(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Come for a cleansing to Calvary's side. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be wider, much wider than so? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Sin takes a loss, sin is lying in the flow. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you do service for Jesus your King? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you live daily in His praises to sing? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Thank you, Jesus, for the cleansing power of the 22. We're on this first verse together. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His praises now? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood? In the soul planting blood of the Lamb. Are your garments thoughtless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you walking daily by the Savior's side? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Do you rest each moment in the crucified? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood? In the soul planting blood of the Lamb. Are your garments thoughtless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? When the bridegroom cometh, will your rose be white? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Will your soul be ready for the mansion's bright? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood? In the soul planting blood of the Lamb. Are your garments thoughtless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin, and be washed in the blood of the Lamb. There's a fountain flowing for the soul of me. Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Are you washed in the blood? In the soul planting blood of the Lamb. Are your garments thoughtless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Ezekiel chapter 25. We've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. Across the page, congratulations to the Lee family on the birth of baby Jeremy Hyun. Am I saying that right? Say it? Hyun. Jeremy Hyun, born Wednesday, January 26th at 7.08 p.m. Nine pounds, five ounces, 19.5 inches long. Be sure to congratulate them. Join us next Sunday, February 6th at 10 a.m. for donuts and coffee in honor of those celebrating their birthday in February. And then below that, we've got the preaching class on Tuesday nights at 7 o'clock. So if you want to participate in the preaching class at 7 o'clock on Tuesday nights, you've got to be a man. So no females allowed. You've got to prepare a five-minute sermon. And we're not going to have any spectators, so you don't just show up just to watch. Only show up if you're planning on actually participating. And you have to be one who goes soul winning. If you need more details about that, speak to Brother Segura. He can answer any questions that you have about that. On the back, we've got the monthly music emphasis night coming up this Thursday, February 3rd at 7 o'clock. And that is the time of singing, games, and instruction. Below that, Mexico Mondays. The next Mexico Monday trip is not this Monday, but next Monday, February 7th. And so sign up if you would like to attend. Again, speak to Brother Segura for more details. And then there's going to be another U.S. Virgin Islands mission strip. This time it's going to be to a different island. So they're going to the island of St. Thomas. And this is scheduled for May 15th through 21st. So the last trip was a big success. And a couple, almost 200 people saved. And everybody had a great time. And so we've got another one in case you missed out on that one and you're interested. Talk to Brother Raymond. Get more details. Start thinking about it. Mark the calendar. May 15th through 21st. And then the small town soul winning has been temporarily postponed. So we're just taking a break from that. We'll let you know when that starts up again. And then other upcoming events. We've got a Spanish night coming up. That's always the second Thursday of every month. So that's on the 10th of February. That's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. All right. In the front of your hymnals, you should find the insert with the hymn, Lord Bless Our Home. If you don't have one, please raise your hand. Lord bless our home. Come with us, homecoming every day. Yield into the enemy and throwing life away. Bind our lives together. Guard us with your truth. When the struggle seems great, Lord, keep our eyes on you. Lord, bless our home, protect our home. Let's be strong and true. And when we need you, Lord, we give our home to you. Thank you for your goodness. Our love was in your plan. Help us face the contender. Keep us clean and pure. Drive us to each other's arms and make our love endure. Lord, bless our home, protect our home. Keep us strong and true. And when we need you, Lord, love us. Come lead into each other. Lord, bless our home, we give our home to you. Amen, your hymnals now. Please go to hymn number 419. 419, sound the battle cry, number 419. 419. Sound the battle cry, see the flow at night. Raise the standard high for the Lord. Burn your armor on, stand firm, everyone. Rest your cause upon his holy word. Rouse them, soldiers, rally round the banner. Ready, steady, pass the word along. Onward, forward, shout aloud, Rosanna. Christ is Captain of the mighty throng. Strong to be the foe, marching on we go. While our cause we know must prevail. Shield and banner, right, leading in the light. Badly, for the right we ne'er can fail. Rouse when, soldiers, rally round the banner. Ready, steady, pass the word along. Onward, forward, shout aloud, Rosanna. Christ is Captain of the mighty throng. Oh, now, God of all, hear us when we call. Help us, one and all, by thy grace. When the battle's done and the victory's won. Ready, steady, pass the word along. Onward, forward, shout aloud, Rosanna. Christ is Captain of the mighty throng. At this time, we'll pass the offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Genesis chapter 50. First book in the Bible is... Follow along silently with brother Nick as he reads. Genesis chapter 50, starting in verse number 1. Genesis chapter 50, the Bible reads... And Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him. For so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed. And the Egyptians mourned for him three score and ten days. And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die. In my grave, which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore, let me go up, I pray thee, to bury his father. And with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house, only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both Abraham's raim, which is beyond Jordan, and his sons did unto him according as he commanded them. For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for possession of a burying place of Ephron the Hittite before Mamre. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph, will Peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him? And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin, for they did unto thee evil. And now we pray thee, Forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face, and they said, Ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore, fear ye not, I will nourish you and your little ones. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation, the children also of Matyr, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's knees. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die, and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land, under the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I pray that you'll fill, Pastor, with your spirit, and please help us all to be edified with the sermons. In Christ's name I pray, Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is, A Victim Mentality. When their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren in their sin, for they did unto thee evil, and now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. So if you remember, Joseph's brothers had basically kidnapped him, thrown him in a pit. They thought about murder and slavery. They end up changing hands a few times. They're bought and sold a couple times. And then he ends up in the house of Potiphar's wife, and then he gets put in prison. And so he goes through some really hard things of being enslaved, being bought and sold, going into Potiphar's house, and they had abused him in that way. And they, so far, his father is dead, is going to start taking revenge. You know, he loved his dad so much that he doesn't want to hurt any of his siblings while his dad's still alive, and, you know, maybe that's why we've gotten away with it so far. And so after their dad dies, they make supplication to Joseph. You know, they come to Joseph and say, look, please, is given this message, he starts crying. He's weeping at the end of verse 17. It says in verse 18, his brethren also went and fell down before his face, and they said, behold, we be thy servants. So they're humbling themselves and saying, look, we're sorry, we'll do whatever you want, we're your servants, you know, we understand why you'd be mad at us. But look how Joseph responds to these guys in verse 19. And Joseph said to them, fear not, God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. And so Joseph is looking at this and saying, look, you guys meant evil. You kidnapped me, you thought about murdering me, you sold me into slavery, you were doing something evil, your intent was evil, what you did was evil, but God meant that for good. God had a plan where he used that for something good. And in fact, it's good that I was sold into slavery because if I hadn't been sold into slavery, I wouldn't have gone down into Egypt, and by going down into Egypt, I ended up becoming the second in command down there after I came out of prison, and God used me to save the lives of a whole bunch of people because as the second in command, he set up a program whereby they got through a famine, and the Egyptians were saved, and also the Canaanites, and also Jacob and his brethren themselves, ended up having food to eat as a result of Joseph being sent down there. So he said, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. And then it says in verse 21, now therefore fear ye not, I will nourish you and your little ones, and he comforted them and spake kindly unto them. So he doesn't say, well you guys ought to be sorry, you know, he's just totally forgiving, he's not going to take revenge, in fact he says, I'm going to do good unto you guys, I'm going to bless you guys, you know, let's just forget about all that. God worked it out, everything's great now, and so this is a great example of forgiveness in the Bible, but the point that I want to make this morning is that Joseph did not see himself as a victim, he didn't go through life looking at himself, poor me, I'm a victim, this is why I'm a failure, he realized that the bad things that happened to him in his life actually were something that God would use for good, and not only that, he realized that the bad things that happened to him in his life were necessary, they had to happen, and so he didn't feel all bad about it and get this victim mentality. Listen to Psalm 119 71, it's good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. David said it's good for me that I've been afflicted, I'm glad that I've been afflicted, I'm glad that bad things have happened, I'm glad that I've gone through pain and suffering in my life, it's good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. You see, going through life is not going to be painless, you're going to go through pain, you're going to suffer, you're going to go through trials and tribulation and even humiliation, but yet those things are good for you because they teach you to be a better person, David said it's good for me that I've been afflicted that I might keep thy word. Go if you would to James chapter 1 in the New Testament. James chapter 1 in the New Testament, this is a very famous scripture in James 1, I'll start reading it while you get there, James 1 verse 2, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. And the temptations here, that word means trials or tribulations, trying times, it's coming from the same root word as our word attempt. If I attempt something, I'm trying to do it, and so temptations are trials. So he's saying, count it all joy when you fall into divers or different kinds of temptations, testings, trials, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. So he's saying, look, bad things that come into your life to try you, to test you, to push you to your limits, those things are actually good for you. You should actually be happy, you should actually be thankful for those things because they work patience in your life. They teach you how to patiently endure those things. And it says in verse 4, but let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, meaning lacking nothing. So if you didn't have these hard things that you go through in your life, then your character would be lacking because you hadn't been through those hard things. Now, there's something very similar in Romans chapter 5 where it says, and you don't have to turn there, if you would, turn over to 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter 1, but in Romans 5 verse 3 it says, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations. So in James chapter 1 he said, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. Here he says, we glory in tribulations. Why would anyone glory in tribulations? Why would anyone be excited about tribulations, or be proud of going through tribulations, or glorify tribulations as being something that's a good part of our life? The reason why is because we know that tribulation worketh patience. That's exactly what James taught over in James chapter 1. James chapter 1 said, the trying of your faith worketh patience. Paul in Romans 5 says, we glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. So temptations work patience, tribulation works patience. Paul and James are both teaching this exact same thing, and it says, and patience experience. Experience hope, and hope make it not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. So when we go through tribulation, we build hope. How does that work? Well, if I go through something hard in my life, then obviously that teaches me patience, because if everything were just handed to me on a silver platter, and everything came easily, I wouldn't need any patience, would I? So I build patience by going through pain, suffering, hard things, and