Remaining Steadfast In Suffering

Lord, thank you for today. It's a day that you've made. We choose to rejoice and be glad in it.

In Jesus' name, amen. I was reading this morning a little bit about Joseph. Maybe share a little bit of that story.

Joseph, when he was a young lad, was born to his father in his older age. And when Joseph was 17 years old, the Lord gave him some dreams. And he shared those dreams with his brothers.

And because of that, his brothers hated him. You know, I was thinking about it. I thought, well, why wouldn't the guy just keep those dreams to himself? But you know what? The Lord was using that for a purpose.

He manifested, maybe, Joseph was excited about the dreams that he felt the Lord was speaking to him. He knew they were from the Lord and he wanted to share it. And also manifested the bitterness and the envy in their brothers.

And it came in the process of time that they were able to discern that Jacob loved Joseph more than the others. You know, as parents, sometimes we can love one child more than the others. You know, we tell our kids we love them all the same, but the kids can really sense it.

The parents have favorites. You know, and we can look down on the other siblings because of it. Maybe, maybe they have a better nature.

Maybe they have more of a servant's heart and the parents really, really tend to gravitate or show favoritism to one over the other. And it happened that the father favored Joseph and made him a coat, gave him a special coat. And when those brothers saw that coat, they were just, they hated him more.

And then one day they seen him coming to bring, to check on the brothers. And it had happened to one time before. He brought a bad report about the brothers to the dad, you know, and siblings tattle on each other and then one gets in trouble and gets disciplined for it.

You know, envy and jealousy and resentment and all this stuff happens in the home. And I think it's really important for us as parents to learn how to raise our children in a godly way. If we have the opportunity and you have a window and they're small, and we need to do things the way God says, it doesn't matter what I say, it doesn't matter what what the social services say, it doesn't matter what the government says, what matters is what God says.

And if I'm speaking what God says, then it matters what I say. But if it's my opinion, it doesn't matter. And that's why it's important.

It says through many counselors, there's wisdom. But if you're going to get counseling from somebody with a psychology degree, who went to school for seven years, the wisdom you're going to get is going to be demonic. It's going to be earthly, it's going to be sensual, it's going to be demonic.

And if you get 400 guys like Ahab surrounded himself around 400 guys who had some kind of prophecy and some kind of wisdom, you're going to get demonic wisdom from 400 guys. But there might be one voice where you're going to get the voice from God. And if you think of it in those terms, that it's hard to find godly wisdom and godly counsel.

But if you set your heart to know his voice and to know his word, then even if the counsel isn't what you want to hear, you can receive it. Because you're humble. But if you're not humble, you can't receive the counsel.

Doesn't matter who it comes from. Ahab, he came and listened to Micaiah because Jehoshaphat, somehow in his spirit, he felt that the wisdom these 400 guys were giving wasn't from God. Isn't there any more prophets? Well, we heard from 400 guys.

Isn't there any more prophets? Well, there's one more, Micaiah, but I hate him. You see, just like Joseph's brothers hated Joseph, Ahab hated Micaiah. And then Micaiah was, a lying spirit was put into his mouth and he said the exact same things that the 400 false prophets said.

And Ahab knew it in his spirit because he was telling him what he wanted to hear. And he said, don't lie. He said, tell me the truth.

And then, you know, he told him the truth. And then he hated him even more and he put him in a pit or in a dungeon. You know, and his brothers, they hated Joseph.

And when they saw him coming this one time to check on the brothers, they put him in a pit. You know, I was reading with Fonzo, we were reading Isaiah 40 not too long ago, or maybe it was Psalm 40, how he lifted me up out of a horrible pit, out of the mirey clay, and he placed me on a rock. That's the story of Joseph.

I know it was a Psalm of David, but that's the story of Joseph. Excuse me a second. That's the story of Joseph.

He found himself in a pit. And it doesn't talk at all about how he felt or what was happening in his life during those years. All it shows the sufferings that he endured.

