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All right everybody welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Glad you can make it here tonight. It's definitely a good night to be here. Got the Cookie Fellowship after the service. Let's go ahead and take our seats. We'll turn to 423. Joy to the world. Again that's 423. 423. Joy to the world. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare him room. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven, heaven, nature sing. Joy to the world, the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ. While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows grow. Nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow. Far as the curse is found. Far as the curse is found. Far as, far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace. And makes the nations prove. The glories of his righteousness. And wonders of his love. And wonders of his love. And wonders, wonders of his love. Amen. Good seeing you. The Lord is thankful again that we could be here tonight to gather together with the brethren to hear from your word and I just pray you'll help us to grow from the sermon and again thank you for this time of year we can worship the birth of your son and our Savior and we just pray you bless our church and the preaching tonight in Jesus name. Amen. Next is going to be 428. It came upon a midnight clear. 428. Sing it all together on the first. It came upon a midnight clear that glorious song of old from angels bending near the earth to touch their hearts of gold. Peace on the earth, good will to men from heaven's all gracious King. The world is solemn still this late to hear the angels sing. Still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurled. And still their heavy music floats o'er all the weary world. Above its sad and lowly plains they bend on a ring-wing. And ever more its baffles shout the blessed angels sing. And here beneath life's crushing love, whose forms are bending long, who toil along the climbing way with painful steps as long. Look now for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing. O rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing. For lo, the days are hasting on, my prophet bars foretold, when with the ever-serving years comes round the age of gold. With each shout over all the earth, his ancient slanders flee, and the whole world gives back the song which now the angels sing. Good evening. Thank you so much for coming to steadfast baptist church. If you didn't already get a bulletin you can slip over hand nice and high and one of our ushers would love to come by and get you a bulletin. On the front we have our bible memory passage we're working on the entire chapter of john one and so there's a lot of verses there we're on verse number five and if you are a child 18 or under and you can quote this week's verse you can also get ice cream so it's not just cookies i mean we're going to give you a sugar high this evening all right and then obviously your parents have to agree but pastor said it's okay all right so you can tell them that right and then on the inside we have our service times and so many times um also we have our church stats i'm going to get a count for any so any for the past few days real quick is there anything from monday by chance one for monday what about tuesday was there anything for tuesday nothing for tuesday what about tonight we had threes or our van group anything outside of that all right keep up the great work on soul winning also on the right we have our list of expecting ladies continue to be in prayer for all of them we also have our prayer list some additional prayer requests and we'll go over those quickly we have the nigera family continue to pray for their health miss lucy's mother's tumors continue to be praying for her for the cameron hall his leg just continue to pray for him and healing there also our friends pastor kevin sepulveda and brother matthew stuck in manila philippines just continue to pray for both of them pastor kevin sepulveda is in australia and i know a lot of restrictions on their church services and things are making it difficult for them to meet and so we'll continue to pray for them miss stephanie weathers if you pray for her pregnancy just additional prayer requests for her pregnancy's health also mr uh brother ever garcia his mother's health continue to pray for her there's her mental family continue to pray they have some sort of rough neighbor situation if you'd be praying for them miss grace scott if you continue to pray for her nerve pain brother brother steve malton was asking for prayer for his family's salvation brother richard capito is also asking for additional prayer for his health holden family their health brother jeremy gore up in oklahoma city he's having a surgery um it's it's i think it's a minor surgery but it's just kind of something with his head with his brain and so that's on january 11th um another one that to add in there is just be in prayer for the wood family miss megan um had to go to the hospital just with high blood pressure and it was uh they were worried about preeclampsia and things like that and so um they're monitoring her and their baby but we just want to continue to pray for them and make sure uh that they're doing okay i think some ladies are organizing a care package to take up to them so if you have anything just just ask my wife about it she has all the details on that i think that's pretty much all i had for prayer requests if you if you have any other prayer requests try to submit those via email and we'll try to get those added to our bullets in the best we can but i'm going to say a quick word of prayer as a church family thank you heavenly father for our church thank you for giving us this opportunity to meet together um i pray that you just be with those that are not able to meet this evening i i pray that you just help those that are having various health concerns and issues that you just be with them that you comfort them give them strength i pray that you just help our friends that are having difficulty with their church services with oppressive governments that you would just give them relief you'd allow them to freely operate and to preach the gospel i pray that you would also just bless the rest of our church family with wisdom help those that need to get saved to soften their hearts so that they would have the opportunity to hear the gospel and to believe and i pray that you would just bless all aspects of our church that would be all honoring unto you and in jesus name we pray amen on the back we have a couple events just to make note of the candlelight service and cookie bake-off you made it all right so you you're actually living the upcoming event and then this uh 31st we're having a new year's eve party as well at seven we're gonna have men's preaching night and pizza so please please sign up just so we have an idea of who is planning on coming that way we can prepare well also we're gonna have a new testament challenge there's some sheets already on the cabinet and basically it's just kind of a checklist of the new testament so you can kind of go through and read everyone who completes that will receive a prize somebody might think can i start early and the answer's no all right but you can start if you come to our new year's eve party right at 1201 you can start i mean you can start reading the bible right away so uh we'd encourage you all to do that and uh it's it's it's pretty uh it's a pretty realistic challenge um that you can complete in those 30 days 31 days and so i'd encourage you to do that uh down below we have the congratulations of the johnson family um on isaac elias johnson he was born december 14th 3 22 am weighing five pounds eight ounces and measuring 19 inches long so that's exciting for them um one i'm gonna give a few quick announcements about this evening just so you're all aware as soon as i'm done preaching i'm gonna pray and then our ushers are gonna hand out candles for everyone and so um at your discretion you can give those to all your children it will be lit with real fire though so fyi just if you feel like they can handle it i feel like they can handle all right so we'll give everybody one of those as soon as everyone's received a candle we're gonna turn out the lights so just fyi and then we're gonna light all of our candles our ushers are gonna go up and down the ends of the aisle and they will light the candle of kind of the edge and so you edgers you have to be responsible to pass your light you have to share the light down the row okay and the reason why we do this is it's kind of a cool picture of what the gospel's like you know where we have the light of the gospel and we're supposed to share that light with someone else and then they share the gospel with someone else we kind of see how the gospel can can spread from one light also you see how the people that don't have a light on their candle can't give anybody else the light okay so they have to first get the light to then give it to someone else and it helps destroy stupid doctrines like judas got everybody saved okay so that's an inside joke but uh it's real you know people believe that stupid stuff so but uh it should be pretty straightforward then immediately after uh we're done we'll turn the lights back on and we'll be dismissed and we have a a lot of cookies it looks like some great looking cookies over here and everyone's uh welcome to participate in enjoying those we're also going to be voting on them and so anybody the age of 10 or older um is going to be able to vote um please make sure though while you're going up and down and getting cookies please do assist all of your children you know especially young children that they're not just like throwing cookies or knocking stuff over or whatever we want to make sure that you know they're they're being assisted by their parents and everything like that so we can make sure everything stays decent in order but we will have beads up front i think miss avo is going to help us just pass those out you'll get one of each color a red one a green one and a white one or a clear one and there's even a sign up there that tells you what those mean okay so the red one is best tasting the green is best decorated and the white is most creative you only get to vote one bead you know one colored bead so you'll get all three but you can only vote for one that was the best tasting best decorated most creative and technically you can vote for yourself okay you narcissist out there all right so if you feel like you're the best you can but you can only vote once all right and if you're 10 or older you can vote um make sure if you did bring cookies in your you have a cup that's by your cookie with your name on the bottom and then just a name for your cookie on the cup if you don't go see my wife or go fix it right now but if you if you already