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Back to Genesis 39, just give me a moment to turn there. Genesis 39, and it's actually a very good chapter to start the year off, being the first of January today, chapter number 39. Look at verse number 2, Genesis 39 verse 2. The Bible starts here by saying, the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man. He was a prosperous man. The title for the sermon tonight is How to Prosper. How to Prosper. Actually, I was kind of thinking the first of that verse, the Lord was with Joseph, I was going to call it and the Lord was with him, because another major theme we'll see in this chapter constantly being told and told again to us as readers is that the Lord was with Joseph. And I think this is a great chapter to start with, because we've come into a new year, right? 2019 is behind us, 2020 is before us, this is the first day of the new year, we find ourselves in a new year, and as we see here, look at verse number 31, Genesis 39 verse 1, Genesis 39 verse 1, it says, and Joseph was brought down to Egypt. We ended Genesis 37 with Joseph being sold off to the slave traders, right? And now he's being brought into this new land. He finds himself no longer in the land of Canaan, he finds himself now in another land, he finds himself in a new land, he finds himself in Egypt. We're no longer in 2019, we find ourselves in 2020. So we want to take the lessons that we see here of Joseph. How is it that he was a prosperous man? And how can we prosper? Say Brother Kevin, are you preaching on the prosperity gospel tonight? Is it about how we can be rich? Well, maybe, you know, if we take some of these lessons that we see from Joseph, the Lord may allow you to be rich, he may very well allow you to prosper. But of course, when it comes to the Christian life, prosperity is not the riches, prosperity is the quality of life, prosperity is the blessings of God, prosperity is doing the work of God, prosperity is laying up your treasures in heaven, prosperity is having the face of the Lord shine upon you, living a life of joy, living a life that is satisfied, seeing your children grow up and serve the Lord. These are things that I would rather prosper in than having a big bank account. And of course, a lot of preachers this day, a lot of churches focus on the money, and they think of prosperity as wealth. And yes, the Lord may very well prosper you in wealth as well. And the Lord certainly did prosper Joseph in wealth. But let's keep reading verse number one. Not only was he brought down to Egypt, he says here, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard and Egyptian, brought him in the hands, sorry, bought him in the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. So, as we see here, Joseph finds himself in a bad life situation, right? He was the favorite son of his father. You know, he was a messenger of his father, he lives with his family, you know, he was doing the work of his father. Now he finds himself a slave, a slave to Potiphar here in another country. How would you react, brother, if you had everything going for you, brothers and sisters, you had everything going for you, you had the, you know, you had the blessings, you had the joy, you know, you live in life to the fullest, and then you find yourself in a totally different situation. It may come in your life, that you wake up one morning, and all of a sudden, everything has changed in your life. All of a sudden, you know, you're going through hardship, you're going through difficulties, you're going through trials and tribulations, how's your heart going to be? And I have no doubt here as we read this, I have no doubt that Joseph shed some tears. I have no doubt that his heart is heavy. I have no doubt that he's wondering, Lord, are you with me? Where are you, Lord? Why am I in this situation? I have no doubt that he's asking the question, you know, this is not fair, Lord, what's going on? This is not right, what's happened to me? And, you know, you're going to find yourself in a situation like that in your life, right? Maybe in 2020, the trials will come, the difficulties, and you'll be saying, this is not fair. And it wasn't fair that he was sold by his brothers. It was not fair. Joseph had done nothing wrong, but he finds himself in a tough situation. What does he do, though? Does he complain for the rest of his life? Does he winch for the rest of his life? Does he get angry at God? Does he stop, you know, fellowship with the Lord? Does he no longer trust the Lord? How does he respond? Look at verse number two. It says here, and the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Listen, Joseph did not go into a victim mentality. And that's a problem we see in this new generation. Everyone wants to be a victim. You know, the world owes me. Everybody owes me. Everyone has done wrong to me, and they give me, give me, give me. You know, I'm deserving of being, you know, of restitution. You know, I'm deserving of all these things, all these wrongs that have been done to me. I'm deserving, give it to me. No. Joseph puts his head down. It says here, he was a prosperous man. And let me tell you, hey, yeah, he was a servant. Yeah, he was a slave. Yeah, he was sold for money. But how do you think he found himself prosperous? Was he just doing nothing? Was he doing the minimum? Was he a slack worker? You know, did he say to Potiphar, no, this is not fair. I'm not going to work. No, he was prosperous because he put his head down and started working, right? He made, number one, had to be prosperous. He made the best of a bad situation. He made the best of a bad situation. Is he in a bad situation? Yes. But what did he do? Did he whine? No, he just got to work. The Lord was with him. He got to work. He did his