst of his excitement, Joseph no doubt sees an opportunity as he inserts and says, and hey, by the way, when you get out, could you remember little old me? I'm kind of sitting here. Could you let Pharaoh know that a great injustice has happened? I did nothing wrong. Can you let him know so that I can maybe get out of this pit myself?
And then, sensing the moment and all of the excitement and goodness that is happening, the baker's like, hey, yo, I had a dream, too. Let me tell you about it. And the baker's dream was this. I had three cake baskets on my head, and the top one was filled with all of these good baked foods.
And then there were these birds that were coming down and eating it.
Can you tell me if that gets me out of prison?
And Joseph interprets it and says, this is what the Lord says.
In three days, Pharaoh will hang you and the birds will eat your flesh.
Not quite what he was looking for, right?
But here's the deal.
What Joseph said comes true. And let us see, what we see is one man's dreams were fulfilled.
But at the same time, Joseph, not so much.
Genesis chapter 40, beginning in verse 20, tells us this, that on the third day, exactly as Joseph said, which happened to be Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast for all of his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his position and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
After all that, can you imagine, my family has left me for dead. I get sold into Egypt, I get raised up to a position of power, and this crazy woman accuses me of rape. I get thrown in jail. The injustice of this moment is enough. And then there's this glimmer of hope.
God has given me the words to speak to this man who can get out of here and get me out of here. And now I'm nothing but forgotten.
And as we continue to read in the passage, it tells us that two whole years pass by.
Can you imagine the silence and the waiting and the wondering of what God is up to?
God, where are you?
What are your purposes? And what are your plans?
Letter D. It's fair to say that Joseph has hit rock bottom in his life.
And it seems most natural to wrestle with the question of why.
Why all of this over and over again.
What I found in this life is this truth is that when we endure suffering, why can be a good question, but it can also be a bad question when we encounter suffering. What do I mean by that? Well, sometimes when we ask the question why of God, when we go through suffering, the way that we ask it is this. Why did you do this?
We voice our displeasure with God and we question his goodness and his justice. And often the response when I'm angry, it's because I didn't get so something that I wanted. It gives us a picture, like, of Job. Like, when you think of Job in the Old Testament, and he's going through all these trials, and he's like, I don't understand how this is good. And he looks at God and he's like, God, how is this just. You need to answer to me. I've done nothing wrong. Why do I deserve this? Right?
Sometimes when we ask the question why in the midst of suffering, it can reflect a heart that is angry at God and. Or that has hostility toward God. And this is often our most natural human response to suffering, an angry accusation of unjust harm. It's like the other day when I was running practice for my daughter Gracie's softball team here at the church. We play. We practice here on Thursday evenings over in the gym. And we were doing some stuff where we were trying to teach the girls good fielding technique. And so we were running a game to continue working on that. We put them on the far end. All of the girls lined up, and we were throwing softballs, bouncing them, putting them at different speeds, asking them to field them. And they would be out if the ball hit the wall behind them. And so as we're doing this, it was great. I was throwing some. They were bouncing like crazy. And there's one that I might have thrown just a little too hard, a little bit of English on it. And the girl who went to field it, it popped up and it hit her directly in the wrist. And she immediately starts crying, and I feel horrible. And all of the girls run to her and are surrounding her to help her in her deep moment of need. And they all turn and look at me like I was Satan.
I was like, wait a second.
I didn't mean to do that. We were just going through drills, doing our thing that wasn't that bad. And I get up to her. I'm like, I am so sorry. And she looks at me, you hurt me. And I'M like, oh, my heart, right? And I'm feeling the pain of the moment. And as I was walking through that, it causes me to think about that fact that sometimes our natural response when we go through suffering is to look at God and to see him as the enemy.
Why did you let this happen?
How could you hurt me?
But did you know that why can actually be a good question even when going through suffering?
Like, not why did you do this? But God, why are you allowing this? It's very different because when we ask that question, what we're actually doing is seeking to understand God's purpose.
We're intentionally remembering God's goodness and trusting in his control and his purposes for our lives.