You know, his brother Reuben was going to rescue him from the pit because the brothers really wanted to kill him. And then when he came back, he must have gone somewhere. And when he came back, his brother wasn't there because Judah had the idea.

He thought, well, we don't want to kill him. Let's sell him. Make a couple bucks out of it.

We get rid of the guy. Take out the competition, just like Cain got rid of his brother Abel. You take out the competition and then you're top dog.

This is not the God's way. This is the way of the flesh. You know, we get bitter and angry at the people who do better than us.

Rather than if we do well, God will accept us. Rather than look in the mirror and say, you know what, Lord, I see my brother's doing well and you're blessing him. Rather being bitter and angry and jealous, you say, you know what, Lord, help me.

You're showing me this is in my heart. Repent of it, Lord, and help me to do better. Change my nature.

Make me more like you. And so Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites. Maybe, what did they call them, the Midianites or the Ishmaelites.

And he was taken to Egypt where he was sold into slavery. Here's a guy who was favored by his dad, who had a purpose and a call of God in his life. The guy finds himself now with chains walking down the road behind some camels and sold to some guy.

But God had a purpose in it all. And when he was sold to Potiphar, who was one of the captains of the Pharaoh, that God began to bless Potiphar's house because Joseph was a righteous man. That tells me that in all of his sufferings he didn't sin.

You know, we can go through many sufferings and in our sufferings we can sin. And there's no reward or benefit in just suffering alone. But if after we suffer, as Brother David shared, he will strengthen us.

He'll settle and perfect us and establish us. He's going to establish our character. He's going to establish our nature.

He's going to establish us that, you know, someone asked me before I came down, how are you doing? You know, and I said, up and down. But through the God of the mountain, he's still the God in the valley. And the God of the good times is still God in the bad times.

To be steadfast and immovable, whether we're going through good seasons or we're going through really terrible difficult times, maybe of sickness or pain, to remain steadfast. You know, it says in all this Job did not sin with his tongue. You know, we have to be careful that when God takes us through things that we remain steadfast.

So Potiphar's house is prospering. And Potiphar puts him in charge of everything. There's a verse that says, if we become faithful with what is another man's possessions, as a servant, God will give us our own possessions.

But if we're not faithful to someone else's house and his goods, we don't prosper him, then who will give us our own things to look after? You know, when we're growing up as kids, I look to my kids and I see how do they handle my tools? How do they handle my car when I let them use my car? How do they handle stuff when I buy them something or I give them opportunity? How do they handle it? Are they reckless with it? Do they leave their headphones over by the batting cage for four days and let them rot? Or what happens when we when we bless them and give them gifts? Well, they don't value them because they never work for them. But you know what, if we learn to value other people's possessions, and when we work, we work us unto the Lord as though it was our own business, then you know what, God will reward you because the one who sees in secret, as brother shared, will reward you. You know, if we're not faithful in the church, you say, well, I don't, you know, I never get an opportunity to preach, or I don't get the opportunity to lead worship, or you know, I don't have a, you know, what do I get out of it, you know? And you know what, it's not, if you can just come under whatever place God has given you, and you do it with a good attitude and a good heart, God will elevate you to a position where he trusts you with his prized possessions, people.

Nothing more precious to God than people. If we're not faithful with the unrighteous mammon and natural things, then how will he trust us with his children? Potiphar's house is blessed, Potiphar's house is prospering, and the guy trusts Joseph so much. You know, trust is earned.

I said that to my son not too many long months ago. I says, when we break trust, then our relationship is really undermined. Trust is earned.

Trust doesn't come back after a week, or a day, or a month. When there's mistrust in a relationship, it takes a while to build trust again. And you know what, the Potiphar come to a place where he trusted Joseph with everything that he had, because Joseph feared God.

It became evident to him that God was with him. Wherever you go, is it evident to everyone you meet, God is with you? Not because of what you have, but you carry the presence of God with you. Your life is full of grace and truth, not just full of truth, you're full of grace and truth.