duty as a servant, and he found himself prosperous. If you want the Lord to prosper you, you need the Lord to be with you. And no matter what difficulties you're going to, you're going to say, well, this is a bad situation. I'm just going to make the best of where I find myself. Potiphar, purchase me. I'm going to serve Potiphar. I'm going to work hard for Potiphar. That's how you're prosperous, brethren. Number one, you make the best of a bad situation. The Bible says in Hebrews 13 verse 5, let your conversation be without covetousness. Brethren, covetousness will prevent you from serving the Lord. It'll prevent you from being prosperous. You know, the lie of the sin of covetousness, the lie is the idea where if I covet those things, if I desire those things that don't belong to me, that will help me be prosper. No. By coveting, you're wasting your time. Don't waste your time. The Bible says here, let your conversation or your lifestyle, your behavior be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have, for he have said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Brethren, whatever you have today, you know, and look, we live in a beautiful country. You have a lot going for you. The Bible says, be content with what you have. Don't be covetous. Why should we be content? Because the Lord said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. What do we find with Joseph? It said, and the Lord was with Joseph. Joseph had the promise of God that he would not be left nor forsaken. But then it says this in verse number six, in Hebrews 13 verse six, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. And brethren, that's what we need in 2020, for us to turn around and say, the Lord is my helper. No matter what difficulty I'm going through, no matter what hardships, the Lord is my helper. And when you can rest on the help of God, you will have the attitude and say, I will not fear what man shall do unto me. You see, Joseph got to a point. Yes, I'm sure he was afraid at the beginning, but he said, well, this is where I find myself. I'm going to work. The Lord is with me. He's my helper. I'm not going to fear what man can do unto me. That's the attitude of Joseph, as we see here in Genesis 39. He made the best of a bad situation. Look at verse number three. This brings us to our second point of how to be prosperous. Verse number three. Not only does it say in verse number two that the Lord was with Joseph, look how verse number three starts, and his master, that's Potiphar, and his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. What an amazing thing, right? That Potiphar could look at Joseph's life and say, wow, the Lord is with Joseph. Point number two, brethren, to prosper in 2020 is to be open about your faith. Open about your faith. Open about who you trust. Open about the gospel, about your salvation, about whom you trust. You see, Joseph, yes, a hard worker, but no doubt he had told Potiphar who his God was. No doubt. So when Potiphar sees Joseph's hand being prosperous, he says, yeah, that's the Lord that he's talking about. That's the Lord that he worships. I can see that the Lord is prospering the hand of Joseph. And brethren, that's what you need to be in 2020 and beyond is when people look at you and see your hard work, see your prosperity, your work for the Lord, they can say, wow, look, the Lord, God is with him. That Lord is with him. Be open about your faith. Don't hide what you believe. You get an opportunity to speak about the Lord. You get an opportunity to preach the gospel. Take it. Do it. Hold your finger. Then go to Matthew five, please. Matthew five. Because when you're open about your faith and yes, it might be a little embarrassing. You might be a little shy to share your faith at the beginning, but when people know that you're a Christian, when people know that you're a son of God and they see you working hard and prospering, they're going to give glory to God. They're going to recognize that the Lord is with you. Matthew 5 14, a very familiar passage to many of us. Matthew 5 14. The Bible says ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Listen, brethren, you are the light of the world. Joseph was a light in part of his house and part of her could see the Lord's hand for you, brethren, are the light of the world, the light of the Sunshine Coast, the light of Australia. You're here for a reason. You're here to shine light. Verse 15. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Now look at this. Verse 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Guess what part of us saw in Joseph? His good works, right? And by seeing the good works of prosperity that was coming out of the hands of Joseph, part of her was able to recognize, wow, the Lord is with him. And you can see here, when they see your good works, they will glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Even the unbelieving world can give glory to God because you are the light of the world. You are shining forth the truth and the labor that God has given you the ability through the new man, through his power to serve the Lord even in the bad situations. Point number one was make the best of a bad situation. Number two, be open about your faith. There are two things that's going to happen in your life, especially as an employee. You're working hard. You're doing the best you can. And people are going to have one or two opinions of you. Number one, this guy's a brown noser. The reason he works hard is because he's trying to suck up to the boss. That's one view. You want people to think about that, about you? People will start thinking about that if you work hard and you prosper in your workplace. But I would much rather for people to say, well, he's a hard worker because he loves the Lord, because he's