Amen so this evening I'm going to continue on with the series we started talking about God's essence and God's nature
Just kind of going through
the different concepts of God
And tonight we're gonna talk about God's omnipotence the fact that God's nature is that he is
Omnipotent and you're there in Mark chapter 11 keep something there go back to Matthew chapter 19 Matthew chapter 19
So omnipotent that's probably not something that word that we use a lot most people if you've been around church know what that means
But it's basically all omnipotent means is that God is all-powerful
That he is infinite in power that he is eternal in power that he has complete control over everything
There's nothing that is too hard for God
Okay
And to kind of help us understand that you could think or remember what omnipotent work means because sometimes you'll get these
We're talking about omniscient, you know omnipotent omnipresent all these other different terms
Well, just think about the word potentate, you know, that's probably not another word you know, that's right
Or you can think about potus like president of the United States, you know potus, right?
We think about potentate, you know a potentate is somebody that is like a powerful
Monarch a powerful ruler somebody has great authority, right? That's a potentate
Well, God is omnipotent, right meaning that he is all-powerful and that he is infinite in his power
And you see this is something there's just a lot of scripture on this and won't spend a lot of time on this topic
I'll make application here at the end so we can get something out of it
But you know, it's a comforting thing to know that God is is all-powerful, you know
It could be a very fearful thing
But it's also a good thing that God is completely in control that there's nothing too hard for him
You there in Matthew chapter 19 look at verse 26
It says but Jesus beheld them and said unto them with men. This is impossible
But with all things, excuse me, but with God all things are impossible or excuse me are possible
So with God all things are possible
This is you know, Jesus speaking telling us about the fact that there is nothing that is too hard for God
If you want to go over to Jeremiah chapter number 32 Jeremiah chapter number 32 again, we'll come back to mark 11 go to
Jeremiah chapter 32
It says in Psalms 47 for the Lord most high is terrible he is a great king over all the earth
So it's not just that the Lord, you know, he's gonna be king in just Jerusalem or Israel. He only reigns a certain
Region, you know kind of like when we think about our potentates today
We have a president of the United States and that's where his authority ends
He only has so much authority and you know
We could talk about all the different rulers and over all the different nations and their their rule ends at their border
And it you know, they're even within that there's only they are limited in their power
But God his omnipotent meaning he has all power and he is infinite. He's not gonna run out. He's not going to be exhausted
Through by by the use of that power it's inexhaustible
You're there in Jeremiah 32 we can read there verse 17
It says our Lord God behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and thy stretched out arm
And that really must have worn you out and boy that really must have taken it out of you
I'm sure you know, you had to take a long rest after that and there was just nothing else you could do right now
He said look
He made the heaven and the earth by his great power by his stretched out arm and there is nothing too hard
For thee and the Bible is telling us that our God the God of the Bible that there is nothing that is too hard for him
Nothing at all
God's omnipotence is seen in nature. You're back go back to Mark chapter 11 Mark chapter 11
Mark chapter 11 the Bible says in Genesis 1 of course in the beginning God created the heaven the earth
It takes a powerful being to just create everything out of nothing, right?
Or we could believe the fairy tale that everything, you know
Just appeared out of by accident that everything was as small as a period on a page and exploded into everything
My question is where is the the space that everything exploded into where did that come from?
You know, there's all these other questions we can start to ask that nobody has any proof for okay
But I can tell you that the Bible says that God created heaven the earth why because God is all-powerful
That's the God that we're dealing with. He's not limited
The Bible says in Colossians 1 that he is before all things and by him all things consist your mark 11 look at verse 12
And on the morrow when they were come for Bethany he was hungry and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves
He came if happily he might find anything there on and when he came to it
He found nothing but leaves for the time of the figs was not yet and Jesus ate the fig tree
Not yet
And Jesus answered and said unto it no man eat the fruit of the hereafter forever
And his disciples heard it and you got to kind of wonder what were they thinking when they heard that?