Mercy and truth, when you're around, they kiss. There's peace there. In your presence is peace, because Jesus is with you.

You know, God allowed another trial to come, another big test. And Potiphar's wife grabbed him by the coat and made up lies about him. And the Potiphar threw Joseph in the prison.

And he was there for a long time, many years he was there. But as soon as he got there, what happened there? God gave Joseph favor with the prison guard, with the head of the chief of the prison. And he put everything that was in that place under Joseph's control.

You know, sometimes we say, well, you know what, I won't humble myself, or I won't do this, or I won't do that. You know what, you'll find yourself in a prison. That's where Joseph was.

He found himself in a prison, until certain amount of time passed, and he overcame there. So he went from slave into Potiphar's house, and then he had to go yet lower. He had to be humbled yet even lower, even though he never sinned and was faithful in everything he did.

Because God was preparing him for greatness. To be prepared for the greatness, to do the will of God, you have to allow yourself to be broken and to become low. And not chafing against the pricks, not kicking against God's goads, not fighting against Christ.

Once Saul of Tarsus found himself fighting against God, fighting against Christ, the one he thought he was serving. But he did not know God. He had to relearn all those scriptures he memorized.

Doesn't matter how much your head is packed full of scriptures. Paul come to say something, I don't profess to know anything but Jesus Christ and him crucified. And he counts all things lost, everything is done, all things is rubbish, even all of the great things that he accomplished as a Pharisee, for the excellence of knowing Jesus.

And we sing that song, knowing you Jesus, knowing you there is no greater thing. You're my all, you're my rest, you're my righteousness. Is Jesus your all? Can you find rest, whether you're on the mountain or whether you're in the valley? And we get tested.

You know Joseph got tested. There was another couple of brothers who came in there who had dreams and Joseph understood dreams, even his brothers understood dreams. They said are we gonna bow down to you? Are we gonna be your servants? That's not gonna happen.

We're gonna take matters into our own hands to make sure it doesn't happen. And here these, the butler and the baker come in, they have dreams. Joseph understands completely what's going on.

He has wisdom to interpret dreams. But another test. Because God gave him the wisdom, he tried to make it happen.

He said hey this is your dream and he did all these things and it was exactly true the way that God had revealed it to him. He said now when you go to the Pharaoh, I need to get out of here. Tell him about me.

Tell him about me. Do what you have to do to get me out of here. And he put his trust in the butler, in the wine cup bearer.

Put his trust in man to get him out of his situation. And the guy had to spend another how long going around the mountain there. There's a scripture in Jeremiah 17 that says, cursed is the man who puts his trust in man and makes flesh his strength.

If you are gonna look to some man, some Pope and some King who's gonna lift you up out of your prison, then you're gonna do another bit and another tour like Joseph. Joseph was godly. He feared God.

He loved God. But he had yet to learn his ways. He had to fully trust in the Lord with all his heart and not lean on his own understanding.

And in all of our ways we're to acknowledge him and he's gonna direct our paths. In the process of time Pharaoh had a dream. And then the butler remembered Joseph.

And he called him and he interpreted the dream. And God granted him favor and he took him from prison and made him second command in Egypt. Is anything too difficult for the Lord? And through that man and through the cocoon of his dealings he came forth a and God had shaped his character to become Prince of Egypt.

And not only to feed a nation but to feed his family and to sustain his people. And that which had hatred and resentment and bitterness and division written all over it and seemed irreparable. Here the brothers come crawling not recognizing Joseph.

Here they come to their brother. I'm gonna read something. Something from the Psalms.

Psalm 41. We should not look down on people. Because you know what? It doesn't matter.

God takes us all through difficult things. And we can judge by what we see and by what we hear. You know and we can be tough on people and we can give all kinds of advice like Job's friends.

And we can be wrong. But many times maybe we are right. But it's best to let the Lord do his his dealings with people.