then by building patience in that way, I gain experience. Okay, now what does experience mean in this context? Experience means, you know what, I've been through this before, I can go through it again. Now, going through something hard for the first time is always going to be the hardest, because you're in uncharted territory, uncharted waters. But you know, when you go through something really hard that you've already done before, it's a little bit easier the second time, isn't it? Because you have it in the, and so patience gives you experience, and then experience gives you hope, make it not ashamed. You're not going to crash and burn, okay? Look at 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6. The Bible says, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, and I want you to pay special attention to these next three words, if need be, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Now, heaviness is talking about sadness, and we would call this, in our modern vernacular, depression, right? Because what does depression mean? Like someone's being pressed down. Well, isn't that what heaviness is? You know, heaviness weighs down or presses down. And so he's saying, look, if need be, you're in heaviness. You're going through something depressing. You're going through something sorrowing or weighing you down. And it's these manifold temptations, it's all these trials and tribulations and hard things that you're going through that are dragging you down, but what's the purpose? Verse 7, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So, again, this is a trial of your faith, just like gold has to go through heat in order to burn off the impurities, your faith is going through a trial to purge you and make you better, to make you stronger. And so it says in verse 6, if need be. Now, why am I emphasizing those three words, if need be, is that these things are necessary. You go through trials because need be, that's why, because they're necessary. They have to happen. You go through life and you go through hard times because those things are necessary for your personal development as a Christian. They're necessary for the plan of God, and so they're not just random occurrences, they happen for a reason. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 1, and while you're turning to 2 Corinthians, to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. You know, when bad things happen to you, those things will not just be something that you get through or endure, good. They're not neutral, they're not bad, they're good. They're making you stronger, they're building you up. All things work together for good to them that love God. So as long as you love God, as long as you are on God's program and called according to his purpose, those bad things are actually a blessing for you. They're a benefit for you. The pain that you say, how is pain a blessing? Because it's making you stronger, because it's teaching you patience, because it's building character, because it is something that you have to go through for some better purpose, some good purpose. Look, obviously Joseph being sold into slavery is bad. And by the way, did you notice that when Joseph is down in Egypt talking to his brethren when they come to visit him, that he uses an interpreter because he doesn't want them to know that he's their brother. So he wants them to think that he's an Egyptian, so he's using an interpreter. What does that tell you about Egypt in relation to Canaan? It tells you that they speak two different languages because if he's using an interpreter so as to seem like an Egyptian, that shows that Egypt is not speaking the same language as Joseph grew up with with his brothers. And you know what that means is that when he's thrown into slavery, he's gonna experience a cultural isolation, a linguistic isolation. I mean, look, it'd be one thing to get sold into slavery in an English-speaking country. It'd be another thing to get sold into slavery in a country where you don't speak the language. You're gonna feel really isolated. You're gonna feel really helpless. You're not going to be able to really take care of yourself very well if you can't even speak the language. So imagine this teenage boy. He's 17 years old. He's getting sold into slavery. He doesn't speak the language. He doesn't know the culture. And he's being, you know, maybe he gets settled in with one master, gets sold off to the other, and then he ends up, you know, excelling at his job as a slave in Potiphar's house. But then he gets falsely accused and thrown in prison. And obviously being in prison is no fun. And so he went through some really bad, hard things of slavery, uh, you know, being just uprooted from his culture and his language, prison. You know, I mean, there's just a lot of things about this that we probably can't even imagine that he went through for years and years and years. You know, we just read over the story in a few verses. But I mean, he's spending years in slavery, years in prison, trying to figure out which way is up in a foreign country and how to succeed, how to excel. He went through these bad things. But all of those things, I guarantee you, looking back from the vantage point of Genesis 50, he looked at all that and said, you know what, God used all this for good. I'm glad things went down the way they did. I'm glad I went to Egypt. I'm glad I became a slave. I'm glad I went to prison. I'm glad all this happened because everything worked out for good. I was able to save a bunch of people's lives. This was all part of God's plan. And so he was glad. He didn't sit there and say, you know, you guys ruined my life. You ruined my life. I was 17 and you ruined my life. Let me explain something to you 17-year-olds out there. Your life isn't ruined because you're only 17. Your life isn't ruined at 17. You have your whole life ahead of you, but it's so easy to just, oh, man, you know, my parents are ruining my life. You're 17. You haven't even started your life hardly at all yet. Give me a break. Quit whining. Quit seeing yourself as a victim and be thankful. You know, the Bible says in everything give thanks for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning you. You know, why don't you, yes, be thankful when God blesses you. You're not a complete sissy. You're not a big baby. You actually can handle some stuff. You actually have a little endurance and patience because you didn't have everything handed to you. Look, if I could push a button and go back in time and my whole childhood would be perfect, I wouldn't push that button and I'd probably be the biggest jerk ever. Think about it. If you went through life and everything went your way and you're good-looking and you're athletic and you're, and some of you are like, yeah, that's me, that's me. You know, you're good-looking, you're athletic, you're popular, you're doing good in school, you're academically succeeding, you're succeeding on the job. If everything, run into your soulmate right away, get married, everything's perfect, folks, if weakling when anything bad did happen because you don't even know what to do because you've never even been through hard things, folks, strength comes through enduring pain and suffering and hard things. And so, you