He's talking to trees now
Right. Look if we any one of us went and did that we'd probably get some looks
If we went out in some orchard somewhere and said no fruit grow on you from hereafter
People what is this guy doing? And of course, this is symbolic of Israel and he's and we understand all that
But notice in verse 20 it says in the morning as they passed by they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots
And peter calling to remembrance saith unto him master behold the fig tree which thou carried curses is withered away
And jesus answering saith unto him have faith in god
and you know
it's it seems like in that passage that peter's kind of taken aback like he's kind of surprised that
He had that ability and you know, it kind of surprises us sometimes that
Peter would be surprised by that. I mean peter who walked on water who's seen all these miracles
And look we could kind of be like a peter sometimes can't we see? Oh, I know god's all powerful
I know he's got everything under control. There's nothing that's too hard for him
But then we start to doubt that god can help us with our problems that god can do something on our behalf
That god can meet some need that we have we say well, I know god can do anything
But surely this is too big for god. My little problem is too big for god
And we don't pray we don't ask we don't go to an all-powerful god
But we need to understand that god is omnipotent not so we can know a big fancy word
We need to know that god is omnipotent because that means that he's all-powerful
Meaning that we have a great help in a time of need in god that we can come boldly before his throne
And we got an example here of jesus the fact that he's all-powerful even in nature in his own creation
Go over to mark chapter 4 mark chapter 4
The bible says in psalms 107 for he commandeth and the and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof
They mount up to the heaven they go down to the depths their soul is melted because of trouble
Verse 29 he maketh the storm calm so that the waves thereof are still look man looks at these waves
And his soul melts because of trouble why because he's merciful. He's he's at its mercy
There's nothing he can do about he's powerless to change anything
When he's out on this, you know, this, uh, this temptuous sea
But he the lord he can make it calm in an instant that the waves thereof are still
You know that could be a representation of our life. Sometimes that sees, you know, sometimes the sea
Of life can get pretty wavy, you know, it can have its ups and downs. It can get dark and stormy
It can feel like we're sinking
And what we need to learn to do in those instances is not just give up but go to the one who can what?
Make the storm a calm and we see that mark chapter 4 verse 37 in the rose a
Great storm of wind and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full
And he was in the hind or part of the ship asleep on a pillow
Now, I don't know about you. That's probably not what I would be doing and that's not what the disciples were doing
There's this big storm. I mean, we're not even at sea and I get nervous whenever you know
The lightning comes in and everything just this afternoon and i'm thinking
Should we be out in the rain right now?
I just saw a bolt of lightning over there. Anything could happen, right?
Get those kids away from the basketball hoop. All right, we don't need any crispy critters rocking around here
And we could feel that way in life, can't we we can get overwhelmed by life and feel like there's just nothing we can do
And we certainly wouldn't be like jesus here just hanging out in the back of the boat asleep on a pillow now
Why was he dead because he didn't care?
Because he just was you know, uh wasn't sympathetic had no feeling
That he was just calloused. No, it's because he knew he knew what he was going to be able to stop it
He wasn't worried about it. He's god. He knows what power he has that he was going to let anything happen to these men
They you know, of course
They didn't understand that and they came to him there at the end of verse 38 and says master cares though not that we perish
You know sometimes that can be the attitude that we have when we go through these storms with god
I mean these men have been following jesus. They've seen miracles. They know who this who the lord is
And that's their attitude towards them carest thou not that we perish
They're saying you're indifferent. Aren't you going to do something about this?
What they should have gone and says hey lord, I hate to disturb you
I know you're sound asleep. But would you mind just taking care of this real quick for me?
Because it's making us a little nervous and we know you have great power that you can make the storm a calm
We read it in psalms
And that's the way we need to be and not come with this attitude. Ah, you don't care god
Look god cares
And look because and we'll get into it in a minute here just because god doesn't always
Do things the way we want doesn't mean he can't
There's always a purpose behind what he allows and what he permits
And of course we know the story here
And he arose and rebuked the wind not them
You would think maybe they might have had something coming right and he rebuked the wind
And he said unto the sea peace be still
And the wind ceased and there was a great calm and he said unto them. Why are you so fearful?