Because if he's dealing with people he's not done with them. He has a purpose not to leave them in the dust but to lift them up out of the ash heap and to seat them with princes like he did with Joseph. It's good to remember where we came from.

I remember when I was working at the farm and I had come to a decision where I was going to marry Audrey. And I knew that I couldn't be sitting in school if I wanted to get married. So I had to take a job.

And the first job I took was working on the farm for the family for six dollars an hour. Working in the chicken barns. Scraping manure and shoveling and started walking through.

And eventually they put me into running the whole place for eight dollars an hour. We could barely feed my family but I had to do what I had to do. And eventually the Lord lifted me from that position and brought me to a place where I had something of my own.

And eventually the Lord brought me to a place where he entrusted me with his people to oversee them and to shepherd them. And I want to be faithful with that. But we went through times where we didn't have much.

And whether you have much or whether you have little it should not change your attitude towards people. If we act one way in front of prominent people and we behave a different way around poor people or drug addicts or alcoholics, God is not well pleased with us. We need to be consistent.

It says in Psalm 41, blessed is he who considers the poor. The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. I don't know about you but every week I face trouble.

And my hope is that because I have sought to help the poor, not just financially poor, but those who are struggling in their faith, to come alongside them and to help them along the journey, that the Lord will help me when I am in trouble. It is like gravity. If you are faithful with little God will entrust you with more.

Blessed is he who considers the poor. The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive.

He will be blessed on the earth. You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. Now sometimes we see people as our enemies.

But you know what? The devil is our enemy and our flesh is our enemy. And the devil isn't working with the spirit. The spirit cannot be tempted.

It's the flesh that's tempted. You know it's the weakness and the frailty of our flesh that is tempted. Not necessarily the sin nature.

Our sin nature is to reckon ourselves dead. But there's a weakness in there. And our enemy is the weakness of our flesh.

And so we need not to heed the voice of our flesh. But to heed the voice of the spirit. The spirit gives life and the flesh profits nothing.

And the enemy is working to entice the flesh. And so I think of this verse that says, let God arise and our enemies be scattered. So when we're tempted and tested and all kinds of thoughts are going on.

We need to call on the name of Jesus. So that those thoughts become scattered before we act foolishly on thoughts that are not from the Holy Spirit. The Lord will strengthen him, verse 3, on his sickbed.

Sustain him in his illness. I don't know about you, but I've gone through some seasons in my life where I've been sick. Really sick.

And the Lord allows us at times to go through sickness and to experience things. High blood pressure maybe from stress or some other things because we've taken a bad diet or done harm to our bodies through substance abuse, some of us. But you know, the Lord will strengthen us on our sickbed if we've remembered the poor.

Not just those who are financially poor, those who are spiritually poor. You might be financially poor, but you might be rich in faith. I'm not talking about that.

I'm saying those who are poor and needy, we fast for them. Isaiah 58 talks about this is the fast that I have chosen, to share your bread with the hungry. Not just to give someone some mac and cheese and some ham sandwich or something to hand it out, but to share a word of encouragement with the brother who is very low and needy.

Jesus said that he wanted his servants to give food at the proper time. This is the food that the Lord wants us to share. To share a word in season and out of season.

To be ready. Paul gives the exhortation to Timothy, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. That means whether you're on the mountain and you're in season and you're bearing the good fruit, preach the word.

Or if you're out of season and it seems as though there's nothing really to give thanks or praise to God about, you better have some fruit in your life to share with him who is hungry. The Lord will strengthen him. Verse 4, I said Lord be merciful to me, heal my soul for I have sinned against you.

How many times the Lord has to take us into the ocean of his dealings to see that there's still more pride there. To see that there's still some bitterness there, some anger there, some hostility there, some resentment there, some lust there. Something's there.

So it's necessary for us to continue to have a heart to seek repentance. That we might become like Christ. When we see it, Lord Jesus help me, forgive me and help me.

I can't change myself, but I can humble myself. And I come and I bow low before you, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Be pleased to help me.