have your cup you should be good and we'll do that right after the service we're also going to have hot chocolate milk cookies and everything like that on another table please help yourself but make sure that the children again are helped hot chocolate because it is going to be hot and i just don't want any children to get hurt or to burn themselves or anything like that so i will give you instructions one more time right after our service just so you're aware but that was just kind of our first go at it um i appreciate you all being here we're gonna go and go to our third song for the evening 433 away in a manger again that's 433 away in a manger all together lift the lord jesus asleep on the hay the cattle are lowing the baby awakes but little lord jesus no crying he makes our lovely lord jesus look down from the sky and say my cradle till morning is nigh be near me lord jesus i ask me to stay close by me forever and love me i pray bless all the dear children in thy tender care and take us to heaven to live with thee there amen good thing as the offering plate goes around please turn in your bible to genesis chapter 39 genesis chapter 39 you read the entire chapter starting in verse number one genesis chapter 39 the bible reads genesis chapter 39 and joseph was brought down to egypt and potiphar an officer of pharaoh captain of the guard an egyptian bottom of the hands of the ishmaelites which had brought him down thither and the lord was with joseph and he was a prosperous man and he was in the house of his master the egyptian and his master saw that the lord was with him and that the lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand and joseph found grace in his sight and he served him and he made him overseer over his house and all that he had put into his hand and it came to pass from the time that he had made him 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 and he left all that he had in joseph's hand and he knew not what he had saved the bread which he did eat and joseph was a goodly person and well favored and he came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon joseph and she said lie with me but he refused and said it was master's wife behold my master what is not what is with me in the house and he had committed all that he hath to my hand there was none greater in this house than i neither hath 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 it came to pass as she spake to joseph day by day that he hearkened to not under her to lie by her or to be with her 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 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 and it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth but she called unto the men of her house and spake unto them saying see he hath 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 and it came to pass when he heard that i lifted up my voice and cried but 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 and she spake unto him according to these words saying the hebrew servant which thou has brought unto us came in unto me to mock me and it 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 he 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 bowed and he was there in the prison but the lord was with joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison and the keeper of the prison committed to joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison and whatsoever they did there he was the doer of it the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the lord was with him at which he did the lord made it to prosper let's bow our heads for a word of prayer father we thank you for genesis chapter number 39 and also for christmas and this season lord i just pray that you would fill pastor shelly with your spirit now and just enable him to explain this chapter to us and also lord help us to pay attention to the message that we cannot just learn more about this particular chapter but also apply some lessons from tonight's message to our christian lives and we thank you so much for this church lord and pray that you protect it and in jesus name i pray amen amen so we're in genesis chapter 39 we're doing our bible study and we kind of pick back up with joseph and we find him in egypt that's why we kind of left off he was sold by his brethren into slavery by the ishmaelites and the ishmaelites end up selling him to a particular man that is under the leadership of pharaoh it says that he was an officer says in verse number one and joseph was brought down to egypt and potiphar an officer of pharaoh captain of the guard an egyptian bought him of the hands of the ishmaelites which had brought him down hither so in genesis chapter 37 we had joseph betrayed by his brethren they sell him under the ishmaelites we kind of had a break in the story where we talked about judah for a moment we picked back up with joseph down in egypt and he is sold as a slave or as a servant to potiphar and the bible describes potiphar as being an officer of pharaoh so this guy is actually a pretty prestigious man he's one that would be over a lot of different affairs of of pharaoh and of egypt and probably a very important house one that's going to have a lot of different servants a lot of different responsibilities a lot of different things and so joseph is put in this place and we have to think about when it comes to the bible is that nothing's accidental incidental coincidental you know god is obviously orchestrating these events to better joseph and to put him in the place that he wants him now if you kind of know the entire story of joseph you realize that he's going to eventually become a ruler over all of egypt he's going to be basically pharaoh's right-hand man leading the entire nation and area and joseph is 17 years old when he gets betrayed probably not the best age to put someone in a position where they're the leader of an entire country and nation and rule almost the whole world in a sense which is what joseph's going to end up doing so as joseph continues to mature and grow up and get older the lord is going to put him in certain areas where he's going to learn a lot of skills and learn a lot of character building attributes that are going to help him for the position in the role that he's in so it's no coincidence that god is going to place him with a man like potiphar where he's going to learn a lot about you know pharaoh the positions that are held in egypt learning the importance of being in this kind of a house and a lot of the different instructions and so he's going to be in a really great opportunity here to learn a lot of information that's going to help him when he becomes that second in command now we all know that from hindsight okay yet joseph has no idea but what's great about the story is that even though joseph doesn't know what's going to happen he can't tell the future he doesn't know why he's there with potiphar and he doesn't know why he's been sold into egypt he doesn't know what his life is going to bring him essentially he always has a good attitude he always has a really good attitude he always is working really hard and i think when it comes to our lives one thing that is certain is you have no idea what the future beholds you know none of us know exactly where we're going to go where we're going to end up or or basically the jobs or the task or the people that are going to come into our lives in the future really the most important thing though is that we work really hard where we find ourselves whatever position that god has put us in wherever we find ourselves at we want to make sure that we're working really hard once we're in that particular position and also realizing this that the lord is with us no matter where we find ourselves you know if you're a saved born again child of god god is always there with you the bible says i'll never leave thee nor forsake thee and god never forsook joseph god never left joseph he's putting him exactly where he wants him to be and look what it says in verse two and the lord is with joseph so notice we just read a horrible thing about joseph i mean joseph just got sold by his brethren he's in slavery he's now in a foreign country he's now been sold as a slave to this guy's house and then notice god just brings it up and the lord was with him meaning that even though all this bad stuff happened to him god was still with him and you know what sometimes it's easy for us to question where god is when we have just kind of bad thing after bad thing after bad thing happen to us but notice why can't we take a page out of the bible here and realize that the lord's still with us the lord didn't you know leave the lord didn't go anywhere and sometimes it's even just god's will that really bad things would happen to us in in the in the moment at least in our in our mind we think this is a really bad thing but then we look back on it we realize oh wow that actually really worked out or that actually turned out for good you know the bible promises that all things work together for good to them that love god to them that are called according to his purpose the romans 8 gives us a promise that even when we think something's bad or negative in our lives god can still use that for our benefit for our favor and i'll be honest with you i stand here today having had no idea i would ever stand here i never thought i would be here i never dreamed it up i didn't plan it you know a lot of the things that happened in my life were often contrary to what i wanted i remember going to high school and there was a college in our town and i remember making vows like i'm never going to college there like it was kind of like the it was kind of like you wanted to get out like everyone that was going to high school you wanted to leave town you didn't want to go to college in the same town that you were raised and it's a division two school it's called west texas a and m university and i i grew up in this small town canyon everybody wants to go to like lubbock they want to go to texas tech or they want to go to like ut or they want to go just anywhere else basically was acceptable and i'm like yeah i'm never going to go here and that's where i went to college so and then i'm like you know as i was going to high school there i was also thinking like i'm never going to marry a girl from here like i was i was i was dead set i'm like i'll meet a girl in college or later whatever i'm never going to marry a girl and of course my wife and i met in high school and got married so then i started thinking man i'm never going to be a millionaire i'm never i'm just kidding but it's like everything that i thought i was never going to do i would end up doing there was even a company that uh there was a bank called happy state bank they even have them around here i used to make fun of it okay i would call it crappy state bank you know it's just i would always make fun of it and i was