How is it that you have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly and said one to another what manner of man is this that even the wind and sea obey him?
Well, the manner of man is is that he is god
And god is all-powerful and he can call any storm
Any storm any small earthly storm any storm of your life god can call it
So why are we always so fearful? Why do we worry and fret?
And I understand that's just part of our human nature and look I I don't understand how people live in the world without god
I mean this world is just I mean you go I don't I don't recommend this but even when I
Scroll through a news feed somewhere
All right, you know click on that video on youtube and catch up on what's been going on. It's like
How do people get up in the morning and face this world with everything that that's going on?
No wonder so many people are anxious. No wonder so many people are fearful
No wonder so many people are on edge and angry
No wonder so many people are medicating themselves and doping themselves up and taking drugs and trying to numb everything
the world's insane
The world's losing it. I mean, it's it's it's a it's a frightening world to live in right now. It really is
It's a storm that we're we're having to endure and look, you know, it's always been that way
And maybe it's just that we hear about it a little bit more
But to me, it just seems like things have been getting worse, you know in this world. There's a lot of uncertainty in the world
And people, you know, they can get caught up in that and just live in that place and end up just you know
That's the boat they're stuck in
And rather than going and going to god and and and getting his attention and asking him to do something about it
They're just going to try and man the oars until they snap
They're going to sit there and just try to fight the wind and get soaked and hopefully not sink
And that's what that's how they live their lives. I don't know how they do it
I'd rather just go to god and let him just stand up and say peace be still
go over to uh
Go over to luke chapter four. I'm just going to read this one because this is one of my favorite stories
About the lord just showing again that god is omnipotent that he's all powerful that there's nothing too hard for him
And that you know, he has control over his own creation
Not only was creating everything a breeze for him, right? There was nothing too hard for him
But he also has complete power over that creation
It says there in luke 4 a familiar passage verse 24 and he said verily I say unto you
No prophet is accepted in his own country
But I tell you of a truth that many widows were in israel in the days of elias
You remember he's in the synagogue preaching to the jews, right?
And when the heaven was shut up three years and six months then when great famine was throughout all the land
But none of but unto none of them was elias sent
Save unto a surrepta a city of sidon unto a woman that was a widow
And many lepers were in in israel in the time of elisius the prophet and none of them was cleanse saving naman the syrian
So he's saying look remember that famine back then
God only took care of a foreigner and he's making a point here and he's saying look remember god cared more about a
Gentile than those people back than his own nation back then
And that's what triggers these people in verse 28 and they all in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath
And rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him up under the brow of the hill where on their city was built
That they might cast him down headlong. So they're getting ready to throw him down a hill
And it's probably a pretty steep one and then he's probably going to get severely hurt but notice verse 30
This is just this very subtle demonstration of the power that god has
So they got him he lets I love the fact that he lets him go through all the trouble of getting him up grabbing him
And dragging him all the way up to the top of this hill thinking. Ah, we got him now. We'll show him
But it says in verse 30, but he passing through the midst of them
Went his way. I mean what happened here?
How do you explain this they're obviously just hell-bent on throwing jesus down this hill for what he said
And then all of a sudden it's just but he just passed right through the midst of them
I mean, this is a miracle what I think happened is they got up there and god just says well today's not not today boys
Just all of a sudden they probably couldn't I don't know it doesn't bible doesn't say but I imagine they're trying to grab jesus
It's just like
They're trying to throw them they can't even reach out a hand to grab them anymore
Just maybe they're just frozen in place and he just walks right through the midst of them
And they're saying what's going on here? Why can't we throw this guy down? We drug him all the way up here
And I just love that story. But what's it showing us?
Is that there's nothing that's out of god's control. He's not overwhelmed
You think jesus was getting drug up that hill sweating that worrying about that?