All throughout the Bible, we are reminded that God, as we go through suffering, is fulfilling his purposes in our life. James 1 tells us to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kind, because we know the testing of our faith develops perseverance. And it says, perseverance must finish its work. So we may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. Seems kind of weird to say, have joy as you go through trial or you go through suffering. But the reason is because we have this faith and this understanding that God is accomplishing his good purposes in our life, developing perseverance and developing our faith for eternal purposes. In 1st Peter 1:7, I'd encourage you to write these down. It tells us that suffering, God uses it to test the genuineness of our faith and to refine our faith. Paul says in Romans 5, a guy who went through all sorts of suffering in this world says that the suffering we face is meant to build endurance and to build character and hope.
You see, God uses the hard seasons of our life to accomplish his good purposes that are ultimately meant to bring blessing.
The hard part is, is that when we can't see the end, when we don't understand his purpose in the moment and we lack control, it is very hard for us to learn to trust.
And I want to say these words this morning and just be instructive for us.
I believe that some. That even when we walk through, like, the bad questioning of God and why it's actually okay for us to walk through that season and wrestle with God.
Sometimes in the church, when we see people suffering, we want to move them through that as quickly as possible.
They'll be sitting there questioning God, how could God let this happen? And we'll want to be like, rebuke you, right? You know, how could you think that God is faithful? Look at everything he's done for you. Where's your faith and trust?
And we can be so insensitive to the moment that maybe God is allowing people to wrestle because it's in that wrestling that their faith is going to be deepened, that their character is going to be strength, and that they are going to come to a place of even deeper dependence in their life. Sometimes as the body of Christ.
The answer for us as we walk with people through suffering should be to sit and to listen and to care, to have compassion and to gently continue to point people to God's goodness, allowing them to come to that place, in that process with God, of moving from God, why I'm upset with you, to God, I know that you love me, so help me to understand your purposes.
I say that because what I see here is this, is that God often does his deepest preparation in our lives, in seasons of suffering, of silence and, of course, waiting. And this was definitely true of Joseph. Letter E. What we see in Joseph's life, if we just sit down and think about it, is God was shaping Joseph for a much greater purpose.
I took some time this week to just sit down and think through Joseph's life and, like, make a list. And that's what you'll see here in your notes of, like, what are the things that God was teaching him? What are the things that God was doing and thinking about, how that was a preparation for something in the future.
The first thing that came to my mind is that God was shaping his humility.
Here we have Joseph, this young man of 17 years old, who was the favorite of his father, used and pitted at times against his brothers by his father.
And he lacked a little bit of humility in his own life. We see it in his lack of wisdom and how he tells them that one day they will bow down to him. And God uses this season, these seasons that he's walking through today, develop a sense of humility. In Joseph's life, God was teaching Joseph dependence. He had had everything provided for him. His father, he was the favorite. He got the special coat. He was well to do.
And yet God has allowed everything to be stripped from him. And he's learning to trust God. In the silence and in the waiting.
He taught him responsibility.
Joseph goes from being just nothing more than a shepherd, or from being a shepherd to being nothing more than a floor scrubber, a person who's doing menial housing tasks, to being a person that was managing the entire state, a state of a powerful person in Egypt. And even after that gets ruined, he's put in the position of overseeing all of the prisoners within the prison. There was something that God was doing in developing Joseph in his own responsibility and helping him to grow as a leader and a person.
Number four. I see that God was working on his godliness.
God was. Was working on his character in the area of integrity and making sure that God was first in all areas of his life.
God was shaping and developing him in the area of compassion. Number five, in other words, helping Joseph to see, because of his own experiences, people's needs and help carry their burdens. Something that I'm not sure he was really learning as the favorite child in his own home. But these circumstances caused him to become a person that cared deeply for people. And even as he sees the cupbearer and the baker struggling over these dreams that they have had, he has compassion and wants to be there with them in this moment. Number six. God's developing within him wisdom. And that comes with life experience.
Going through struggle and getting and receiving godly direction. It develops godly wisdom within a person. Something that's going to serve him incredibly well as we continue to look at this passage. And finally, number seven, he's developing his giftedness. And this is something that stood out to me, is that again, not only did Joseph have this dream of his own as a young child in which he understood what God was trying to say with it, but he gives him the opportunity to interpret the dreams of other people. He continues to develop this giftedness that is going to be used to continue to progress God's purposes and plans in.