like man i would never work there or bank there and then i worked there and i banked there but it's just funny how at one point in your life you kind of think one way and then over time it can even get to the extremity of where you completely change your mind things just completely are different and you realize oh wow i i didn't really foresee that i didn't really understand that at the time but i actually see how the lord is working in my life or i see how god could use that and and we really want to realize that god is going to challenge us god is going to put us in certain positions even difficult situations for our benefit one thing about really difficult situations is this you end up gaining a lot of character from having to go through something very difficult something very tough people that have had a very easy life usually have very low levels of integrity very low levels of character and rather the people that have had the hardest lives or some of the biggest challenges or the biggest pains or aches in their lives are usually the people that have the best hearts are usually the nicest and kindest people that's why you often see rich children children that are raised privileged they're given everything you could ever want from the the moment that they were born they end up turning out to be very rotten entitled spoiled people whereas children that were raised in a very poor neighborhood or a poor household they they weren't given anything they had to work really hard for everything they have they end up being people of integrity they learned how to work hard they have a lot of great skills and attributes and they end up being a lot better person and so we sometimes look at difficulty struggles or problems as being a negative thing rather than realizing the benefit of the difficulties and the struggles that god gives us joseph lives a very difficult life i mean he's placed in a foreign country probably doesn't speak egyptian probably doesn't even know the language when he first goes down there he's 17 a very young man he doesn't have any family or friends he's sold into slavery i mean this is a pretty easy situation to be just like down and really depressed and really frustrated but you know what joseph constantly finds himself working hard being diligent a man of integrity no matter where he goes and i believe that he realizes that the lord is with him look what it says in the next breath and he was a prosperous man and he was in the house of his master the egyptian and his master saw that the lord was with him and that the lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand so because joseph has the lord with him because joseph is working really hard everything that joseph does is always prosperous it's always very successful and and here's one thing about the unsaved you have to realize they like success they don't really care who it's coming from but they can recognize success and when you're successful they will just help you out and bless you and do good on you and they'll even put up with your christianity they'll put up with your beliefs and your religious you know things because you're just making the man money you're just helping him out you're doing good unto him and and this guy can recognize through joseph that there's something different about joseph than the other people he's like there there's a reason why he's so successful it must be the fact that the lord is with him it's just evident it's just obvious that joseph is different than everybody else also illustrating the fact that christians should stand out from the world today there should be a difference between a christian and your average person and you say what would be the difference i don't know the fact that they don't lie the fact they don't steal the fact that they show up that they work hard that they're men of integrity that they do things that are right that they're helpful that they're a blessing that they're not cursing to their employer that they actually respect their employer you know it's a sad day in the world that we live in where nobody wants to have respect for their boss for authority or any of these type of things they all feel entitled to every single thing that they've ever been given whereas a christian is supposed to treat his boss as if jesus christ told them what to do and you know that's going to show a major difference in the world whenever you're doing that which is right and and you're following god's commandments and here's the inevitable fruit of following god's commandments success that's what the bible teaches now keep your finger here and go to psalms chapter number one let's look at a couple other places in the bible to compare this to but the bible just over and over makes it clear that fault the following of god's commandments will make you successful and you know even unsaved people can reap the benefits of following god's commandments because god is going to bless that which is biblical so you know companies even if the guy's not saved if he employs the same tactics and principles that the bible employs like having integrity truth working hard you know all the different principles that god teaches they will also see that kind of success and they'll see long-term success in those areas because god is going to honor and bless that which is biblical look at psalms 1 verse 1 blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the law of the lord and in his law that they meditate day and night and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth for this fruit in the season his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper notice the guy that puts god first god makes sure to take care of him when you put god first in your life when you're blessing the lord when you're delighting in the law of the lord when you have integrity when you follow god's commandments you will be blessed in this life god will make sure that the things that you do will succeed and essentially you're going to have everything you could ever need everything you can ever need i mean the lord's never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread now what this is not saying though is that you're going to be jeff bezos okay it doesn't say that you're going to be uh bill gates or any of those people have ungodly funds they have you know the wages of unrighteousness they lie steal and cheat to get their money but the problem for them is because they stole all this money they can't even sleep at night because they have all these people suing them and they have all these criminals that work for them that stole all the money in the first place they're afraid that the criminals that they have hired are going to steal from them and oftentimes when you have these these wicked and corrupt companies and industries they gain all this money through deceit and wicked practices they often have people rip them off and steal from them and do evil back unto them and they have a hard time going to sleep and they're always worried about everything and stressed about everything and they don't actually get to benefit from any of their labor because they didn't work hard in the first place they just cheat and steal to get all that money and and honestly the bible doesn't teach that if you follow his principles you would ever be like that okay because these people are they're not generous they're not liberal with their funds they don't really have the kind of wealth that the bible speaks of and they have so much money it's beyond needs anymore okay we're going well well beyond needs but the bible does teach that you know if you follow his commandments he's going to bless you you're going to have success you're going to have everything that you need you're not going to go without not going to not have somewhere to you know go to sleep you're not going to have meals and everything like that you will have everything and in america today if you follow god's commandments and you work hard you will be able to provide it's not even really a question so if you went to joshua chapter one joshua chapter one in fact people that can't provide and the united states today it's because they're lazy it's just that simple it's just that they're lazy now obviously you're gonna have ebbs and flows and when you first start out you're gonna you're gonna struggle no one starts out making big bucks and nobody starts out making a good paycheck you know it takes time to develop a career it takes time to gain skills it takes time to work up to a point where you have an actual career and you know any any point in time you could have a need to make a career change and you could go through uh you know difficulties and struggles but at the end of the day if you're willing to work hard and follow all of god's principles you're going to be able to be successful in whatever industry you find yourself in and no matter what area of life you find yourself in look at joshua chapter one verse six says be strong and of a good courage for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance of the land which i swear unto their fathers to give them only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which moses my servant commanded thee turn not from it to the right hand or the left but thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success so notice success in the bible is tied to following god's commandments and really i could show you a lot of verses these are some really popular really famous verses that talk about it but god just ensures his people from genesis to revelation they will be prosperous they will be successful when they are following his commandments now again success is a little bit contextual okay some people think of success is having millions and millions of dollars or something like that that's not necessarily what the bible is painting okay success is going to be the fact that you can provide your family that doesn't mean you're going to have riches and all this wealth and stuff that you don't need it means you're going to have enough money to basically provide get the clothing for your children and everything like that but there's a lot more areas of success than just money you know how about having a godly family how about having a wife that loves you how about having children that love the lord how about having grandchildren that love the lord okay how about being successful when you go out and preach the gospel how about being successful in just every area of life having knowledge having wisdom you know everything that you want to happen you know you can basically wrap your mind around it and get it accomplished you know these are the things that you're going to see in your life when you're following god's principles when you're following god's commandments how about a church a church is going to be successful when it's following god's commandments when it's elevating the bible when it's elevating what god said it's not