He's like we'll get to the top and i'll take care of it
And i'll let get let these guys get a little exercise today and it looks like they could use it, right?
Go ahead and drag me up there go over to john chapter 18 john chapter 18
It's another great example
Of god's omnipotence that there's nothing that's going to overwhelm god take over god that's going to
You know defeat his purposes that things don't just happen to god like he couldn't do anything about it
Matthew 18 look at verse 4 jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him
Went forth and say it unto them. Of course, he's saying unto those that came to arrest him in the garden
Right. This is before his crucifixion
Whom seek ye? They answered him
Jesus the son of nazareth
Jesus saith unto them I am he and judas also which portrayed them stood with them
In verse six as soon as then as he had said unto them I am he they went backward and fell on the ground
No, I don't know about you
But if I was one of those guys and I wouldn't have been one of those guys
I hope
If that happened to me i'd be like, yeah i'm good
I'd be out of there
I'd be saying that guy just speaks and everyone falls down
Truly, this is the son of god you think but of course we understand the scripture that
That many of these men these reprobates could not believe
And that they were fulfilling the will of satan and the will of even the lord, you know
This these things must come to pass that the scriptures might be fulfilled
But it just shows it's a great example, you know him being drug up to this hill
And these men wanting to throw him down and they can't do it
He just stops him dead in the track and just goes right back to his business
They come to arrest him before he lets them do it. And that's exactly what jesus did in the garden, by the way
He didn't he wasn't taken against his will
That's what he told peter. He said I could call presently call ten thousand legions of angels and my father would give them me
And look all he has to say is I am he and these men just fall to the ground
on their back
Prone and he could have walked away
So god is in complete control of everything including his own creation. He's control of the creation itself even men
These are examples of him controlling men to a certain degree
And then we also could talk about god's omnipotence in the spiritual realm and we'll just touch on this very quickly
And we could go to the example of job go over to uh, job chapter four job chapter four
The bible says in psalms 104
That god maketh his angels spirits his ministers
of flaming fire
So god has power and control even in the spiritual room and again, we don't know a lot about the spiritual realm
But we do know that there are things as angels and devils and that god has complete control of even that
You can say of course god can control these men. Of course. God can control these circumstances
God can call them storms. I mean, this is his creation, but let's not forget that even in the spiritual world. God is still in control
You know people get this idea that somehow god's battling with satan like like sometimes some days satan wins
He wins a battle here and there
You know god just lets satan do what he does. He just lets those things happen
He could put satan out like that. I mean he could he could quench him
It'd be like blowing out a birthday candle for god. It'd be nothing like that
Blowing out a birthday candle for god it'd be nothing and we know one day he will do that
And but the devil has a purpose, you know, he has a purpose in
In fulfilling god's will even and even uh, you know, it says these angels are ministers, right?
These are these ministers are a flaming fire. Look at job chapter one job chapter one
Verse 12, of course, we know the story of job
That satan wanted to tempt job
And and he wanted he's saying look the only reason joe blesses you is because you put a hedge of protection around him
But you know take away all that he has and he'll curse you to his face
You know and then he comes back and says touch his health, you know
Take you know all that a man will give for his flesh for his life, right?
And he says to him in verse 12 and the lord said unto satan behold all that he hath is in thy power
Only upon himself put not forth thine hand
So went for satan went forth from the presence of the lord
And of course, we know later in their story that god even permits the satan to strike job with boils from head to head to foot
And and job was so afflicted of satan, but why was satan able to do that?