In his life. And I want to ask you this question. Have you ever considered how God has used seasons of suffering in your own life to shape your character?
Have you ever gone back to those moments that have been the most difficult to sit down and maybe sketch out and simply say, God, I get what you were doing in me, because here is what you developed.
I've done that numerous times, as I shared with you at the beginning of this series, of the difficult time that Rochelle and and I walked through when I lost my job in California and we moved here.
And it wasn't just moving here, even though it's going to be frigid cold this week. But it was all of the loss that we experienced in our lives.
And I spent time this week again sitting down and just writing out, God, what did you teach me in that hard season?
He taught me trust.
He I was taken and Rashell and I were taken far away from our families where it was safe and easy, and from our people.
And I had to learn how to truly depend upon God. He taught me trust. He taught me dependence. I walked out of that situation incredibly wounded. And can I tell you, probably the greatest thing that God did in my life, at least that I can see at this moment, is that he taught me how to forgive people. People, even when they don't ask for forgiveness.
I was deeply wounded and hurt.
And God brought me to a place of reminding me that the thing he desired the most was for me to learn to be a pure reflection of his son in the way that I would forgive others.
I really want to preach the next message in the life of Joseph, but Pastor Randy gets it. So I will just simply tell you it's a phenomenal thing that you are going to in the weeks to come.
But the other thing that I recognize is that God was giving me different experiences in my life as he moved me and moved my family. Experiences that would shape us as people, and that God would use for me to make an impact in the lives of others.
And this same thing is true of what would now happen with Joseph. What we'll see is this, if you're following along in your notes, is that God was positioning Joseph for an even greater impact than he ever had.
God was changing his character and preparing him for future plans.
Two years later, it tells us that what happens is that Pharaoh had a couple of bad dreams himself. He wakes up in the middle of the night, a little bit terrified by this dream he's had of seven attractive plump cows that come out of the Nile.
And there, as they eat on the reeds, seven ugly thin ones come up out of the Nile as well, and they eat the plump cows. And he wakes up in this cold sweat. What does this mean? These crazy thin cows eating these fat cows? Like he doesn't know what to do with this. Then he goes back to sleep, and he has another dream. Seven plump ears of grain on a stalk. And then seven thin ears show up and they swallow the good ones. And again he wakes up.
What does this mean? What is it that God is trying to tell me?
He wakes up with the night sweats.
No one can answer. He's asking everybody he knows, what is it that these dreams could possibly mean?
And it's in this moment that God begins to take everything that Joseph has gone through and begins to move him into his ultimate purposes for his life. Because while no one could answer, there is one person who could. And it was Joseph. Joseph. And it's in this moment that as Pharaoh is asking all of his people, who can help him out that the cupbearer goes, oh, yeah, there was this guy, and he was in prison with me. And by the way, Pharaoh, when he was in prison with me, me and the baker, you know, who's six feet under. Yeah, that guy, he told us what our dreams meant. And it happened exactly as it is. Here I am serving you, and the baker is dead. That's exactly what Joseph said. And what we begin to see, letter A, is this. Joseph.
He was forgotten by man, but he was not forgotten by God.
He was not forgotten by God. In God's perfect timing, the cupbearer remembers Joseph, and God begins to unfold his plan. Genesis 41, 1416.
Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and there is no one who can can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. And Joseph answered, pharaoh, it's not me. It's not in me. But God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. I love those words in this passage. It shows the depth of what God has already been doing and working in Joseph's life, that he wouldn't seek to take credit for himself and say, yeah, look what I can do. But he would recognize, no, this is God. God has always been in control. He has a purpose. And the only reason that I'm standing here in front of you is because God hasn't left me. He's with me, and he's fulfilling his purposes. And so what we see, letter B, is that God positioned Joseph to speak into Pharaoh's life.
God put Joseph in a spot where everything he had been teaching him, everything that he had gone through, his character development, it was now going to bear fruit.
And what happens is this, is that as Joseph begins to tell the meaning behind these dreams that he has had, we see that number one, he reveals future trouble.
He says, pharaoh, there is future trouble that is coming for you. It says in Genesis 41, verse 25 that Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one God has revealed to Pharaoh.