departing a little bit to the right or departing a little bit to the left it's not dreaming up success on their own it's rather just saying what does the bible say and we're going to do it good bad or ugly we're going to follow the bible and we're going to let god give us success rather than trying to manufacture it ourselves okay and the same should be for you on the work job and on the workplace you know when you go out to the job there could be a temptation to lie you know maybe you're looking for a promotion but another guy's looking for promotion your boss comes to you and says what do you think about this guy and you're like this is my opportunity to lie about him or to drag him through the mud or whatever rather than just having integrity thinking maybe i can get by by talking bad about people or maybe i can get by by stealing a little money out of the cash register or maybe i can get by by ripping off my customer or whatever but here's the thing it's a very short-sighted view of life you know you're going to really get by is by always doing that which is right you're not taking money when no one's looking they're not lying about people by not stepping on people to crime up the ladder but just having integrity doing that which is right and having faith that the lord will take care of you that the lord will put you in the positions and in the companies and in the places that you need to be whenever you're doing that which is right and sometimes it takes faith i remember working for employers and being promised things being promised raises being promised promotions and things like that and and doing what i thought was actually a good job i thought i did a really good job i thought you know and obviously you're kind of biased right you kind of like i did a good job you know but you know you you work pretty hard you feel like you probably did what you need to to get that promotional job and then it just doesn't happen doesn't happen every year after year after year and you're kind of sitting there like what's going on but then eventually godson mal just takes care of it by you know his hand guiding you and putting you where he wants i mean i've had it where i thought i was gonna get certain promotions and certain pay raises and stuff didn't happen for a long time and then god just by a miracle made it happen and i wasn't even in control of it it's funny i'm working for this company i probably would have never quit then they fired me and i'm like okay and and they didn't really fire me for job performance or anything they just simply you know didn't like i was working remote or they didn't they didn't want that position to work that way because they i still use them as a recommendation they still give me glowing recommendations of my next jobs and everything like that then i get paid more than double what i was making at the current job and i'm thinking like i would have never been here or gotten this kind of a pay raise on my own because i would have just kept working for them you know i would have just stayed faithful and just stayed with this company or whatever because i like them and it's like god had to let me get fired to even get in the position that i did and now i look at it in hindsight and i'm like i'm so glad that god let me get fired and i'll be honest when i got that call and they said they want to let me go it hurt i'd never been fired from a job my entire life i always tried to work really hard it really kind of i just was like wow that's it just hurt it didn't feel good i didn't like it or whatever but then i look back in hindsight i'm like that was like one of the greatest things that ever happened you know and again i'm just trying to help you realize that sometimes you're gonna go through difficulty some things you can go through the struggle you're gonna go through things that don't really make sense and you can see oh wow i feel like god is actually there helping me blessing me taking care of me through that process so we went back to genesis chapter number 39 in fact whenever me and my wife we we finally decided we're going to move to phoenix and and i wanted to go train to be a pastor at a church in the faithful word with pastor stephen anderson um we needed to sell our house and uh you know selling a house depending on where you're at can be easy or hard it'd probably be somewhat easy where we were but there was some challenges and i had currently been remodeling our bathroom so i gutted the whole thing like it was down to the studs basically in certain areas and i had replaced the plumbing because i was going to re-tile the shower and fix it and it was probably going to be a couple weeks of work and you know some extra money and i just run into some guy at a bank at the bank that i knew and i was talking to him about how i was wanting to move and sell my house and he goes he's like have you listed it like no i gotta work on the bathroom it's gonna be a week or months or whatever until i can get all that done he says don't even touch it i know someone that wants to buy it and i was like no no i haven't like it's not even ready to be shown like it's like we haven't cleaned it up or painted it or anything it's like he's like don't he's like i have someone wants to wants us to buy it i'm like okay so then this guy comes and looks at our house and he's like what do you want for it and i give him a price he only haggled like a thousand or two down on the price and he says all right i'll buy it all cash whenever you want to sell it you set the date and i was just like and he's like and i'll fix the bathroom and everything and i was just like wow and i mean and it was a good deal i wasn't you know i know a little bit about real estate i'd worked in that i'd bought and sold a lot of houses i wasn't like getting ripped off or anything like that the guy was just making a really good deal and i was just thinking like i guess it's time to go you know i mean you know those type of things are crazy whenever they happen and you just you know whenever you're just trying to follow god's will and you're doing that which is right he'll just make your way prosperous sometimes he'll just go above and beyond to just kind of put you where he wants to put you and look i believe with all my heart that god led me all the way that god was there with me and he was blessing me and helped me and you know i've gone through a lot of difficult things but when you look at it in hindsight you can see how god is actually blessing you and helping you and making your way successful when you're elevating him first and you're trying to put his commandments first look at verse number four and joseph found grace in his sight and he served him and he made him overseer over his house and all that he had he put into his hand it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house and over all that he had that the lord blessed the egyptians 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 and he knew not ought he had saved the bread which he did eat and joseph was a goodly person and well favored so notice joseph obviously has grace now what is grace something that you don't deserve okay even though joseph's one of the greatest people in the bible guess what he still needed grace okay everyone needs grace meaning that no one's perfect enough no one is righteous on their own the bible says there's none righteous no not one the bible says is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sin is not and you know no one gets to heaven for being a good person only by grace that we get to heaven okay but joseph even though he's not perfect the bible describes him as a goodly person meaning he still did that which is right he's still a very righteous guy humanly speaking he was trying to do his best and because he's such a righteous guy he's following the lord the lord's with him the lord doesn't just bless joseph he blesses everything that has to do with joseph he's blessing this unsaved guy potiphar just for joseph's sake and i think some people don't realize that god often blesses many people just for the christian's sake it's the christians that are actually bringing the blessing that are bringing god's favor and you know what god's favor doesn't just extend to us his cup runneth over meaning that when you're doing that which is right you're going to end up blessing other people just by them being in proximity to you and joseph is such a great worker that potiphar has literally given joseph every task you could ever have every single task is his in fact he's such a good worker and he trusts him so much he doesn't even have any accountability i mean potiphar doesn't even know what's going on he just like shows up and they're like what do we do it's like i don't know whatever he says you know i'm just here to eat like where's my bread i mean isn't that a pretty good worker when you can literally not even know what's going on and just know what's going to work and let me tell you how the standard for being a good worker it's when your boss would never even have to check on you and he would know everything would be done exactly as he wanted or better that's a good worker when a worker can do exactly what his boss wants and his boss didn't even know that he wanted it that's a really good worker and look this is how joseph does it and that's why joseph's put in charge and look i don't think this is by accident i think god's preparing joseph to learn how to do what how to rule how to manage how to be a leader how to take care of all these tasks how to have even literally no accountability humanly speaking yet still do the right thing why because eventually he's going to be put in an even bigger position where he has the same situation but it's everyone and look everything rises on leadership rise and falls on leadership and at the end of the day you know when joseph's going to be put in command of egypt everyone's life is literally going to be in his hands and so it's really important that joseph takes this job seriously now that he can develop the skills and and character and integrity now so that he can use it later you know some people look at their education now if you're a child in this room you need to take your education seriously you need to learn how to read and how to write and how to do arithmetic now you need to learn how to do a lot of skills now you need to learn all the proper things that you need to learn now so that in the future god could use you in a mighty way you know god looks at the works that we do even from a very young age and is going to bless those that are hard worker that are studying that are learning that are memorizing you know we have the bible memory passage you know and kids are supposed to be memorizing you know god's going to use those children that are really diligent at a young age even more in the future when they shown the diligence that they have now you know it may seem like a small task