Because god's just checked out
Because god wasn't aware it was going on. No, the only reason he was allowed to do that is because god let him do that
And that's an important thing for us to understand
We can't just go around and and blame everything on the devil, you know
Sometimes we have to take responsibility for the things that go wrong in our life
That's you know, one way to look at it
But also, you know sometimes when bad things happen, you know, you might even say this is like demonic
You know these bad things are happening to me
You know god has a purpose behind all that, you know
We have a hard time though understanding that because we have a very limited perspective
Of what god is trying to do
You know and a great example of this is joshua or excuse me, not joshua
Joseph joseph is a great example of this, you know, somebody who went through a lot of hardship but understood in the end
And even while he was going through it that god had a plan that there was a purpose
Behind all the bad things that god was allowing to come into his life
So i'm not going to spend a lot of time on you know, the fact that god has
You know control over the spiritual realm. We know that god, you know has power over leviathan, which is a picture of satan
You can go read job 41
Read job 38. These are great examples of the fact that god has control over his creation
He has control over even the devil himself, okay
But what I want to make application is the fact that god is powerful. He is all powerful. He is omnipotent
Even in our human experience and i'm beyond just humanity at large
God is all powerful in your personal life
God, there's nothing that in your life that god can't
Control that god can't do something about
Meaning this you say well then I can just go and and pray all my troubles away
Well, yes and no. I mean you can find peace and and and mercy and grace and help and a time of need and all that
To you know as the you know, it's kind of cliche to accept the things you cannot change, right?
There's some things because here's the thing sometimes god lets things come into our life because those things have a purpose
You know god let them go into that storm
God took them into that storm
And he said look i'm going to show my power. But first you have to go into that storm and be frightened
Go over to genesis chapter 39 genesis chapter 39
So look god is is all powerful. He has power over his creation
He has power over the you know, this our physical realm. He has powerful in the spiritual realm
And god has power in our own personal experiences in our own lives
And again a great example of this is joseph
We know the story in genesis chapter 39 and verse 1 and joseph joseph was brought down to egypt and we all know how he got
there
He wasn't on vacation. You know, he didn't go to a booking agent
And get a flight and come down to egypt. He was sold by his own brethren into slavery
You know and this is after he had dreams
Of you know his his mother and father and his and his older brothers bowing down
And making obeisance to him being submitted to him and him having a great power
He's already thinking well god's going to use me some way god's going to do something in my life
I don't know what it is, but he's given me these dreams
That are showing me that i'm going to be in control one day
And what you know, he even even told those dreams to to his father and they rebuked him
You know him and his brothers and they said oh you're going to rule over us
And that's why you know, you know his brothers they ended up selling him into slavery, right because they were envious
Meaning this that you know joseph it would have been real easy for him to go
Well, maybe I just ate some bad pizza and that's all those dreams were
Maybe those dreams had no meaning, you know, maybe maybe I need more b vitamins, you know, or maybe
God had a bigger plan and you know, and I think joseph understood that
I don't think he got to the end of his life and went oh, okay. Yeah now it all makes sense
I think all along the way when all these things were going on joseph is saying well, I know god's in control
Well, god's trying to teach me something here and god's trying to show me something here
God's trying to develop me and grow me and use me for something else in the future
In genesis chapter 39 verse 1 and joseph was brought down to egypt because he was sold into slavery and potiphar the officer
Of pharaoh captain of the guard an egyptian brought him to the hands of the ishmaelites which had brought him down
And the lord was with joseph and he was a prosperous man. Oh the lord was with him, but here he is in slavery
It's because god has a purpose. Yes. God is all-powerful
But god also has purposes and he works those things in our lives and he says in verse three and his master
Saw that the lord was with him the lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand
of course, we know the story that you know, he was uh,
He was a very handsome young man. And of course the uh, the potiphar's wife tries to seduce him. He flees
She lies about him accuses him of rape basically
And in verse 19
It says and it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife which he spake on him saying
After this manner did thy servant to me that his wrath was kindled and joseph's master took him and put him into the prison
The a place where the king's prisoners were bound and he was there in prison so put yourself in joseph's shoes
I now are you still going to tell me that god's in control joseph
I mean sure you got sold to the slavery and you had faith and
And you could see once you got into potiphar's house that god had a purpose and you prospered and things were going well
And i've been able to say well, okay now I could see how god is using me. All right. Yeah. God's still with me
But now i'm in prison now things have gotten even worse. God, are you even in control at all?