know, instead of whining about how, oh, you know, I was 17 years old, I'm glad that I got picked on as a kid. I'm glad that my parents were strict. I'm glad that my parents were hard on me. I'm glad that I was treated unfairly at times. I'm glad that I struggled in school. I'm glad that I had this physical problem or that physical problem because it made me a better person and not just in the sense of making you stronger and tougher and being able to get through things but also, you know what, it too. Because, you know, if you, it'd be pretty easy for me to get a mentality that says, oh, anybody who's struggling financially must just be an idiot. Anybody who's struggling financially must just be lazy. Right? If I'd never actually gone through financial struggles, can you see how I might get that attitude? You know, I mean, I just, you know, got a job, worked hard, yeah, what's the big deal? But you know what? Thankfully, there was a time in my life when I did struggle pretty hard financially and looking back, I'm glad I did so I wouldn't have that attitude because I actually know what it's like to work hard at a job and push myself and study and work and still struggle to make ends meet and still have financial problems even while working hard, even while giving it my best. You know, not being lazy, not being dumb but yet struggling financially. Okay, here's chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which you also suffer. God saw me, I can help you get through the same thing and I can tell you how God blessed me in that time and how God can bless you as well if you stay. That as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye also be of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed, and look at these next phrases, out of measure, above strength, in so much that we despaired even of life. He's saying, look, we've been through some, we were pressed out of measure. Like, the pressure was off the scale is what that means, out of measure. You know, like the measuring device, it went beyond that. It redlined. We didn't have the strength to do what was being required of us. We were pushed beyond that, above strength. And he's saying that it took such a toll on them that we despaired even of life, meaning that they actually just didn't even want to live anymore. They're actually just like, kill me now. I don't even want to be alive. I'm in so much despair because you know what? I'm just being pushed beyond my limits here. This is just out of measure, above strength. I'm despairing of life. But hold on a second. That's how it feels, but apparently he got through it because here he is writing the epistle. So somehow he got through this. Now you say, well, if it was above his strength, how did he get through it? Well, because God gave him what he needed to get through it. Like basically where his strength ran out, then that's where God picked up the slack and got him through. Okay. It said, you know, young men are gonna faint. People are gonna get tired, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. And you know, the illustration there is the proverbial second wind where you're running and you just feel like you can't go any further, have no energy left. All of a sudden you renew your strength. All of a sudden, boom, I got a second wind. Now I'm going strong again. And in fact, I think I'm even gonna pick up the pace a little bit and go a little faster, whereas just recently you thought you were done. You thought you were at the end of your rope. Well, that's the illustration God's using in Isaiah chapter 40. Trust in the Lord and just push through on the promises of God. You'll get that second wind spiritually. Renew your strength. You'll mount up with wings as eagles. You'll run and not be weary. You'll walk and not faint. Keep going because God will see you through. And when it's all over, you're gonna be able to have that experience now to look back on. And when you next time get to a point where you're just like, I can't take this anymore, you're gonna be like, you know, that's why I said last time. Last time I said I couldn't do anymore and I kept going. And so if last time when I thought I was out of gas and I kept going, you know, this time I feel like I'm out of gas, you know, I bet I can keep going because I've already done it. And then you can use that to see what other people are going through and give them encouragement and give them consolation as well. It says in verse nine, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raised at the dead. So he's saying spiritually, we had to be taken to the brink of our own selves, but that we'd rely on God because we know without God giving me that extra boost, I wouldn't have made it. And so if we never were pushed to our limits, we'd never even see what God could do because if everything we do is within our limits, then we could walk away and say what? I did this. I did all this. But we're at the finish line. God, verse 10, delivered us from so great a death and does deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. I mean, he delivered us, he does deliver us, and he will yet deliver us, right? Past, present, and future, God's going to come through. And the more you live your life trusting in the Lord, the more times you're going to see him come. You know, if you don't have a victim's mentality, then when you look, you can look at adversity and hard things that you went through as a tool to make you better. If you don't have the victim mentality, you look at the stuff you went through and you say, you know, that stuff was good, it was a tool, it shaped me, it made me better. You know, I remember growing up, my dad would sometimes be a little hard on me at times, and you know, as a teenager, you get bitter and you get upset at your parents and stuff like that. You know, I went through a phase where I was bitter about stuff as a teenager, real world, where I had some bosses that were super hard on me, very harsh with me, and I remember one time, I was talking to my dad at a family gathering, and I said, you know what, dad? I said, thank you so much for, you know, pushing me as a kid and really coming down hard on me and being stern and so forth, because I said, dad, I said, my boss right now at my job makes you look like Mr. Rogers. And this is the show, put up your head if you know what I'm talking about. Almost everybody. Who has no idea who Mr. Rogers is? All right, all the young people. Or people from other countries. So Mr. Rogers, Mr. Rogers, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood. You know, would you be my, would you be, would you be my neighbor? Hello, neighbor. You know, he's just like super kind and gentle and loving. It's a children's show, you know. And just to be clear, I never watched it beyond that intro, you know. I'd pretty much, I'd pretty much get through the song. You know, you gotta listen to the song, like, all right. And then it's like, all right, I'm done with this guy. You know, but I told my dad, my dad thought that was hilarious when I told him that. Cause I said, dad, you know, you know, working with you in electrical, doing electrical work with you, going on jobs with you, I said, you know, at the time seemed hard and it seemed like sometimes you were maybe being