a child of God, is because he's trying to work hard and show what it is like to be a true Christian, a true light in the world. Yes, when you work hard in your workplace, do it unto the Lord. Yes, you are serving your master, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'd much rather that. I'm sure you would much rather that for people to see your testimony and your light than to assume he's just trying to suck up to the boss. Now forget the worldly boss. You're serving Jesus Christ. Be a light unto this world. Back to Genesis 39 verse four. Genesis 39 verse four. It says here, and Joseph found grace in his sight. That's in the sight of Potiphar. Keep that in mind that he found grace in the sight of Potiphar and he served him and he made him an overseer over his house and that all that he had put into his hand and it came to pass from the time that he had made him an overseer in his house and over all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. You might ask the question, how do I know that the Lord is prospering me? It's when you start seeing others prosper because of you. I'm just using the workplace as an example. When you're prospering and your bosses, your colleagues are prospering because of you, that's when the Lord is working in your life. That's when you reach a level of prosperity that you know it's coming from the Lord. That's a great place to be. When your faithfulness to the Lord is a blessing to your family, when your service to the church is prospering the entire church, you know that prosperity is coming from the Lord. It doesn't just benefit you. It benefits those that are around you. You see the Lord is blessing Potiphar just for employing Joseph, just for having him, working for him. I'll just read verse five again. It came to pass from that time when he made him an overseer in his house and all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field and he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, Reverend. This guy's a slave, Joseph. He's just been sold, right? He's nobody. He's got no family and yet by his prosperity, by his hard work, Potiphar says, you know what, Joseph, have it all. Do whatever you need to do. Potiphar obviously trusted Joseph greatly, right? And when you're, when people can trust you, it's this huge burden off your back and I'm going to cover this later on but you don't want to be someone that needs to be micromanaged in everything that you do. Children, when your parents ask you to do something, do it to the fullest. Don't do half a job. Do it to the fullest and when you complete the work your parents have asked you, your parents will trust you with more. It's the same thing with the Lord. It's the same thing with your workplace. It's the same thing. Whenever you're serving one another, do it to the fullest and you'll find yourself in a position that people will trust you and give you a lot of authority over many, many things here and it says here in verse number, verse number six, and Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. A goodly person and well favored. Now, I'm not sure if you know what it means to, the word goodly. I don't know if you know what that means but goodly basically means excellence, something that is excellent and quite often it's about the appearance. In the Bible you might see how Moses was considered a goodly child. That means he was a beautiful child. It's normally the physical appearance but it can also apply to your character as a person. You might not be the most handsome person or the most beautiful lady but one thing that can shine brightly from your life is your goodly character. And what Potiphar saw in Joseph was a goodly person. I don't know if he was good looking on the outside, maybe but his character was of a goodly nature. He was an excellent character. What I'm trying to say is he stood out from others. He stood out from the world and point number three for you to be prosperous is to be different from the world. Different from the world. I've preached on this before brethren and again if you're an employee don't just be another employee. Make sure you're valued. Make sure you're different. Make sure your boss can look down and say man this guy brings great value to the company. I can't be without this employee. Don't just be like the rest brethren. Now if you do the minimum on your job, children if you do the minimum in your chores you're just going to blend in with the rest of the world. Don't be that way. Be the goodly one. Be one of character, of excellent character. Be the hard worker. Stand out from the crowd. Specifically when it comes to the Christian faith be different from the world. Be different from the world. I won't get you to turn there but 1 Peter 2 says but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people. That's what you are or that's what you should be, a peculiar people. You know what that means? It means you're different. It means you stand out. It's when people see your life, when they see your work ethic, when they see your love, when they see your service, when they see your family, when they see your church, when they see you just interact in this world. They say that's a peculiar person. That person is different. Now hopefully you're not saying that person is different because he's an idiot. He stands out because he's a moron. No because he stands out because he's a goodly character. He stands out because he's a hard worker. He stands out because he works hard no matter who's looking. He's serving the Lord. Be a peculiar people. And then it says in 1 Peter 2 9 that ye, why is this important? That ye should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You know how different you ought to be brethren? The difference between light and dark. That's how different