Why is this happening to me? Joseph might have been tempted to say
But of course again, we know the story goes on there
It says verse 21
But the lord was with joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison
And the keeper of the prison committed to joseph's hand all of the prisoners that were in the prison and whatsoever
They did there. He was the doer of it
So, you know your circumstances might not be an ideal in life. You might not have god's ideal
You might not have your own ideal
But god can still use us even when we're in, you know a prison
You know, even if if your life isn't, you know exactly what it should be
Maybe we're on plan b. We're on plan c we might even be all the way down to plan d in our life
But god can still use us. Why because god is still in control
I mean that's what's going on here. And of course we understand there's a greater purpose in joseph's life
But these are great example of this along the way and joseph light in joseph's life. We see examples of even in these dire circumstances
When it seems like all is lost that there's no hope that god is still in control
And not just in control of creation and just we understand. Oh, yeah god's in control in the broader scheme of things
God was in control of joseph's specific circumstances
an individual
one man
God had his eye on
And cared about and was engineering these things and working in his life and bringing him into favor. Look the same goes for us
We're god's children, you know, god cares about every single one of us
I don't care what your circumstance is. God can still work and move and use you in your life
I mean he gets exalted here. He was the doer of everything that was done in that prison. He's promoted
In verse 23, it says the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the lord was with him
And that what he did the lord made it to prosper
I mean even in prison where it's you know, obviously less than ideal
He starts out his journey thinking i'm gonna i'm gonna rule one day
I'm gonna be this great ruler. My own family is gonna bow down to me and make obeisance
And now here I am in this prison, you know, he could have gotten an attitude and doubted
But it just seems like everything he touches turns to gold because god is with him wherever he goes all the way through
God is in control
It's just that sometimes, you know
We'd prefer not to have to find that out in a prison
We'd prefer like well, yeah god you could have done that without selling me into slavery
I could have learned that lesson, you know not being accused of of being a rapist and sold into prison and falsely accused
and again
We know that he had a greater purpose behind and that's what joseph understood that there was a greater purpose at work
And that's what we have to understand, you know, I can preach a sermon you can walk out and say yeah god is in control
But you know what? I can't guarantee you tomorrow that there's going to be some difficult circumstances that come into your life
That you're going to find yourself, you know having to go through some trial or tribulation in your life
But I can tell you that no matter what happens god is still in control
The trick is to trying to see well
How what is the end, you know to what end is god doing this allowing this to happen?
And a lot of times we don't know until we get through the storm like I was talking about this morning
And joseph probably going through this had faith and understood and wasn't bitter and wasn't angry
But I don't know that he could see the end like oh, yeah, i'm gonna be made second in egypt
I mean what in the story of joseph life up to this point tells you that he's headed for to be the second
Only to farrow in all the land
Nothing, there's it's not exactly a great resume he's got going on here, you know
Well, I see on your record you were accused of rape
You know, that's a felony in egypt, sorry, that's not going to work
You know, he's got all these problems all these issues all these difficulties that have come up in his life
He's not going. Well, it's just a matter of time until i'm second to farrow
He's just saying I just know god's at work
And as long as i'm faithful to him and I do what's right and I serve god. He'll bless me right here in this prison
And i'll make the best of my circumstances as they are and i'll let god work out the rest
Now obviously when joseph and i'm kind of getting ahead of myself if you want to go to genesis chapter 50
Genesis chapter 50 when he gets to the end
You know, he does look back and say oh well, yeah, obviously everything god did I can see now
Why you know how it would all work to this end, but look you don't have that convenience. You don't have that
Pleasure when you're in the middle of those circumstances joseph didn't have that sitting in the prison
He didn't know what was going to happen for all he knew
That's where he was for the rest of his life
And it's the same way in our lives, you know, we go through these tribulations these trials
These difficulties in our life. We don't always know how things are going to turn out
But we just have to learn to trust god that he is in control
And that if he's allowing these things to happen there is a purpose behind it
Bible says in philippians 4 it is god which worketh in you
Both to will and to do of his good pleasure
Do all things without murmurings and disputings?