unreasonable in your expectation. But I said, my boss now makes you look like Mr. Rogers. I mean, you, you know, and I'm like, I'm so thankful that I grew up working with you because you prepared me to deal with stuff out in the real world that's gonna be, now, or I could just still at age 40, you know, be bringing up something from when I was a kid or something, like, you know, dad, remember that time you yelled at me? It's stupid. Who cares? You know, I love my dad. I'm thankful for the training. He's a great father. My mom was a great mother. I had great parents, great upbringing. Were they perfect? No. But no parents are perfect. I'm thankful for an amazing upbringing by my Christian parents and you know what? I could go through life whining about whatever wasn't perfect about it or parts, and I could look at those parts and say, you know what? I'm glad for those too because those actually taught me how to deal with situations that I was gonna deal with later anyway. Important job in my life. Like, I really needed that job. That job came at the perfect time in my life. I was able to make a lot more money than I'd been making in the past and it ended up being the job that I had when I started Faithful Word Baptist Church and so that job was part of the equation for me starting this church, you know, because when I started the church from scratch, I had to work full time and pass to the church and you know what? I needed that job and God knew that I needed that job and God allowed everything in my life to prepare me for that job. Now you say, are you exaggerating about this boss? Well, let me just explain to you something. I worked for this guy for years and years and years and every other employee, it was a revolving door. No one could handle working at this company. No one. I mean, one time I sat down and just started counting all the people that I'd worked with at this job and it was just like just scores of people because people would last like a few weeks and then he would chew them out and cuss them out and blow up at them and mistreat them in some way and they were all gone. But I was like, hey, I'm making better money than I've ever made. I have more freedom. You know, the money's good. The freedom's good. I'm learning a lot. You know, I need to make this job work. The first year I worked at that job, I remember just thinking to myself, this job can't last. Like this is not sustainable. Like this is just, this is so too volatile and I just thought like do it for one more week. Do it for one more week. I can do this for one more week. And then it was like do it for another week and I just kept pushing. And after like a year or something, things kind of stabilized. And you know, I bet it was kind of similar for Joseph when he's in slavery and at first he doesn't know the language. He's probably just treading water and just trying to survive that first day, trying to survive that first week. But then after a while, you know, he gets his bearings and he's running Potiphar's house. He gets his bearings in the prison. But I guarantee you, he didn't just walk in and just start running the prison. I'm just emotionally drained from the way this guy's treating me and just the demands of this job that were so unreasonable and everything. But I'm just like I need this job and I just kept pushing through. And you know, the boss started treating me really well. You know, that I could look at and say like, oh, that's so bad. My dad was mean or something. You know, I'm just saying, my dad's a great dad. I'm just saying like, you know, that's how you look at it as a teenager. Right? You know, you look at it, you whine about everything. Looking back, I don't even understand what the big deal was. You know what I mean? Now that I'm actually an adult and understand what the world's actually like. Okay. But the thing is, you know, I could think of some other examples from my life where when I was growing up, you know, I was the shortest kid in the class. You know, my entire elementary school, I was called shrimp. I was made fun of. I was really short. And you know, my two friends were the other two shortest kids in the class. And in the school photo, the three of us are in the front. Everybody else is behind us. And you know, I didn't like being short. I didn't like being made fun of. And obviously, that didn't make me feel good. But you know what, though? I'm glad that that happened because it taught me the Lord probably more than I would have if I were just thriving in this world and the cares of this life, you know, problems for another. So all throughout elementary school, my big problem was that I was super short, right? Then I turned 12, and all of a sudden, boom, I just shoot up in height. And now I'm normal, you know, white guy height at 5 foot 10 inches. But I shot up at seventh grade. Now I'm the same height as everybody. It's like, great, finally. You know, now I'm in normal height. Then I just had horrible acne. So as soon as I got the right height, now my face is just covered in so many zits, like really bad. And so it's just like one, you just trade one problem for another, right? And that's how life works. It's like you just go from one thing to another. But again, what if I didn't? What if I would have been a teenager and I was just super handsome, super popular, super athletic? And by the way, I was not good at sports. I finally, and then when I was in seventh grade, I tried out for the sports team, got all excited about it. First game, sat on the bench the whole game. Never got put in the game once. Then it ended up, I lost my ride and I couldn't make it to practices anymore and I had to quit. JV basketball for one fleet in high school, super popular, super handsome, right? The teenage heartthrob. You know what? I probably wouldn't be here right now preaching the word of God. Would have taken me a lot longer to seek after the Lord because I would have just been entangled with the affairs of this life. I would have just been caught up in the cares of this world. You kind of see what I'm saying. So I can look back at any negative from my life and put a positive spin on it. Anything bad that happened to me in my life, any injury, any pain, any suffering, any failure, athletic failures, academic failures. You know, I mean, here's my, let me give you my academic career in a nutshell, okay? You know, I get out of high school and I go through Bible college and then I get in my senior year, ordered the cap and gown, and then I end up leaving Bible college because the pastor starts teaching all these weird and perverted doctrines and horrible heresies. So then I leave Bible college. So it's like I get almost finished, don't finish. You get almost finished, don't get to finish. Woo! But, you know, that pastor who taught all that perverted stuff, he's in prison right now. He's been in federal prison for the last nine years because he's a wicked person. And I was right about him and I was right, and you know what? I'm glad I pulled my family out and didn't just say, well, I'm in my senior year, might as well gut it out, finish my degree. Because guess what? I don't even need a degree. Because what do I need a degree for to pastor a New Testament Baptist church? Do I need a Bible college degree to do that? Apparently