[01:11:42] Speaker A: 1.
[01:11:44] Speaker B: You see, the dreams that he had were about seven years of incredible harvest that were gonna come on the land, and that there would be seven years of incredible famine, famine so bad that it would swallow up the good years.
And what he says is, he says, God is showing you very clearly that there is a difficult time that is coming on this land, and you need to pay attention to what God is saying, because if you don't, it's going to bring incredible harm on the kingdom.
But not only does God use Joseph to interpret the dream of Pharaoh, but number two, he uses him to speak wisdom into this situation. It's powerful.
Genesis, chapter 41, verse 33 through 36. It says, now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to a appoint overseers over the land and take one fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years, and let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities and let them keep it. That food will be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through famine.
And what we see here is that through all of Joseph's experiences and his wrestling with God in these hard seasons is that God has given Joseph a very sharp mind, a leadership mind. And through those experiences, he shaped him into a wise and a discerning leader that could now speak into what was coming.
But not only did God use him to speak into the situation. Number three, he used Joseph to reveal God to Pharaoh.
Genesis 41:37,38 says, this proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find a man like this? But he doesn't stop there, right? He could have. He could have said, can we find a man like this? Look at this guy, he's so wise. Look at him. He has trained himself well in our prison camp, right? No. What does he say? Can we find a man like this? In whom is the spirit of God?
Just like Potiphar, just like the jailer. Pharaoh looks at the life of Joseph and he sees the very power of God at force in his life, and it speaks to him. And he recognizes that God is with him.
And it means that what we see is that Joseph's life speaks truth about who God was in into him.
God uses Joseph and all of the experiences that he has had to speak into Pharaoh's life. And in the same way, in our own moments of suffering, God uses those moments of refinement, of refining our character, of refining who we are to speak into the lives of other people.
You know, one of the best things that I think has ever come out of the suffering that I went through in that season of my life is that God has given me the ability to walk with other People who have found themselves in the same exact situations or similar, and to be able to speak truth and to speak love and to be compassionate and to understand what they're walking through. And to use my experience of suffering to help give people hope, hope that is grounded and found in Jesus Christ, to remind them that he is good, that he is steadfast in his love towards us, and that he will accomplish his good, perfect purposes for our lives that will give us blessing in this life, but also will be for the purposes of eternity. Can you trust God in that same way that in your seasons of suffering, that God is developing your character and who you are as a person because he desires for you to make an impact in the lives of others? But not only that, we see letter C that not only was it to impact the life of Pharaoh for Joseph, letter C. God positioned Joseph for maximum impact. It wasn't just to speak into Pharaoh's life, but God's plans were even greater than Joseph could have ever imagined. Quickly, number one, Joseph is raised to the position of prime minister in the entire land of Egypt. Essentially, what we read in the passage that is there in chapter 41, verse 39, is that Pharaoh himself says, you are going to be the man in charge. There will be no one greater than you. You are going to run this entire thing. Joseph, I will still be the one that gets the final say and is in charge and over the entire land. But you are the one that is going to raise to power and prominence and position. But not only does he raise, get raised to this power of prominence and this position of power and prominence, but also, number two, Joseph's impact would be global.
It would be global. In Genesis 41, verse 53,3, it says, the seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come. As Joseph had said, there was a famine in all the land, but in the land of Egypt, there was bread.
When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh said to the Egyptians, go see Joseph. And what he says to you, do it. So when the famine had spread over the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses, sold it to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain. Because the famine was severe over all the earth. God had developed his character, he had developed his leadership, he had given him godly wisdom. He had risen him to this place of prominence because he was going to use him to preserve not only the people and the land, but also the people of the entire earth who would come there. And it is here, in this moment, that the story is not done.
That God would also faithfully begin the process of redeeming the brokenness in Joseph's family and reconciling them to each other.
I want to ask you this question in closing this morning. I don't know what you are facing, what it is that you're going through, what moment of suffering that you have either faced in the past or are currently facing. But I want to push you to remember these two things this morning from our text.
The first and most important is this. God has said toward you, do not forget his steadfast love, his undying love and his loyalty that have been proved to you. And the fact that while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you.
He has proven the depth of his love for you that is unending.