I mean, it would have been real easy for joseph to murmur and dispute. I mean if
Humanly speaking if anyone had an excuse to murmur and complain a little bit. It's joseph
I mean
He's there in a prison in egypt being after his own family sells up for you know into slavery and now he's falsely accused
I mean
You know, he could have gotten an attitude and said well, you know what god can just go kick rocks
I'm not interested in doing god's will
And he could have gotten bitter and angry with god, but is that what he did?
No, he just trusted god in the midst of that circumstance in the midst of that storm and allowed god to work things out
Because he understood that it was god that was working in him for his own good pleasure for god's good pleasure
See we think oh god's gonna work for me god's in control
Oh, that means everything's gonna go i'm gonna get everything I want everything's gonna go away things. I think they should go. Nope
That's not what the bible says
The bible says that he works in us what to do of his good pleasure
God says well, I have a purpose there's something i'm trying to accomplish through you
And i'm going to let these circumstances come in your life for my pleasure for my glory
You're just along for the ride
And you know and really that's a privilege. It's an op. It's it's an opportunity
That's it's hard to say that when you're going through those things and to look at it that way
But that is i'm just saying that's the understanding we have to have
You have to learn to do what see the silver lining
See the silver lining in every cloud. That's what we need to learn to do
in life
Because i'm telling you some people can't do that
And life, you know is going to bring
Its fair share of storms. There's going to be plenty of dark clouds that come into everyone's life
And if we don't learn to be people that can see the silver lining
You know what which is going to turn us into bitter angry people
That's what that does. It happens to people all the time. You know what you've met them out there
People walk around looking like they're sucking on a lemon
and they're angry all the time and they just
They're rude
They're it seems well, they're just having a bad day. They're having a bad life
Every day is a bad day
Every day is murmuring every day is disputing
Because they don't they don't have god or you know, even if they are saved they don't they don't want what god wants
They want two different things
What we need to do is learn to see the server lining, you know, the bible puts it this way in romans 8
We know that all things work together for good to them that love god to them that are called according to his purposes
Look, you're going to hear that over and over. That's probably one of the most
often recited
Verses in a baptist church all things work together to good for them that love god to them that are called according his purposes
But you know what? It's true. You know why it's so often cited because it's true
Because so many people go through hard things and they have to be reminded all things work together
for good
to them that love god
You know and joseph he was able to he was able to have that perspective
Look, I don't know how this is going to turn out. I don't know where this is leading
But I know one thing that god is good god is in control and I love him
And I know that eventually all things are going to work together
So god is in control of everything even in our own personal affairs
Look there in genesis chapter 50 verse 19
Genesis chapter 50 and verse 19 it says and joseph said unto them fear not
For I am in for I for am I in the place of god?
Of course this is him at the end of his his uh after his father has died
And his his brethren are coming to him. They're saying look remember when when dad died
He said you're not doing us any harm. They were lying. You never said that
Because they've you know, we all know the story of joseph eventually his brethren come down in the land there. He reveals himself to them
You know and now now the little brother, you know is is the big little brother, right? He's got all the power
And they're afraid that he's going to exact vengeance for what?
They did to him, right?
And there's so many parallels with joseph and christ like he you know, that's it's great. But uh,
One of them is is that he's forgiving, you know, he came onto his own and his own received him not right
You know joseph's own turned on him. But what did he do? Did he take vengeance on them?
No, he was he showed compassion, right? He saved their lives
Just like you know, we've we've offended god we've done wrong we've broken his commandments
And he has had compassion in us and spared us through his own grace and mercy
So that's you know, a whole other sermon right there, but they're coming to him and saying look don't do anything bad
We're sorry. Remember what dad said just just like no, I don't remember him saying that that's funny. You bring it up
I must not have been there, right?