not, because here I am doing it. And I started this church 16 years ago and we went from, you know, from nothing to where we are now and the church has, you know, been blessed by God. And so, you know, do I just think like, oh man, you know, why did I? No, I'm glad that I left. I was right when I left. God ended up exposing that pastor for what he was and exposing those false doctrines and so forth. And so I'm glad I got my family out of there and, you know, it is what it is. But, you know, at the time, it was horrible at the time. I'm like, man, I invested all this time. I invested all this money. But now I'm glad that things went down the way that they did. And in fact, I think if I would have graduated from that Bible college, my preaching would be a lot different too. Because having to leave in my senior year made me so angry that I ended up like rejecting a lot of the things that they taught at that college because it made me think, man, I need to rethink what I'm being taught at this college. And then I went to the Word of God and I rethought some things and I sharpened up some things and I discarded some things that they taught me whereas I feel like if I would have graduated, I probably would have kept those things with me. And then this would be a different church than it is right now. Every bad thing, whether it's academic failures, whether it's athletic failures, whether it's, you know, physical defects that you have in your body or in your appearance, financial problems. Like I said, I went through financial problems, you know, credit card debt. I've had credit card debt, you know, and had a messed up finance as a young person. You know, so that's why I'm not just like, oh, you have credit card debt, you're an idiot. Cool bills, new tire on a credit card or something like that. The point is I get it because I went through those things. So if you don't have a victim's mentality, number one, two, if you don't have a victim mentality, you can forgive people who wronged you. Go to Genesis chapter 50. Now most of the time when people have a victim mentality and blame everybody else, a lot of times they didn't even get wronged in the first, they just think they got wronged. Sort of like me as a punk teenager. You want to blame your problems and blame your failures on other people. That's a victim mentality. It'd be like if I said, oh, I have a marriage problem, that's because of my parents. You know, that's because of my upbringing. No, it's my fault. Or maybe it's her fault, but you know, but the point is, the point is, the point is, hey, it's not my parents, I'm not going to blame somebody else for my, oh, I have financial problems? That's because my parents didn't teach me how to do finance. You know, yeah, you know, I just, the school system taught me, you know, they didn't teach me how to balance a checkbook. They, you know, they taught me about, you know, I don't know, the crust, the mantle, and the core, but they didn't teach me how to balance a checkbook or whatever. It always cracks me up when people are like, oh, you know, school teaches you all this worthless knowledge, and they don't teach you practical things. That's because your parents are supposed to teach you practical things about life. You know, you need to learn, you know, science, history, math, English, okay? You know, we homeschool our kids, and we make sure they learn science, history, math, English. We don't just have this attitude of only practical, because we don't want to just go through our life, these practical Philistines, you know, who don't know anything outside of, you know, the everyday nitty-gritty of life. That's another sermon that shall be preached at another time. But, you know, oh, my financial problems, it must be because the school system. It must be, you know, oh, I'm dumb because of the school system. You're dumb because you're dumb. You're dumb because you didn't read. You're dumb because you went to school and fooled around, and you were dumb back then, because, you know, I did some fooling around. Hey, any mental deficiency is always there. You know, school was there. And, you know, if you didn't use it to its full potential, that's your problem, okay? Your financial problems, hey, don't blame other people. Figure it out yourself, okay? Trust in the Lord and work hard and make it happen. Okay, your relationship problems, oh, well, it's because my parents are divorced, or my grandparents are divorced, and blah, blah, blah. You know what, hey, that's no excuse for you. I don't care what your parents' marriage was like, you're not your parents. Take the good that they did right and discard the bad that they did wrong and quit being a victim and whining about it, okay? Whatever the problems that you have, quit blaming other people with the victim mentality. But here's the thing, if you don't have a victim mentality, people wronged them, they didn't even get wronged, they made it up. Oh, school wronged me. No, they didn't. My parents. Your parents were good parents. Oh, my first job. Shut up and quit whining about it, it was fine. But some of us, obviously, have actually been wronged by people in our life. Okay, how about getting sold into slavery? How about getting kidnapped and thrown in a pit and beaten up? How about people doing what they did to Joseph, right? But if you don't have a, are you in Genesis 50? Go to Genesis 50. If you don't have a victim mentality, now why is he asking am I in the place of God? Because vengeance belongeth unto the Lord. And because vengeance belongs unto the Lord, according to Romans chapter 12, we should love our enemies, overcome evil with good, bless those that curse us, and not put ourself in the place of God as the angel of God's vengeance. Let God deal with that. We don't need to take vengeance. Don't worry about it. You know what, just forgive people. Now, if anybody is sorry for what they did, we are required to forgive them by God, period. End of story. If somebody is sorry, if somebody repents, we must forgive. We must. We have to. You say, well, what if they're not sorry? What if they won't apologize? What if they're not repented? Well, here's the thing about that is that we should typically forgive them anyway. Now, it's not as strong of a hard line of you must do it because when it comes to when they're sorry or repented, you have no choice. It's not even a choice. You just do it. But what about the person who's not sorry? What about the person who's not repented? You know what, I would say the majority of the time in the vast majority of situations, you should just go ahead and just go the extra mile and just forgive that person anyway, even though they're not sorry. And look at Jesus. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Look at Stephen when he's being stoned. They're not repentant. They're not sorry. And what does he say? Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Why not take forgiveness from the minimum? Because let me tell you something. This thing of if they're repentant, if they're sorry, I'll forgive, that's a minimum standard. I'm glad you're at that minimum standard, but you know, why not raise the bar a little bit and say, you know, I'm going to forgive people that aren't even sorry. I'm going to forgive people that don't even care. I'm going to do good unto those that have done evil unto me. I'm going to bless those that curse me. I'm going to pray for those that despitefully use me and persecute me. And you know what? That's what the Bible recommends. That's what the Bible tells us that we should be doing to overcome evil with good. But Joseph here says, I'm not in the place of God. You know, I'm not here to take vengeance. You know, it is, you guys did what you did. Maybe God already dealt with you guys and they went through some stuff. So, you know, they probably did already get their punishment from God. Maybe he's going to punish you in the future. Maybe he punished you in the past. But you know what? I'm not going to punish you because I'm not in the place of God. And you know what? I love you guys. And it's all water under the bridge now. You meant it for evil. God meant it for good. Let me be kind unto you. In fact, I'm going to nourish you. I'm going to help you. I'm going to benefit you. It's all forgiven and forgotten. See, he doesn't have a victim mentality, does he? That's why he's able to forgive other people. So he looks back at people that did him wrong. I think back to people who did me wrong. People legitimately did me wrong. You know, I could go back to say, you know, seventh grade or something. And I went to this school. It was a Christian school that was on the decline. And so they were just trying to get students from anywhere. And this was in South Sacramento, which is a ghetto part of Sacramento. And they started bringing in some really rough thugs that had been literally expelled from the public school. Like a lot of my classmates are expelled from public. It's like my parents are sending me to a Christian school. It's of the worst. And so I'm in this Christian size that are like 18 years old, these big ghetto thugs that have been expelled from public school. And I mean, we that are in the lower, that's really bad. And I look back at that, and you know what? I can honestly say I have no, you know what, that was one of the worst years of my life. Seventh grade at that school was like the worst year of my life. I literally just dreaded going to that school every day. I hated it. It was a disaster. I didn't tell my parents because I felt bad because my parents are paying for me to go there. And so I didn't want to say anything, you know. So I just asked social media now. I'm going to find that as a dumb illustration of like what I would never even fathom. Because in life, because of the fact that I look back at that year as being a year that just had to happen. It's just God, for whatever reason, allowed those circumstances as it was collapsing, you know. And I'm just like, you know what? That happened for a reason. It's good. Amen. If I could change that year, I wouldn't. Whenever it's over, you're always glad you went there. Forgive people who wronged you, you know, because instead of seeing yourself as a victim, you say, you know what, that person who did me wrong, good came from that. So I'm not that mad about it. So who cares? Drop it. Let it go. And then number three, if you don't have a victim mentality, you'll stop blaming other people and take responsibility for your own problems. And this is the last place we'll turn, 1 Samuel chapter 22. 1 Samuel chapter 22. So King Saul is a guy, he started out as a great king, but he ended up committing some major sins against the Lord. And so God already told him through the prophet Samuel, you're going to lose the kingdom. It's going to go to David. It's going to go to someone better than you. Your sons aren't going to sit on the throne. Your dynasty's over. But look what the Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 22 verse 6. When Saul heard that David was discovered and the men that were with him, now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now ye Benjamites, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, that all of you have conspired against me, and there's none that showeth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there's none of you that is sorry for me, or showeth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait me at this day. Look at him, whining. Why doesn't anybody feel sorry for me? Don't you feel bad for me? And he's blaming everyone. It's David's fault. It's Jonathan's fault. It's his own soldier's fault. It's everybody else's fault, and you need to feel sorry for me. He literally says, Why don't you feel sorry for me? Whose fault is this really? Saul's the one who has disobeyed the Lord twice majorly that caused Samuel to rebuke him both times and tell him he's done. So he sees himself as a victim. He's blaming everybody, whining, instead of taking responsibility for his own situation and fixing it. Look at verse 9. Then answered Doeg, the son of a high tub. So he's like, Isn't anybody going to tell me what's going on and who's betraying me and whose fault it is? Don't you feel sorry for me? So this guy, Doeg, is a literal reprobate. Okay? So Doeg the reprobate says to him, I feel sorry for you. In fact, I'll help you blame other people. In fact, you're blaming Jonathan and David and everybody else. Hey, let's blame a himalec also. It's a himalec. It's not your fault, Saul. I feel bad for you. It's a himalec's fault. So listen, when you have, It is your dad's fault. It is the school system's fault. It is because you're black. It is because you're Chinese, you know. It is because you, you know, you spoke English as a second language. It is because you're short. It is because you're disabled. It's because you're on the spectrum, you know, and they're just going to just pick everything about your life that didn't go perfect or even things that did go perfect, but you're just such a whiner that you see them as a problem. Some reprobate will always be there to tell you exactly the opposite of what I'm preaching to you this morning. So I'm up here preaching, Hey, good! My childhood was twice as hard! Good, then you're twice as strong! Not a weakling. You're strong, you have endurance, you can handle the cold. Amen. Those are all good things. You know, oh man, when I was growing up, we didn't have enough money for food, we never had enough food, we always went to bed hungry. Good, now that's why you're not obese. You're not obese because you didn't have enough food growing up. You'll look on the bright side. Some people had too much food growing up. But he found some reprobate to feel sorry for you, and so here's the thing, the victim mentality will lead you into the wrong crowd where you'll find evil people that will affirm you and tell you what you want to hear. Not because they love you, but because they are flattering you. And he that flattereth you is setting a trap for your feet. And so you'll find some reprobate that will flatter you and tell you how wonderful you are and tell you how it's all everybody else's fault and you're going to get in the wrong crowd. If you have a victim mentality, you have a target on you, please sycophants, please flatterers, please fake friends, come and use and abuse me. That's what you're setting yourself up for. So Saul feels sorry for me. You know, all of a sudden there's a reprobate right there ready to jump in and say, I love you, Saul. I