memorizing one verse and honestly it is you know what the one that takes it seriously the one that takes the challenges they have now and they do a really good job god's going to give them more and more and more and more and use them in a mighty way because they've shown themselves to be a person of integrity to be a goodly person and god's going to have a lot of favor towards that individual you can never do a small task well enough take every single task as serious as you can possibly take it always do it to your fullest always do it to the max i mean if your pastor gets up and says preach a five-minute sermon you preach the best five-minute sermon you've ever had in your entire life why because then you'll be entrusted with a longer sermon you know if you can't even preach good for five minutes why do we want to listen to an hour and a half of you you know going on no one wants to okay so that's why it's important to do good with what you're given to be successful in the little bit that you've been given so that you can be used more and when it comes to being a wise servant the sky's the limit keep your finger and go to proverbs chapter 17 for a moment go to proverbs chapter 17 i want to compare another verse here but the bible teaches us that when we are faithful and we're doing that which is right we can have a lot of blessings come upon us even when we find ourselves in a lowly position to start i mean think about it joseph just comes in as a slave boy now he's ruining the whole house that escalated quickly why because he's different than everybody else because he's a hard worker okay and even in the company you come in you're a new hire you're the young buck but you you show yourself faithful you learn and work hard you can get promoted very quickly whereas other people may be older or been there longer but they're just not as hard of working they don't care as much they don't have as much integrity and you can pass them you can lap them you can get promoted and you can be shown to be you know blessed above what you deserve simply by just having the right attitude look at proverbs 17 verse number two the bible says a wise servant shall have rule over a son that causes shame and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren now i don't know isn't it possible that potiphar had a son it's possible and notice who's in charge the servant joseph you know and in fact many companies you know if the boss was smart he wouldn't necessarily just put his son in charge of the company he would put the best person in charge and oftentimes the servant will usurp even the son just because he's that much better and so that's why it's important to do that which is right and and to work hard because a wise servant can get where he doesn't have to be born into the family to get the blessing or to get the inheritance or get all the stuff that he needs the fact that he was just a righteous person and working hard he's going to get part of the inheritance go to matthew 24 isn't that great that we weren't born into god's family the first time think about it none of us started out with the inheritance we had to first believe on the lord jesus christ to become a child and now that we're servants of god the wise servant is going to have a major inheritance with the lord and you know it's not something we started out with you know you had to get born and then you had to work really hard to end up achieving it and you know what there is a reward to following god's commandments you know serving god is not an exercise in futility you know those that have faith you know and believe that the lord's going to diligently reward them he's going to bless them greatly in heaven that's why there's not a better boss to serve than the lord matthew 24 look at verse 45 the bible says who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his lord hath made ruler over his household to give them meat in due season blessed is that servant whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing verily i say unto you that he shall make him ruler notice this over all his goods notice the bible says when god finds a wise steward when god finds someone that's doing a really good job in any area of life then god's gonna say hey i want you to rule everything you're doing such a good job with that little bit with just hey i asked you to sweep the floor and i've never seen the floor swept like that be in charge of everything you know i've never seen you fold a napkin like that i mean i told you to fold that i mean whatever it is no one's taking the trash out like that it doesn't matter how small the task is matters how good you are doing it and when you're so good at doing the jobs and the tasks that you've been given notice how the lord wants to use you he wants to put you in possession of every one of his goods and making sure that they're all being well taken care of because he that which is just and least or he that which is faithful and that which is least is going to be faithful and that which is much is what the bible teaches and so when you follow god's commandments and you do that which is right god's going to put you in the positions he wants go back to genesis 39 back to genesis chapter number 39 instead of worrying about climbing the ladder you should worry about doing the job that you have right to worry about being the best on the job and going above and beyond and making sure that everything you do is upright and and then god's going to take care of you you don't even have to worry if your boss is looking nobody noticed what joseph was doing in fact his own boss you know it's admitted here his boss doesn't even know what's going on but he knows it's always done correctly and that's what he loves about joseph look at verse seven and it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast his eyes upon joseph and she said lie with me now here's another thing here's a consequence to being successful women it's going to happen now here's the problem this isn't the right kind of woman though and you know what men that are successful will have the wrong kind of women come after them you can see this in the world you can see this throughout the bible and because joseph is such a great guy he's a goodly person he's working hard he has integrity i mean this guy is the leader you know what the wife starts liking joseph casting her eyes upon joseph and wants to commit adultery with him verse eight but he refused and said and his master's wife behold my master woteth not what is with me in the house and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand there's 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 now joseph makes a lot of very important statements here and you know i believe joseph is a very humble person but he can still admit the fact that in verse nine there is none greater in this house than i meaning that he's at the top of the food chain this guy's in charge of everything and he says that his master woteth not what is with me woteth meaning there no it's our like k n o w the word wote or woteth just means he doesn't know he has no idea what's going on in the house he's given me every single thing that he could i could possibly be in possession of but obviously he didn't give me his wife because that's bizarre you know he's not going to give me his woman because no man is not gonna is gonna let another man be with his wife every man's jealous for his wife you know you don't want to touch another man's wife unless you want to die okay and here's the thing joseph realizes that that's off limits not only is it off limits to his master it's off limits to god notice he said that if he did it he would be sinning against god and we can understand just by reading this story that what his master's wife is wanting potiphar's wife is wanting here is not some kind of open relationship this would be a very secret relationship okay the master doesn't know what's going on and the wife can realize that so obviously this would be a secret affair but here's the thing some people would say well as long as they don't find out what they don't know doesn't hurt them that's a stupid philosophy and guess what god knows and notice how joseph feels about it even if i could get away with it god will still know that i did it and i won't get away with it and you know what marriage is honorable in all and the marriage bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers god will judge the bible says that god is going to judge the whoremongers and the adulterers and you know what you're not going to just get away with adultery god will make sure you get punished it will get found out there's no reason to go and do such a wicked evil sin here now it says in verse 10 and it came to pass that she spake to joseph day by day that he hearkened not unto her to lie by her or to be with her this is not a one-time offer this is a daily offer now this is a very dangerous situation okay man if you find yourself in a situation where a woman is coming on every day you need to fix that you need to change that that's a very dangerous situation you don't want to be around this woman it's a very dangerous woman look what it says in verse 11 it came to pass about this time that joseph went into the house to do his business there was none of the men of the house there within and she caught him by his garment saying lie with me and left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out now here's the thing joseph in my opinion does a lot of great things but this was a dumb mistake and as a man that's married you know you never want to put yourself in a situation where you're alone with another woman okay it's just wise to never put yourself in that situation if you find yourself in that situation try to get out of that situation or leave that situation and there's nothing awkward about it you know it's awkward it's committing adultery what's awkward is having and in fact in this case false accusations about adultery which is going to happen and you never want that you never want to put yourself in the situation and you know while joseph is a man of integrity and he ends up not lying with her let me be honest most men wouldn't if a woman is coming on really strong most men would probably fail here even great men you know how i know that because i've read the bible okay there's guys like samson samson would have totally lined with potter's wife and i'm not trying to rail here but but i mean think about samson i mean he's going and looking for harlots okay judah would have certainly done it i mean judah's laying with harlots right how about david david certainly would commit adultery he literally asked for it he's he's bringing the woman over i mean think about the guys that are going out of their way to commit adultery obviously they would have done it if it was just set right in front of them on the front door there and and of course in this situation it's even secret