You got that in writing, you know, is that in the will?
No, trust us. That's what he said
And he says in verse 20 and again, this is joseph
Who's gone through these things years later?
Being able to look back on his life and understand see the whole picture
And it's not not and and he's not saying at this point. Okay now i'm not mad at god anymore now
It makes sense now i'm not gonna now I guess i'll stop murmuring and disputing now that I can see how everything worked together for good
his attitude all the way through was
All things work together for good to them that love god that are to them that are called according to his purpose
That was his attitude all the way through
That's why he's able to say here in genesis chapter 50 look at verse 20
But as for you, he thought evil against me, but god meant it unto good
I mean those that's I mean think about what he's saying here saying you thought evil unto me
But god meant it unto good
What's he saying? He's saying you thought evil and god thought well, that's good that they think that
I can use that. Hey, I could work with that
I can use that circumstance that he's going to go through and save much people alive
He said there that's what he says god meant it unto good to bring to pass that is this day to save much people alive
Now therefore fear you not I will nourish you and your little ones and he comforted them and spake kindly unto them
He did all things without murmuring and disputing but again, he didn't arrive at this place just now
This has been joseph's attitude all the way through his life
That's why god prospered him everywhere. He went because he was somebody who understood that god is a control of everything
Including the bad circumstances that we go through. I mean, it's great
We could sit here all night and just think about how it's how amazing it is that god
Is the control of the courses of the stars and the circuits of the sea go read job
Go read job 38. It's amazing
Everything that god, you know designs every snowflake god, wow, you know, but you know, what's more amazing
Is that god?
Has the ability to work in every single one of our lives and guess what he is working in every single one of our lives
the problem with that we have sometimes though is that
We don't like what he's doing
Because we say well this doesn't make any sense to me I don't see how this is going to work out for good
Uh lord they threw me in a pit there's uh, they're thinking about selling me to these strangers to carry me down to egypt
Can you explain to me how this is going to work together for good?
No, he just went with it said, okay god, all right
Oh and now i'm in this house and i'm prospering in this house and you know what?
He probably learned a lot of things in that in in potiphar's house about ruling and managing that he would use later in his life
as the ruler in egypt
And now he's in prison
And now he learns what you know people go through and you understand, you know, i made a more compassionate person
You know
There's all kinds and we could sit and speculate about all kinds of things
That joseph learned along the way that made him into the man that he is in genesis chapter 50
a man who just on the
Drop of a hat just forgiving is already forgiven his brethren
I mean, I don't know about you
But if somebody sold me into slavery at a young age and I went through everything
I don't I would like to think that i'd be able to be like this, but I don't know
I mean someone cuts me off in traffic and it's like what's their plate number i'm gonna track them down
Not really i'm kidding
You're all gonna be all looking out for that van now when i'm out there see that church fan, you know, slow down
I already know where you live
Anyway
You know what i'm saying though, right?
We get we the small little things upset us
Something goes, you know, isn't doesn't go the right way in life. We get in some tough circumstance and say
You know, what's god doing? Why?
You know what? We ought to just understand that all things work together for good learn to see the silver lining
You know what and and god willing when we get through it, then we'll be able to look back and say well it all makes sense
Now and look we might go our whole lives going through things
And never fully understand why we suffered everything that we did why we went through this trial why we went through that tribulation
We might not make sense of it here on earth
But you know what? We'll get to heaven
And we'll look back
And we'll and we'll see the the big picture and we'll go. Oh, okay
You know
This happened here for this reason and that happened there for this reason and what was that reason for his good pleasure?
Look god has complete control
Of his creation he is omnipotent
And he works all things together for good to them that love god, but you know what? He also works all things
according to his good pleasure
So we need to just learn to be like joseph go along for the ride
And just have a good attitude no matter where it takes us
And not turn into bitter angry murmuring disputing people
But people that are you know have compassion and forgiveness
And people that trust god trust a god who is in control of everything let's go ahead and pray