I've remembered the poor, now I want you to remember me. You know the one brother came humbly while he was hanging on that cross and said remember me in your kingdom. He had to humble himself after he had earlier mocked the Lord.

It's not too late, if you've spoken high-minded things and mocked the Lord, to humble yourself and say Lord forgive me, remember me. You're just and I am vile. You're a holy man, you don't deserve these things.

I deserve them. That's repentance my friend. You don't have to say some special words or say a mantra.

It's with the heart one believes unto righteousness. It's with the heart one repents. It's with the mouth confession is made, but the real deal is with the heart.

One believes unto righteousness. He said my enemy speak evil of me. When will he die and his name perish.

Some of us we want to get justice. We want to get justice for ourselves. You know because we look at the face, oh it's that guy that I work with that always mocks me.

You know what the Lord put the guy there to mock you. Just like when Shimei was mocking David when he had his tail between his legs leaving Jerusalem because he had sinned. And the guy was mocking and calling down insults and laughing at David.

And I think it's Joab he said should I go over there and just kill the guy. And he said no no. He said the Lord allowed the guy to shame me for now.

Allow it. But you know what somehow in our hearts we want justice for ourselves. And you know what you can take up a fast from Isaiah 58.

You can do righteously and take up a fast for the sake of justice. But that's not the fast that pleases the Lord. To share your bread with the hungry.

To bring into your house those who are needy. To share the good news with them. To strengthen them encourage them.

You say I've done that. I've shared it with nine guys. I brought them into my house and not one of them has come back.

But you know what maybe number ten will. Maybe number ten will come back and give glory to God. Just because you become discouraged and people have done you wrong and you've had the bad end of the stick.

Always the short end and always seemed like you were cheated. Don't quit being generous. Don't quit offering your time to others.

Don't stop and think about the cause of others rather than our own interests. Remember the Lord. He is generous and he lends.

And he is good even to the evil people. And to the unthankful and greedy and stingy and connivers and the backbiters alike. He allows the rain to fall on their land.

But in one day they are no more. And you look for their place you won't find them. But the righteous.

The ones who love Jesus with the whole heart. The ones who have a desire to walk as Jesus walked. The ones who have a heart to please God.

The ones who humble themselves and pray and seek his face and turn from ways when God reveals some prides in them. That's when God bends his ear to hear from heaven, pardons sin and heals the land. Restores the life.

Lifts up the beggar from the ash heap and raises up Joseph from the prison to the prince ship. You know I say it this way. Brother Mark from Hadearise.

He uses this verse and he came to come up with the name for the ministry. Let God arise and his enemies be scattered. You know we can look at people and then what we really realize we're fighting with our flesh.

We're fighting ourselves. We're fighting my own will. Lord destroy the flesh once and for all.

Help me to be done with self once and for all. Fight the fight for me because I can't gain the victory of my own strength. Have thine own way.

Lord Jesus you're the potter. I'm just clay. So Lord I'm done fighting.

Mold me and shape me after thy will. And while I'm waiting, I don't want to make it happen. While I'm waiting, help me to remain healed in my spirit and still.

The Lord's ways are not our ways. They're higher. We don't want to look to the mountains from where comes our help.

We want to look to the Lord. We don't look to this Pope or to that king or to this guy or to that lady or to this to try to make it happen in life or to find a partner in life or you know to find something where people will esteem us. That which is highly esteemed among men, God sees it as an abomination.

May we learn of him and may we keep our peace. It says he himself will keep us in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him because we what? We trust in him. We need to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding, our reason.

Some guys go to school for years and years and smart guys. They don't have any wisdom. You know when all the wise men stood before the Pharaoh to interpret the dream, they were cooking up some stupid stuff and the Pharaoh said that's not it.

The Pharaoh didn't even tell him the dream because he knew these guys they just kind of make stuff up and they sell it to me and you know I'm stupid enough to buy it. I'm not even gonna tell him the dream. Those guys have to hear from God.