it doesn't even say anybody has to know right i mean there's no one in the house this woman obviously has shown that she really wants to lie with joseph he could it could be their little secret but when he's confronted with this situation what does he do he fled okay now this is literally what the bible teaches keep your finger go to first corinthians chapter number six first corinthians chapter six if you do find yourself in this situation the absolute best thing to do is to literally run away just run and and the thing is is you know men are attracted to women women are attracted to men if you find yourself in an awkward situation just run forest run okay i mean that's just the best thing you could possibly do and look at first corinthians chapter six verse 18 flee fornication notice the bible uses the same language as with joseph he just literally ran in the opposite direction you don't want to let this thing you know unravel or go you know a little far or just kind of tempt fate a little bit here you know the bible says whosoever toucheth there shall not be innocent meaning you know once you start going down a certain road it starts becoming inevitable it starts becoming a point of no return so when joseph realizes this is a point of no return he literally just runs he literally just gets out of that situation and he doesn't want to commit fornication why well every sin that a man doeth is without the body the he that committed fornication sent it against his own body what know you not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you which you have of god and you're not your own for you're bought with a price therefore glorify god in your body and in your spirit which are gods so the bible makes it clear that when you sin the sin of fornication you're literally sinning against your own body it's like a physical punishment for the sin that you're committing and so if you're a young woman if you're a young man and you're being tempted or pressured into a situation to lie with them before marriage you need to physically leave you need to just get out of that situation run away even if you have to you know and and again with joseph he had to literally just run away from this woman which is the right thing you know how you avoid that just make sure that you never go in the house when she's by herself especially a woman that said that she wants to sleep with you every single day if you realize this person is coming on that strong you just say i'm never going to go in the house without a buddy you know i'm going to make sure i always have a friend or a servant or a buddy or just someone with me so that i'm never alone with this person i have a second witness we know what happened and i can't be falsely accused of anything nothing bad can happen to me you know as far as being lied about or whatever go back to genesis chapter 39 and we'll keep reading here but again this is just words of the wise don't put yourself in a situation where you could even be falsely accused now the bible says to abstain from all parents of evil you don't even want it to appear evil even if you had no bad intent but you know and it's also good just to be careful don't even just get chummy with the with an opposite gender now don't start getting chummy with the people at work don't get handsy don't start touching other people you know even if you feel like it's innocent because sometimes even people will get kind of chummy or start touching people that are not their spouse and they don't really necessarily mean anything by it but the other person start think start thinking that is real or start you know actually does have feelings and then they come on strong and look adultery is rampant in america and you know marriage is a precious thing and we have to stay vigilant and diligent to keep ourselves from some coming to these type of sins and and it's not like oh well i go to church so i would never commit adultery okay david okay solomon okay juda okay abraham okay i mean what guy in the bible i mean there's so many guys that are great great great guys people love the lord and they still committed sins like adultery they still committed sins like fornication and and whatever and i'm not trying to say that it's not a big sin because it still is i'm just saying that we have to be very vigilant and protect ourselves and guard ourselves especially when we live in the most promiscuous and adulterous civilization i've ever seen i mean there's billboards just begging for people to commit adultery like adult you know finder.com or just you know adultery.com or whatever ashley madison i remember seeing commercials for this stupid website some woman ashley madison it's like life's short have an affair what a wicked evil company what an evil wicked woman producing people to commit adultery and fornication you know it's just a shame the society that we live in where it's not even necessarily evil to commit adultery i mean if you told your co-worker that you're you're having an affair oftentimes they won't even care and look there's a double standard out there because men today if they told their buddies that they're having an affair they'd be like well is she hot and they probably wouldn't even care they probably they won't even have a problem they'll go with you to the gentleman's club they'll go with you to the bar they'll go with you to vegas oh what happens in vegas stays in vegas well guess what god's eyes can still look in vegas and you know what god can still see every single thing that happens and you know what you're a scumbag if you touch another woman he's a trash and you know what god gets very angry god killed people for fornication adultery had the death penalty for it and you know what men and women that love the word god they love their spouse they need to just stay where they don't even have a chance and most adultery happens with people that you know let's just it's usually and more often than not you start having feelings for a person at work you start developing the wrong relationship or you live in kentucky and you're near your cousin or whatever and you know it just things get crazy okay fortunately you're in texas okay and you just you just don't have friends that are this you know the opposite gender you just keep them at arm's length you stay polite but you know just run away from the other individual and the thing you have to understand is this woman she doesn't love joseph she doesn't care about joseph look what look what happened it says in 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 under the men of the house of her house and spake of them saying see you have brought in a hebrew unto us to mock us he came in unto me to lie with me and i cried with a loud voice 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 and she spake on him according to these words saying the hebrew servant which thou has brought unto us came in unto me to mock me and it 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 he spake on him saying after this manner did thy servant to me that his wrath was kindled so this woman 100% wants to be with him wants to be with joseph potiphar's wife joseph doesn't want to be with her refuses to be with her and then she totally flips the narrative lies to everyone tells everybody that joseph's a bad person that he's this adulterous you know person not even just an adulterer that he's a rapist i mean think about the accusation that's coming on joseph i mean this is a horrible accusation that's coming upon joseph he's done absolutely nothing wrong are you going to tell me that potiphar's wife loves joseph what kind of woman would make such a wicked false accusation it's a woman that doesn't actually love him she just wanted to use him and abuse him and she gets mad that she can't have her way so if she can't have her way then she'll just torture him anyways she didn't love him she didn't like him and let me tell you something a woman that'll come and commit adultery with you when you're married you'll also commit adultery against you and you leave your wife for her and and i'm not saying that's a hundred percent but i'm saying it's pretty much i mean think about it the person that's going to commit adultery with you has no integrity to not commit adultery again they've already shown that they're okay with it they've already shown that they're willing to do it i mean that's why it's silly when you hire a criminal when you hire a thief to work for you why is he not going to steal from you you know when your friend talks crap on all of your friends why do you think he's not going to talk crap on you you know it just shows when someone has no integrity that they're probably going to have no integrity in all areas of life you're not the exception buddy you know you're not brad pitt okay or whatever and look even brad pitt i'm sure his wives and girlfriends probably cheat on him too look at hollywood those people none of those people are faithful no those people love each other or with only one person they're constantly committing adultery and fornication with all manner of people they're never going to be enough you're never going to be enough for the adulterous person go to proverbs chapter 6 for a moment go to proverbs chapter 6 you know the bible warns about people like this and let me tell you something also even if it's not adultery men you young single guys if a girl will lie with you on the first night she'll lie with anything and she might tell you look all handsome and you're just mr stud or whatever she's lying to you and as soon as she gets what she wants she's just going to use you and burn you she's just going to discard you like the trash that she thinks that you are you know and she'll just lie about you and say you know all kinds of things you never wanted her to say about you and even if you don't lie with her she'll still lie about you because notice part of her wife gets so mad that he refused her she gets her feelings hurt that she has to say that oh you know i turned him down yeah you know like no you didn't you got turned down lady proverbs chapter 6 look at verse 26 for by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread and the adulterous will hunt for the precious life look there is adulterous people out there that want to hurt the innocent they want to go after innocent people and and here's what you have to understand as soon as they get you you're no longer innocent so then they move on to the next innocent person because it's not fun anymore it was only fun to corrupt you but as soon as they've corrupted you now you're damaged goods to them they're ready to drop you like a bad habit and go for the next innocent person the next precious person and ruin their life verse 27 can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned in one go upon hot coals and his feet not burned who that goeth into his neighbor's wife whosoever touches her to not be innocent meaning