He pursues you relentlessly with his love as a reminder to you that you can trust him in any moment. Would you remember God's hased toward you?
But also would you remember in that, because of his love love, that you can trust him in the seasons of waiting and silence, faithfully asking him the question, why?
And the question is not why did you do this, God, Why? What do you want to teach me, Lord?
What do you want to refine in me?
But number two, how do you want to use me in the lives of other people?
For I know your purposes are far greater than this moment, Father, I ask that you would teach these things to us.
You know where every person in this room sits, the suffering they have faced, the wrestling they have done with you, with where you are.
And I believe that in all of these moments you want to develop our character and prepare us for a future where we will have. Have impact for your kingdom and the lives of individuals that we are with. But even greater. And while we can't see the end of that road, would you remind us, God, of your hased, your steadfast love, your loyal love toward us, of how you've proven it through Jesus Christ, that it would push us into a place of ultimate trust and faith in you through all seasons.
Because we know that you are good.
We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[01:20:22] Speaker D: I give my life to follow Jesus captive to Christ I know true freedom I count it all joy to take up my cross I'll follow.
These earthly wells have left me thirsty all worldly wisdom comes up empty Only your word and only your ways I'll.
[01:21:06] Speaker A: Follow.
[01:21:09] Speaker D: What a joy it is to to follow Jesus what a gift it is to bear his name.
What an honor to surrender and make him my everything.
When the darkness brings its questions.
[01:21:47] Speaker A: When.
[01:21:47] Speaker D: Trusting you becomes a wrestle I have resolved no matter the cost I'll follow.
[01:22:01] Speaker A: What a joy it is to follow.
[01:22:05] Speaker D: Jesus what a gift it is to bear his name.
[01:22:14] Speaker A: What an honor to surrender and make him my everything.
What a joy it is too far oh Jesus what a gift it is.
[01:22:36] Speaker D: To bear his name.
[01:22:40] Speaker A: What an honor to surrender.
[01:22:47] Speaker D: And make him my everything.
Yes, to surrender.
Yes to the altar, yes to your plans for me.
Yes to correction.
Yes to confession, yes to refining me.
[01:23:24] Speaker A: Yes to your blessing.
Yes to anointing your spirit alive in me.
Yes to salvation and resurrection.
Yes to eternity.
[01:23:48] Speaker D: What a joy to follow Jesus what a gift it is to bear his name.
[01:24:01] Speaker A: What an honor to surrender and make.
[01:24:09] Speaker D: You my everything and make you my.
[01:24:17] Speaker A: Everything Lord, you are my everything.
[01:24:31] Speaker B: Man Is it not a joy to follow Jesus?
Is it not good to know that there is a God that loves us so much that even in the moments, hardest moments and broken moments of this world, that he is near and with us and refining us and preparing us for the purpose of eternity?
Two steps for you this morning.
One, if you find yourself in that season of difficulty and suffering and you want somebody to pray with you this morning and to walk with you in that, our prayer team teams here at the front, they would love that opportunity to minister to you this morning and to pray with you. And so I'd invite you to come as we close our service.
Secondly, one of the greatest gifts that God has given us within the body of Christ is each other, to do life together, to walk with each other. It's one of the reasons that we value so much having life groups in a large church is because it provides us that place where we can walk with one another and be encouraged in the good seasons, but also in the difficult and know that there will be people that will help us to keep our eyes fixed on Christ. If you're looking for that place of connection and community this morning, please stop by our life group signup event that's happening over in the cafe area. Look and see if there's a group that would fit and meet your needs. Find that community that God has designed for you to be in as you grow in him and have people encourage you in that journey that you have serving the Lord. So I so I want to thank you again for coming and worshiping with us this morning. Let me pray for you. God I just pray your blessing over this congregation that as we go out from here that we would be reminded of your steadfast love that never ends, it never ceases.
And may it be the thing that draws us to a place of trust in you through all seasons of life. Trusting the development you are doing in our character and who we are as a person so that that Lord, we would make impact for your kingdom. Help us to trust you in those moments and use our lives, God, as a light to others as we walk out of this place that they would know. Your son, Jesus Christ, we love you and we give our whole heart to you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. God bless you, church. Look forward to worshiping with you again next week.