If they hear from God, God will tell them the dream. You know what? The demons didn't know the dream but God knew the dream and he revealed exactly every detail. Not only the dream but the interpretation to Joseph.

He put the guy in charge. You know and then he had opportunity to get even with his brothers. He had opportunity to really punish them, make them pay for what they did to him and he got tested.

Eventually he cried. He said you know what? You guys are my brothers and what you guys did to me, you know what? God's been dealing with me in this area of forgiveness. I forgive you guys.

I release you guys for what you did because you know I see now the big picture that what the devil meant for evil, God used it for good and I see you guys bowing down and afraid of me now and I see how God's hand in my life led me. Just like he led David from the sheep from following the lambs to being king over Israel. God has led me to go into a pit and go into the prison and I've seen his power but he never elevated me and now he's made me prince of Egypt to save and to be a blessing to my brothers.

Don't despise the day of God's dealings, the cocoon of his dealings. You find yourself in a cocoon as a worm like Jacob. He called Jacob a worm.

Jacob didn't stay a worm. Jacob became Israel. He was transformed, metamorphosized like from a caterpillar into a butterfly.

When he heard that his son Joseph was alive, his spirit soared. But it had to get worse before it got better because Joseph grabbed hold of Benjamin and he made Benjamin stay with him. And when Jacob heard this, I mean the guy was just undone.

He'd lost everything. The two sons from the woman that he loved but he went from the depths of Sheol so to speak to worshiping and shouting a hallelujah unto the Lord. And you know what? He was able to see his children's children and to bless him and put his hands on them at the end of his life.

It was worth it all. It was worth it all. May the Lord help us to continue the journey.

The journey is not easy. It is not for the faint of heart. Many turn back on the way because it's not working out for them.

But I would say seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near. The word says let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord for he is gracious.

And maybe you sinned and harsh stuff has happened to you. But who knows he may leave a blessing behind. He is merciful and he's compassionate.

He's slow to anger and he's rich in love. And he's good to all. To all of his creation.

And if we repent, as far as the East is from the West, that's how far he'll remove our transgressions from us. But brother, if you get tested and you hold your brothers a grudge against them, you hold your family a grudge against them, people who've done you wrong, brother, you don't pass that test. He'll go into that deepest sea where some man put a sign no fishing.

He'll knock that sign over because he killed 18. Go study it. And it says the day that a righteous man, he doesn't forgive his brother.

And he goes and he does unrighteous things. And he holds his brother by the throat and he holds him to account for the things that he did to him. It says none of those righteous things that he has done will be remembered.

He reinstates the debt and he puts that man into prison till he should pay every penny. And not only his man, his wife will go in prison, his children will go in prison until every penny is paid back. And you know what, my brothers, it's impossible with man.

So my exhortation to you as I close this message is forgive everyone their trespasses against you as he has forgiven his trespasses, our trespasses against him. And remember, we have sinned some against people. But whenever we're repenting, our repentance is toward God, it's vertical.

Against thee and thee only, David said, have I sinned and done evil in thy sight. We've done a lot of things. We've walked in pride.

We've done our own thing. We've been rebellious. But now we entreat his favor and we say, Lord, have mercy on us.

We are but men. We are like our brother Jacob was. We are worms, Lord.

Make us into your inheritance, Israel. Not all Israel is Israel, my friends. Israel had many sons, but it's in Isaac your seed shall be blessed.

Not in Ishmael, not in through the flesh, not in what you can do to make it happen. But in what God can do a miracle, what he can do. It's not how much money you have in your pocket or what kind of car you drive or how big your house is.

It's God in your life. It's God's favor resting upon you. Joseph had favor though he had nothing.

Yet in the end of his life, he wasn't impressed with honor. He was fulfilling the ministry that God had for him. And he did it with a humble heart.

Because he was humble, God could exalt him. May the Lord help us to humble ourselves so he can exalt us.