can you really just touch hot coals and you're not gonna get burned meaning you can't just play around with this stuff you go and form relationships and start touching people that are not your spouse you're gonna end up going way further than you wanted and you're gonna not be innocent verse 30 men do not despise a thief if he's still to satisfy his soul when he's hungry but if he be found he sure was strolled sevenfold he should give all the substance of his house but who so committed adultery with a woman lack of understanding he that do it that destroyed his own soul a wound and dishonor shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away jealousy is the rage of a man therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance he will not regard any ransom neither will he rest content though they'll give us many gifts according to the bible you commit adultery with another man's wife he's not going to be okay with that in fact the bible says you can't even buy them off there is no price proverbs chapter 30 look at one verse here verse 20 proverbs 30 verse 20 the bible says such is the way of an adulterous woman he eateth the wipe of their mouth and saith i have done no wickedness there are literally women out there that have no conscience whatsoever and and it's typically the adulterous woman who will literally just lie with someone and she doesn't think she did anything wrong this woman who just burns joseph she probably just is like yep got rid of him the next guy will wise up the next guy will do my bidding for me you know what you're going to be trapped by her and you're going to go down to the pit of hell is what the bible teaches when you just succumb to this type of woman and look the adulterous woman the whorish woman has literally slain so many men and sent them down into hell and you say well i thought salvation was by believing in jesus christ it is but he's the thing there's a lot of people that haven't believed in jesus christ yet and then they commit adultery and it just destroys their life and they die and they never even hear the gospel they just get so just ruined with women they get ruined on the pleasures of this world they get run with women and drugs and all the pleasures of this life and you knock on their door and they're just not interested in the gospel anymore they're not interested in and you know you meet guys like this all the time you meet people like this all the time they don't want to hear what the bible has to say they're just chasing the next pie and they're never going to find it and they're just going to go down into hell don't go back to genesis 39 let's finish our chapter here real quick the bible says in verse number 20 and joseph's master took him and put him into the prison in place where the king's prisoners were bound and he was there in the prison the lord was with joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the side of the keeper of the prison and the keeper of the prison committed to joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison and whatever they did there he was the doer of it the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the lord was with him and that which he did the lord made it prosper now look joseph he tells his brother in a dream thrown in a pit sold with slavery all he did was follow god's commandments he didn't do anything wrong then he's doing everything right he's asked to commit adultery doesn't do it and then gets thrown into prison wouldn't it be pretty easy to be like man maybe i should stop following god's commandments because every time i follow god's commandments something really bad happens to me i mean i get sold into slavery then i get thrown into prison i mean you don't think that in the flesh you could say hmm i could have slept with potiphar's wife and still not been in prison no one had known or now i didn't and i'm in prison like wouldn't that be kind of a frustrating thing potentially to think about or to feel like is god really with me is god really looking after me i keep following his commandments and my life just keeps getting worse i keep getting thrown in all these bad scenarios you know what joseph just continues doing that which is right no matter what happens though and notice he has so much integrity and truth the the prisoner the guard of the prison or whatever the keeper of the prison realizes it and puts joseph in charge of the entire prison that's crazy okay and that escalated quickly i mean this just like instantly it's just like oh and joseph was so great he's just in charge of everything and is it any coincidence that again he's in the prison specifically where pharaoh's prisoners are nope because god's putting him in all the places that he wants him to be now go to luke chapter 6 the thing about joseph is his life is a constant tribute to the lord jesus christ okay you have to think about a few things how does he share in commonality with jesus christ well number one they're both falsely accused joseph didn't do anything wrong joseph did that which is right and he's falsely accused and he's gonna suffer persecution because of that okay the same with jesus jesus never did anything wrong jesus just healed people and blessed people and did that which is right and yet the jews they lied about him they railed on him they had all these false witnesses come and testify against him now what was the result of joseph's false accusations thrown in prison what's the result of jesus christ false accusation well he dies on the cross and he goes to hell the prison of prisons for us and so we see the same parallel with jesus and joseph how they both do the same thing but the lord is still with them you know what and the lord is going to restore both joseph out of prison as he restored what jesus out of hell he did not leave his soul in hell neither did his flesh see corruption this jesus had god raised up we know the resurrection of jesus christ we know through the reading of genesis that joseph himself will be taken out of prison okay so you got to think about this joseph is suffering in prison for having done nothing wrong isn't that crazy you know people say like oh where in the bible do you see pictures or stories of jesus suffering in hell well how about joseph suffering in prison for having done nothing wrong and we see jesus having to suffered in hell having done nothing wrong going to hell suffering the pains of death as acts chapter number two makes very clear sorrows of death we see the pictures of joe of jonah being in the well's belly crying out now joe jonah deserved being the well's belly okay but and he still pictures christ in hell but joseph pictures the aspect of jesus going to hell for having done nothing wrong just being falsely accused and having false accusations laid upon him and he has to go to prison for us and yet joseph still has a good attitude about it doesn't he joseph is still doing that which is right and the lord's gonna bless him now did i have you turn to luke six are you there in luke six okay here's the thing when you serve god and you follow god's commandments the same thing's gonna happen to us luke six verse 22 blessed are you and men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall approach you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake now i want to i want to say something about this verse some people think that when you suffer it has to be like literally you are preaching john 316 or something like that that's the only legitimate persecution but i will submit to you that joseph when thrown in prison wasn't in the middle of preaching john 316 to potiphar's wife okay because here's the reality anytime you do that which is right anytime you stand for righteousness or integrity or following any of god's commandments you can be persecuted for that and you know what you're being persecuted for righteousness sake for the son of man's sake joseph said he's not going to sin against god joseph said he's not going to commit adultery and because of that he gets persecuted and let me tell you something there's going to be times when christians they won't lie on the job they won't steal they won't deceive their customers they won't do that which is right you know wrong and you know what they'll get persecuted for it oh what are you goody two shoes oh what do you believe in jesus or something uh what are you a bible thumper or something oh you don't want to get drunk with the rest of us no oh you don't want to go to the gentleman's club with us no i love my wife oh you don't want to go and do drugs with us you don't want to go smoke a little pot with us you know out in the alley no i'd rather just keep working i'd rather not be high on the job and stealing money from my employer and showing up late and drinking and doing everything that is you know wicked in the sight of god and just saying oh well no one will see hey if you stand over here the the cca cctv camera can't see you well god can see you hey if we accidentally drop you know this bat this box on the ground damaged goods and we have to get rid of it so i'll just put it in my car you know who cares that i dropped it on purpose so that i could steal from my employer you know like 80 or 90 of all theft is coming from employees unless you're in like california then it's coming from blm so in antifa the five-finger discount over there but at the end of the day you know what god still sees everything even if the cops can't catch you or won't do anything god can catch you and deal with you and you know what you'd rather be persecuted for righteousness sake than being a thief than being a wicked criminal and you know what blessed are you when people don't like you for it they say get out of here and notice what it's like they separate you from their company you know we shouldn't have to separate ourselves from people they'll separate from you when you want to do that which is right people say like oh i don't like them he's always talking about the bible or something he he wants to you know go to church he wants to dress like a godly christian you know they have kids i remember it look at tons of events and stuff that my companies wanted me to go through and some of them like can i bring my kids and they're like no no kids allowed and i'm like well i'm not going you know or i said i want to go and they say you can't come because you'll bring your kids and it's not like my kids my kids are like some of the you know greatest well-behaved kids ever it wasn't because of their behavior it was just they just don't want kids around why because they're going to get drunk and act like idiots and so they don't want to have kids around because they're going to do activities that aren't appropriate for kids well you know what if they're not appropriate for kids they're not appropriate for me either i don't want to do them why do i want to do stuff that my kids kids can't participate in you know oh no you know