you need to be from this world. That's how different you need to be from your unsaved co-workers that you have. That you're so different you like the lights. Now once brethren, I don't know, I don't mean to boast. These are my life experiences okay. I'm just sharing them with you. I don't mean to boast. I'm just saying you can be like the light. You know I was once discouraged from working hard right. I'm just working hard you know putting my best foot forward trying to get as much work as I can and one of my colleagues come up to me and says slow down. You're making us look bad. Yeah because I'm the light and you're the darkness and we're called to be peculiar people. You need to be like that brethren in every aspect of your life. If you can if you're going to be prosperous you need to be different from the world. A peculiar people as different from light to dark. You know you take your children out. People ought to see your children are different. They're not whining. They're not complaining. They don't have the grumpy face. They smile. They say hello. That's how people ought to see your children. There's something different about you. What's going on? If you say well no one says that about me. They just treat me like the rest. Well you're not standing out. You're not shining forth as a light. You're not being peculiar. You're not being different from the world. You ought to shine differently brethren. You need to if you want to prosper. You want to prosper. You have to be different from this world. Back to Genesis 39 verse 7. Genesis 39 verse 7. Verse number 7. It came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and she said lie with me. Now look was he different from the world? Absolutely. Because you know what the world would do in this situation? You know an ungodly man with no character he would take that opportunity and lie with that woman. He would commit for an occasion. Okay now this is what's wonderful now. Let's keep reading verse number 8. But he refused. All right brethren and children if you make friends with this you know with ungodly children with the neighbor's children or you whatever you come across others and as you grow up as a teenager I'm telling you children even when I try to put the best boundaries when I try to look after there's going to come the situation when you're going to be offered to to drink alcohol when you're going to be offered to smoke a cigarette when you're going to be offered to take drugs when you're going to be offered to look at pornography you're going to be offered to do many sinful things even with the best supervision parents can provide it's going to sneak in. I'm talking to the young people here. Okay you need to be like Joseph. What did Joseph do? Verse number 8. But he refused. That's what you do when you're being tempted to sin. You refuse. Right? And he said unto his master's wife behold my master what's of not what is with me in the house and he have committed all that he hath in my hand there is none greater in this house than I neither have he kept back anything from me but thee because thou art his wife how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God and look did he say he's sinning against Potiphar yes he is sinning against Potiphar but what is in the mind of Joseph he says I can't sin against my Lord I can't sin against the one who's making me prosperous I can't sin against the one who's given me eternal life who's seen me through this tough time in my life and brethren when you're tempted to sin children when you're tempted to sin it's not just hurting mum and dad it's not just sinning against other people you're sinning against the Lord and that's important for you to remember because you're going to be tempted to sin when no one sees when you think no one's going to catch me but the Lord can see the Lord will catch you the Lord will chastise you and Joseph is reminding himself the Lord is seen even if Potiphar can't see what's going on here the Lord is seen and I cannot sin against the Lord verse number 10 and it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day listen this sin this temptation was every day every day he's working in his master's business this temptation is coming from Potiphar's wife that he hearkened not unto her to lie by her or to be with her now what we're about to read in verse 11 is for me Joseph big mistake Joseph's big mistake okay now he didn't sin but he had an error of judgment he could have done better because look at verse number 11 and it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business and there was none of the men of the house there within now listen she's trying to tempt him every single day what we learn here is that there's always other workers there's always other men around the place right and so he's safe he's safe from a false witness right and he finds himself now in a situation when there's no other workers it's just him and Potiphar's wife now listen brethren the best judgment for him at this point in time would have said I'm not going into the house I'm not going there right and saved himself from what was going to come all right and just beware brethren even when you're not sinning make the best judgment call you can because temptation can take you or a false witness may come your way this is why we go two by two when we go door to the soul winning there's nothing wrong with going one you know if you're the only one there's no one else able to go out get out there but going two by two will give you so much protection there's another witness right I mean you could easily knock on a woman's door she says she's not interested and then report you for something wicked right report you falsely but if you have a witness with you they will also be able to testify of the truth so be careful