feel sorry for you, Saul. Oh yeah, it's your dad, it's your mom. Oh yeah, it's the school system. Yup, the government did this to you, yup. And just blame everybody else. He found this reprobate, these parasites that want to attach, they don't love you. Doeg is a parasite attaching himself to Saul for his own gain and his own benefit, not because he actually loves and cares about Saul. And ultimately, I'm out of time, but ultimately this leads Saul, Doeg saying this to him and saying, oh, poor baby, now this leads Saul to commit his biggest atrocity of his entire career. Moments after, he winds and reprobate comes along and tells him that he's right. Moments later, what's he doing? Massacring the priests of the Lord. He massacres the priests of the Lord, which is one of the worst things he did. I mean, the worst things that he did, what God looks at is some of the worst things that he did on his decline were massacring the priests of the Lord and going to the witch at Endor. You know, the Bible says that's part of why God was so angry with him. 1 Chronicles 13, where he's murdering the priests of the Lord. Verse 17, the king said unto the footman that stood about him, turn and slay the priests of the Lord because their hand also is with David. Aligning yourself with God's people, aligning yourself with Christians, you're like, oh, Christians were mean to me, and then you align yourself with the enemies of the Lord, and then you and Doeg end up hurting the cause of Christ. You're teaming up with reprobates, you're teaming up with the enemies of the Lord because you're so bitter, and oh, you know, the new IFP hurt me, or whatever, and then now you're teaming up with reprobates. Horrible sins and atrocities that he justified by feeling sorry for himself and seeing himself as a victim. Oh, the priests of the Lord were mean to me. Oh, my pastor, whatever. Hey, I don't care if your pastor growing up was the biggest jerk in the world and the biggest idiot and taught you a bunch of junk, guess what? Jesus is still Jesus. I don't care what the church did to you. You don't understand how, you know, I'm a recovering fundamentalist, and I, you know, I'm just recovering from how the church treated me. You know what? Why don't you just decide right now that you're following Jesus Christ and the Word of God and quit fighting against the people of God because you have a victim mentality. And let's say somebody really did do you wrong. Let's say somebody really did hurt you. Then you know what? Change your point of view from that of a victim to saying, you know what? Hey, I'm glad I went through that because now I can help other people who are going through that. Hey, I'm glad I went through that because now I can be a stronger Christian. I can actually have a better faith instead of being like, oh, you know. You know what? You know what? Have fun explaining to God why you didn't go to church and you went to some liberal church down the street and you got out of an actual soul winning church because somebody mistreated you. You know what? We've all been through it. You don't know what I went through. You know what? Jesus was tempted at all points. Whatever you went through, Jesus went through either the same thing or something comparable. Jesus did it. And so you don't have an excuse. No one can point to something in their childhood that screwed them up, every single one. So are we supposed to feel bad for serial killers now? But you know, some people are that stupid. They literally do. Look, every faggot got molested when they were a kid. Oh, poor little faggot. No, because you know what? Other people got molested and they didn't become a stinking faggot. You see what I'm saying? Just because you got molested doesn't mean you have to grow up and be a stinking, filthy molester yourself. You know? And look, I'm not downplaying how horrific that is because being molested is, that's a horrible, horrible thing that happened to you. But you know what? It's no excuse for becoming a serial killer though. I'm not downplaying getting molested, but you know what? Don't let it make you become a serial killer. And don't let it make you become a faggot or a lesbian or whatever else, because that is not going to cut it before God Almighty to say, well, you know, of course I became a serial killer. I mean, do you know about my childhood? Because I guarantee you that there's somebody else who went through the same junk and didn't become a serial killer and didn't become a reprobate because of their own issues. Do not lose later. Well, you know what? That's going to just ruin your life because you know what? Whatever you went through, if you want to carry it around for the rest of your life, be my guest. I didn't go through exactly what you went through and maybe what I went through wasn't even on the caliber of what you went through or can't even be compared to what you went through. But you know what? Whatever it is, my friend, you're not helping yourself by being a victim. Of course, of course I'm looking at all this pornography. Don't you know about my upbringing? Of course I'm a drunk. I mean, you know, my parents. Of course I'm a drug addict. I mean, you know, it was peer pressure. Pain and suffering, abuse, being hurt, being ripped off, being stolen from, being beaten up, or they can make us a better person. I'm thankful for every single time I've been punched in the face. Every single time I've ever been punched. Now I know what it's like to get punched in the face. And it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. And the next time I get punched in the face, it's not going to be as big of a deal. And so now I'm at least a guy who can get punched in the face and keep going. And you know what? We're all going to get punched in the face. And being punched in the face can either make you all bitter and one who just sees himself as a victim or it can make you stronger. It can make you better. It can make you stronger and harder and ready to go through whatever God has for you. Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we pray that you would help us, Lord, not to feel sorry for ourselves and see ourselves as a victim. Lord, some of us might have actually been a victim. Help us not to feel sorry for ourselves and just carry that around with us for the rest of our life. Help us to just, you know, take that to you in prayer and just move on with our lives. And deal with those things and deal with them in prayer and just move on. And Lord, those of us who actually have it pressing toward the mark for the high prize of the calling of God in Christ Jesus, Lord, help us to be the best Christians that we can possibly be and not hide behind excuses for why we have to fail. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Take your song books and go to hymn number 82. Get out on that first verse together, hymn number 82. Like the stars of the morning, His bright crown adorning, They shall shine in their beauty, Bright gems for His crown. Little children, little children, Who love their Redeemer, Are the jewels, precious jewels, His love and His own. Like the stars of the morning, His bright crown adorning, They shall shine in their beauty, Bright gems for His crown. Amen. Great singing this morning. You're dismissed.