your family isn't going to like you if you follow the word of god well so be it you know what i'm not going to walk away from my family they they can walk away from me because i'm still going to love them and do good under them and you know what the bible teaches is that we should love people even when they say something bad about us look what it says rejoice in ye in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven for in like manner did their fathers and under the prophets woe and you that are rich for you have received your consolation woe and you that are full for you shall hunger woe and you that laugh now for you shall mourn leap woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you for so to their fathers of the false prophets but i say unto you which hear love your enemies do good to them which hate you so even if someone separates from you even if someone hates you even if someone calls you a name you know what you still love them back you treat them good you do good under them you know the bible says that we're supposed to love our personal enemies the person on the job lies about you you do good under them you treat them well you love them back you know jesus loved his enemies he's literally hanging on the cross and says father forgive them for they know not what they do obviously there's an exception to that he didn't love the pharisees okay if you think jesus loved the pharisees read matthew 23 again okay he called them the children of the devil okay he said that they can't escape the damnation of hell you know what the jewish people as a whole jesus loved even though they were his enemies and you know what as long as they're not a hater of god you know what the bible says you're supposed to love them bible says you're supposed to treat them with respect you're supposed to do good under them and help them you know david he loved saul even though saul tried to kill him every day of his life but you know who david did not love aliyah he took his head off okay he didn't he didn't say like you deserve a hug you know buddy are you just frustrated that no one you know makes shoes that fit your feet or something you know big guy come here you know they haven't invented big and tall yet i can i can sympathize no no he said hey i'm gonna take your head off you're defying the god of israel but you know what when someone does you wrong personally that doesn't give you right to then treat them bad no you're supposed to love your enemies and do good under them and you know what joseph thrown in prison he could have been mad at everybody in the prison oh i shouldn't even be here i'm innocent you know what he just does he just does good under them couldn't he be mad at pharaoh for buying him i'm sorry not pharaoh potiphar for having bought him he's like his slave master or whatever but he does good under him you know just because someone may have done bad you in the past or you're in the wrong situation you know still do good under them still bless them do that which is right just like jesus did so if you went to proverbs 11 the last place i want to have you turn here's another tie-in since you know it's christmas okay how does this relate to christmas you're like i thought i was going to hear about the birth story or something well here's the thing those are pictures so many cool things about jesus here's one they both went to egypt now in matthew chapter number two you have the persecution coming on jesus christ being born in a manger you know he's born in bethlehem the wise men come and they inquire of where jesus is and then they go and search for him and harrod wants to find out so he can kill him he hates jesus and it's not that jesus did anything wrong why does he hate jesus because he's told he's going to be king of the jews okay he's going to be a leader why is joseph sold into slavery because he told his brethren that he was going to rule over them okay and since neither of them want a ruler over them they end up persecuting them joseph ends up going into egypt where does jesus's father joseph take him takes him down into egypt and so they get to share in the fact that they're both in egypt not that they ever wanted to go there they're just having to flee to this area and you know it's another cool parallel of how joseph in the old testament pictures the lord jesus christ and how they're both persecuted for righteousness sake they didn't do anything wrong but they both have to go to egypt for a period of time and then the bible also says about jesus that out of egypt have i called my son and so we see the the parallels of jesus and joseph going down into egypt there's your christmas story okay you're welcome proverbs chapter 11 someone's going to be like i was thinking i was getting there's your christmas story proverbs chapter 11 look at verse number 31 okay this is the bible says behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner we have to believe from the word of god that you know you're going to reap what you sow that's just that's just something that's constantly brought up in the bible you know if you can learn one thing from the bible in in genesis 39 it's this just have integrity wherever you're at you know joseph is constantly finding himself in bad situations but he constantly has integrity and you know what the lord is going to put him where he needs to be the lord's going to take care of him the lord's going to prosper him and you know the bible makes it clear that the righteous are going to be recompensed and notice this in the earth you know we all can look towards okay eventually in heaven it'll work out you know what the bible says the righteous will be recompensed in the earth isn't that a great promise isn't it cool that the lord says hey you do that which is right here and i'm gonna bless you here i'm gonna reward you here not only you the wicked this is a bad this is the flip side much more the wicked and the sinner meaning the people that do wrong they're gonna have what they're gonna get what's coming to them bad things are gonna happen to them and you know what the bible is filled with righteous people constantly getting rewarded in earth and wicked people constantly being destroyed in earth you know judas might have thought that he had it you know a great day when he got that 30 pieces of silver but what happens three days later he's hung and dead and jesus resurrected think about that jesus is recompensed in the earth judas much more the center now he's in hell for all of eternity you know you're never going to have uh something you're never going to feel bad about following god's commandment you know you'll feel bad about the sins that you commit you'll look back you know when you do that which is right no matter what happens you can always have you know the feeling of integrity the feeling that you did that which is right and that the lord is pleased with you and i'm telling you you know the god of the universe that created everything he doesn't just take it lightly that his servants follow his commandments he's going to make sure that well good things happen under you and he's going to take care of you you know it just it takes one word faith have faith that when you do that which is right when you have integrity god will take care of you and just realize and let these words sink into yours much more the the wicked and the sinners though if you hear what i'm saying you say no i'm just going to go back to the world and just live everyone and i don't care what god said guess what god's going to punish you god's going to recompense you and the way you don't want to be recompensed let's all have the integrity like joseph did let's go in prayer thank you heavenly father for this story thank you for sending your son thank you for giving me examples of people like joseph who endured all kinds of false allegations and evil that happened in his life illustrate what your son would do for us that he'd be born and just at the very beginning of his life have to flee to egypt at the very beginning of his life have to be persecuted and put in bad situations and realize that we too are going to go through difficulties and problems and struggles but that you're with us as you were with joseph as you were the lord jesus christ you're with us you said and lo i'm with you always even under the end of the world amen and i pray that we would just get that deep down in our hearts and we would desire to have integrity so that we can be pleasing in your sight in jesus name we pray amen all right at this time i have my ushers they're going to come around and give you a candle and and while that's being distributed i'm going to quickly go over our cookie instructions one more time okay so we have all the cookies out here and there's a cup in front of the cookies you're going to have three colored beads red green and white you get one of each you can only vote one time essentially once you've made up your decision you just place that bead in their cup okay and you can put all your beads in one cup you just realize that you voted for all three categories okay you could put you could put one red bead in one cup one green bead in another cup one white any combination that you can dream up red and white and one red and green whatever you want don't eat the beads they are not edible okay don't give them to small children that's why also 10 years and up or only you're allowed to vote please assist your children when going up and down the line there will be milk cokes and hot chocolate beverages please make sure if you get the hot chocolate to realize it's very hot please assist children with hot chocolate as well um as you get your candle again i'm i need to grab one too if you want to throw me one jason real quick the usher's going to come up and down the ends of the aisles and and light your candle go ahead and and make sure that you're assisting the rest of your aisle so you the you guys on the ends are going to be responsible for assisting everybody in between you and to try and share you should have a protective thing to make sure that the wax doesn't quite get you it's hot okay it's real fire so you know we'll want to be careful we're going to sing silent night holy night this evening it's 431 you might have to sing from memory at verse we are going to turn out the lights you also might want to get yourself settled as soon as we get all the candles passed out here in a second i'm going to have someone help me turn out the lights i'll light mine and then i'll have my ushers come up here i'll light and then we'll go from there so go ahead so all right there on the first oh oh sleep so is my Jesus Lord at thy birth, Jesus Lord at thy birth. Silent night, holy night. Wondrous art, live thy light. When the angels let us sing, hallelujah to our King. Christ the Savior is born. Christ the Savior is born. Thank you so much for coming, you are dismissed, please join us for cookies and refreshments.