make good judgment calls you know even though in this situation he's not sinning he finds himself because of bad judgment finds himself in a bad place and verse number 12 and she caught him by his garment saying lie with me and he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out now he did the right thing he fled him he got himself out of that position of temptation right he got himself away and this is what you do when you're facing the sin of adultery the sin of fornication all right what you do is you get yourself physically out of that situation never think that you are mad enough or strong enough or christian enough or mature enough to deal with temptation like this no what we say with joseph he runs away he doesn't go back for his coat or his garment that was left behind he just gets out of there all right and brethren children teenagers you grow up you're facing fornication get out run flee fornication the bible says please go to first corinthian six for me keep your finger there in genesis 39 go to first corinthian 6 verse 18 first corinthian 6 verse 18 first corinthian 6 18 flee fornication that's a command do it you know what joseph did i'm going to listen to the command of god flee fornication he was out of there all right every sin that a man doeth is without the body but he that committed fornication sinneth against his own body what no you're not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you which you have of god and you are not your own for you are bought with a price therefore glorify god in your body and in your spirit which are gods say well this body is my fallen flesh it's got that sinful nature yeah but it still belongs to god god's going to take that body and it's going to give you a new resurrected body at the time of the resurrection praise god for that truth you got to be careful even though this body is not going this flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of god as we know today it still has been purchased by god god wants you to serve him in this fallen state that you're in as long as you're in the spirit right there it says glorify god in your body and in your spirit walking in the spirit is what the lord asked for us but we need to serve him today in this body that we have right so flee fornication and this brings me to my fourth point about being prosperous point number four is be honest in your dealings be honest in your dealings tell the truth do what's right now look joseph could have easily committed this sin there was no one in the house no one would find out about it but that would be dishonest that would be dishonest and now look joseph was honest but it cost him his position it cost him his workplace it cost him his reputation let's keep reading verse number 13 genesis 39 verse 13 genesis 39 verse 13 and it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth that she called unto the men of her house and spake unto them saying see he have he have brought in in hebrew unto us to mock us he came in unto me to lie with me and i cried with a loud voice so what she's being dishonest she's making a false accusation right she's saying that it was joseph that was trying to lie with her no she was trying to lie with joseph verse 15 and it came to pass when he heard that i lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled and got him out and she laid up his garment by her until his lord came home that's potiphar and she spake unto him concerning to these words saying the hebrew servant which thou has brought unto us came in unto me to mock me and he came to pass as i lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled out and it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife which she spake unto 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 a place where the king's prisoners were bound and he was there in the prison say well it wasn't worth it it wasn't worth it joseph does right he tells the truth he's honest with part of his wife and look where it ends up he ends up in prison was it worth it to tell the truth yes yes yeah joseph was honest in his dealings all right he could have sinned you know if he would have sinned no one would have found out the lord would know and he would still be commanding over potiphar's house he'd still be second in charge of potiphar's house okay and you say well he finds himself in jail he finds himself in prison was it worth it here's the thing brethren that we if you know the story of joseph if not for being honest in his dealings if not for telling the truth he would not have become second in command to the entire nation of egypt right he tells the truth yes he has a he finds himself in a in a worse situation now in prison but it's by telling the truth by dealing honestly by by making him that he doesn't sin against the lord which allows him to be ultimately promoted second in charge of the entire nation higher than potiphar himself brethren doing right is always worth it okay even when when it seems like you should have just told the lie even when it feels like you should have just been dishonest listen just trust that the lord has a greater plan for you you do what's right the lord will promote you at the right time the lord will bless you and listen your life would be better off telling the truth even if you find yourself in prison for telling the truth the lord has a great plan for you if you're just honest in your dealings joseph was a prosperous man he was honest in his dealings that's point number four but it did end him in jail now i'm going to read to you from colossians 3 verse 8 it says but now ye also put off all these so look get rid of these things in your life it says here what are they anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth then in verse number nine it says lie not one to another lie not tell the truth the bible says lie not one to another seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds what's that saying when you lie when you're dishonest when you don't do what's right that's done in the old man okay if you're lying you're doing it in the old man you're not working in the spirit verse number 10 and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him after the image of christ when you're honest when you tell the truth even in the face of persecution like this you are showing the image of jesus christ who created you that's what jesus would have done told the truth in fact that is what jesus did he told the truth he did not lie and yes had what did he find himself by telling the truth found himself crucified but by being crucified it allowed him to be resurrected right to be the first begotten from the dead to have victory over the power of death and of hell all right and to save us to bring salvation to mankind what a greater thing and then he was ascended and sits on the right hand side of the father and then he's going to come back and he's going to rule and reign for a thousand years and everything will put be put under subjection to jesus christ but you know how he got there by telling the truth even if it cost him his life and brethren by you being honest you're just reflecting jesus christ in your life all right look at verse 21 genesis 39 verse 21 genesis 39 verse 21 but the lord was with joseph praise god he's in prison but the lord is with him that's where you want to be you want to be where the lord is even if it's in prison right and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison now remember what happened to potiphar it said he found grace in the sight of potiphar here it says that he found favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison point number five for you to be prosperous is to find favor in the sight of men find favor in the sight of men okay you know what that means it means the people you interact with they should find some favor you know some grace about you that they like you you ought to be a likable person someone that's friendly someone that's honest someone that does their best all right that's how you find grace and favor in the sight of men by being a genuine honest person all right let's get i'll read you in in romans 8 if you guys can go to romans 8 for me go to romans 8 for me please go to romans 8 and while you're turning to romans 8 i'll read to you from romans 12 18 romans 12 18 you go to romans 8 romans 12 18 says if it be possible as much as life in you live peaceably with all men that's a command reverend live peaceably with all men if it be possible all right so as long as it's possible for you to maintain your integrity to walk after the lord to keep the commandments of god then look reverend do what you can do to live peaceably okay that's how you're going to find grace and favor in the sight of men and it's going to allow you to live peaceably now i'll just share this with you you know one thing my mom would often do my mom would always be praying for me my brother and one thing that i knew i know my mom always prayed for since we were little children is for people to find grace in their eyes for us all right that was something she always just prayed for to the lord lord can you can you make sure whoever they work for whoever their friends are whoever their teachers are whoever their instructors are whoever they deal with you know she would pray this prayer that they would find favor for us in their sights and reverend i have no doubt that prayer for my mother has been answered many many times many times you know i find myself not often in conflict with men even with people that i strongly disagree with even people that are carnal or worldly or so different to the standards that god has in his word you know i just said well i'm just going to serve the lord who's going to do what the lord says and quite often even when they count me an enemy at the beginning eventually i win them over somehow right but i know it's an answer to prayer my mom's been praying for that for years and i believe she's probably still praying for that today and i think this is a good prayer parents to be praying for your children they would grow up and find a favor and grace in the sight of men all right because it's by doing this that will allow them to work for these people to show the grace of god to show the love of god to show what it is to be a true light of jesus christ and you're in romans 8 verse 35 romans 8 35 we see here that joseph is in prison right but it told us that the lord was with joseph in prison look at romans 8 35 who shall separate us from the love of christ question who wants to answer that question for me nobody okay that's the answer to that question right it's a rhetorical question who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword brethren if you're going through tribulation distress know for a fact that nothing you're going through has separated you from the love of christ praise god verse number 36 for as it is written for thy sake we are killed all day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter nay in all things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us was joseph a conqueror in prison yes the lord was with him he was honest right in his dealings the lord was with him you know that made joseph a conqueror in prison no matter what difficulty he found himself in he was a conqueror for the lord verse number 38 for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heights nor death nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord what a great promise you will never be separated from the lord how as long as you're in jesus christ the love of christ will always be there for you brethren i don't know what tribulations you're going to go through this year 2020 you may go through extreme hardships this might be the toughest year you've ever had but know for certain be persuaded that nothing can separate you from the love of christ nothing can separate you from the lord okay even if you're in prison you can still be prosperous for him and of course we see that play out genesis 39 verse 22 genesis 39 verse 22 and the keeper of the prison committed to joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison what in the world and whatsoever they did there he was the doer of it listen joseph got became in charge of the prison he's in charge of all the prisoners he's in charge of everything they're doing all the activities whatever's going on in the prison joseph gets to a point where he's prosperous he says well i'm a prisoner i'm just going to serve in this prison to the fullest capacity that i can i'm going to have the same integrity that i had for part of her and the lord was with him the lord prospered him verse number 23 i love verse 23 the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand you know what that means once the prisoner the keeper of the prisoner put joseph in charge he just walked away right he goes i know joseph has it covered i don't have to worry about it joseph you're in charge i'm going to go and do other business i'm going to go do some other projects i'm going to go and do some other work you're in charge joseph listen the keeper of this prison had such trust in joseph because of his integrity all right and then it says here why uh sorry i'll just read verse 23 again the keeper of the prison looks not to anything that was under his hand why because the lord was with him and that which he did the lord made it to prosper the lord made it to prosper and brethren if you've prospered since being saved a child of god you've taken the words of god you've taken the law of god you've walked after his ways and you've prospered you've prospered because of the lord it's the lord that made you to prosper all right praise god for that and listen this is my my final point that i kind of covered a little bit earlier point number six in order for you to prosper go above and beyond do more than what is asked of you do more than what is requested of you brethren yes in your workplace yes in your family home don't be the one that needs to be micromanaged okay now children i don't want to embarrass my kids yeah i won't say which kid which child this is okay but let me give you a quick example of this all right now i write out my sermons on my computer right and then i usually say to the one of the kids can you go and turn on the printer why do you think i'd ask that so i can print my sermon out right so i can print it out come to church preach a sermon right but here sometimes what happens i press print on my computer and then i go to the printer and nothing's printed out right you know why because yes the child turned it on but he didn't check if there was any paper in it and then i'll say son why didn't you put any paper in the printer well you didn't ask me to put paper in the printer you asked me to turn it on well why do you think i asked you to turn it on right now listen uh kids right kids need to learn nothing wrong with that but as an adult don't be that way as an adult okay don't be the person that needs to be micromanaged your boss tells you to turn the printer on that means he wants to print make sure you check that there's paper in the printer make sure that you check that the toner is working make sure that it's connected to the wi-fi or whatever it is make sure that it's ready to print that's why when your boss asks you to do a something in the job why does he want it obviously he wants he's got some objective i need to make sure that it's dealt with you know when my when the boss says can you bring a report about let's say bring a report of the productivity of the department in the last month whatever it is bring a report of what you've done in the last month that means you put it together and then you don't go to the boss's office straight away you double check you triple check you make sure it's 100 accurate then you go right it takes you a little bit longer yes but you do it to the fullest you do the best that you can and listen when you show that kind of character they're not going to micromanage you anymore they're going to trust you they're going to say well i know whatever i ask this employee whatever i ask this child they're going to do it you know otherwise they're going to be constantly on your back you come in with your report have you double checked it no go and double check it you're like ah why do i have to go double check it then you double oh yeah i did make a mistake then you go back did you triple check it no i didn't go back and triple check it oh wait no that's micromanaging that's rubbish and that makes you you know makes your life difficult you don't want to be that way children when you're asked to clean up your room it's not just clean up your toys it's make your beds right go vacuum the floor if something's not in place go put in his proper place that's what he means that's the kind of guy joseph was all right so whatever was asked of him he did it to the fullest he made sure he was done he went above and beyond reverend let me just finish on the on the points what they are once again how do we prosper in this new year or any year that you're in number one what do we learn from this chapter number one make the best of a bad situation number two be open about your faith number three be different from the world number four be honest in your dealings number five find favor in the sight of men and number six go above and beyond let's pray