Amen. Amen. Thank you, Taylor. Good morning. Good morning. We're going to go ahead and dismiss our children now, K-5 through 5th grade. You guys will follow Mr. Taylor.

I think the Friday night fellowship is actually 4.30 to 6, not 6.30 this Friday. So it's 4.30 to 6. They usually wrap up at 5.30 serving and then they're out the door by 6, cleaned up and out the door by 6.

So if you can help with either food or volunteering this Friday, this is our church. And so I'm trying to stay awake for you guys this morning to concentrate on what the Lord has put on my heart to share with you this morning.

So that was last night's adventure with our child. With my daughter, Caroline. Can I say her name? Is that okay? Yeah. Yeah. Just kidding.

Anyway, with Caroline, I had a great event this past week. I get home and some days I'll try to take off a little bit early and I'll pick her up from school. We try to have a play day.

Anyway, we were in her room. How many of you are fathers in here that have daughters?

So if you are a good father of a daughter, you have to play dolls. There are lots of times when you don't get to spit and throw things and all that good stuff with all the boys.

You have to play dollies, okay? Because dollies are important, okay? And you have to sometimes be Elsa or you have to be Anna, all that.

Anyway, so I'm in Caroline's room and I'm playing dollies with her. And so the job, the assignment was, Daddy, you sleep with the dollies here and you take a nap.

You take a nap with the dollies. So I'm laying there in her room on the floor taking a nap with the dollies, pretending like I'm sleeping.

And she's over there. I'll go get a bottle for them, Daddy, okay?

So I'm laying there. And all of a sudden, I thought her said, I have a light. That's what I thought I heard her say.

But then all of a sudden, I felt something, something all of a sudden stopped my hearing in my right ear as I was laying on my left side on the ground.

And all of a sudden, I couldn't hear. And everything was muffled.

And so I went to put my finger in to see what was in there. And whatever was in there, I shoved about three inches even further.

So I immediately jump up and I was like, what have you put in my ear? And she's like, it's slime, Daddy.

And so she found a thing of slime and she decided she's going to shove it in my ear.

I was unsuspectingly lying there playing dollies. I mean, I have given myself up for dollies and this is the treatment I get.

So I had to get an emergency shower and I'm digging in my ear forever. I'm like, oh my goodness, I didn't think it was going to come out.

And she's standing outside the shower. Are you okay, Daddy? I'm like, yes, give me 10 minutes, please.

So my week has been a roller coaster. So with that being said, if you are new with us this morning,

we are in a journey through the book of Exodus and we finally land in chapter 40 of the book of Exodus.

We have been going through Exodus. Oh, wow. I'm going to read from Exodus today.

I'm praying about that because at 450 this morning, God led me. So we're in Genesis.

Let's pray. Wow. Father, we ask you, Lord God, to just let your word be a light into our feet and a lamp into our path.

We ask you, Lord, to just enlighten us and give us application through the life of Joseph that we can hold on to today that would be invaluable for us.

For you are a good God, just as we have sung about, Lord. You are faithful to your word.

You are faithful to your promises. And we love you, Jesus. Amen.

Yes, we are in Genesis. Thank you, Bobby. I was like, what am I doing?

But I believe I'm led to read something in Exodus later. I don't know. We'll see how that goes.

But we found ourselves in Genesis chapter 40. And today's message is entitled, Remember Me. Remember Me.

As we get into Joseph. And so in 1939, there was a groundbreaking movie that came out.

It's called The Wizard of Oz. Now, I remember I was a little bitty guy when that first movie first came out.

That's a creepy movie. OK, when you're a kid, the monkeys are creepy. I'm sorry.

It's the whole thing is just creepy. OK, but I remember it opens up and and Judy Garland, who's playing Dorothy.

She's singing the song. Somewhere.

There was no Emerald City and any of that. There was in the movie. There was no Tin Man who needed a heart. There was no Scarecrow that needed brains. There was no talking lion that needed a heart or any of that. It was or needed courage, I should say. But it was a it was a great movie, but it was just a tale. But we go to a story today in the Bible. That's not a tale. An account in Joseph's life. That's that. That's a true account.

It's a account of a young man who had dreams and his his dreams really did come true. And we saw a while back that he first had a dream where he had 11 sheaves of wheat and they all bowed down to his sheave, the wheat, signifying his brothers, all bowing, all bowing down to him.

And his mistake was not getting the dream because we know that that dream was from God. The mistake was in his naivety.

He goes and he tells his brothers about the dream and he thinks that his brother's going to be excited. They're not excited. You know, what what was this dream supposed to mean?

We're not so happy about this. Besides that, you get that fancy coat that dad gave you. You're already the favorite one. We don't like this dream.

And then he has another dream and he told his brothers and he told his mom and dad that you had a dream.

And and and my dream was that the sun and the moon and the 11 stars are going to bow down to my star.

And at that point, his dad gets upset and he says, what kind of dream is that? Do you think that your mother and I got to bow down to you?

Well, his dream really did come true, but not in the way that he anticipated it.

I mean, he was he was he was sold as a slave to Midianite slave traders.

We saw that who bring him down to Egypt and he goes to Potiphar's house.

But God was with him. He sent off to Potiphar's house, but God was with him and God and helps to give him great status in Potiphar's house.

And he earns this high position. And but it doesn't take long.

He's in there and the scripture is very candid, candid with us because it tells us that Joseph was a very handsome man.

And so he catches the eye of Potiphar's wife and she has this longing for him.

She tries to to seduce him into sexual relations.

He denies her and then she accuses him of rape.

And now he's placed into prison.

And that's where we that's where we left Joseph last week.

That's where we find him today. And what's what's interesting, Joseph, Joseph had an interesting life,

but his life always seemed to be two steps forward and three steps backwards.

You ever think about that? That's Joseph.

So one day he's the favorite son and then the next day he's sold off into slavery, into Egypt.

OK, one day he's he's high in the hog in Potiphar's house, although he's a slave.

He's running the whole shebang. He's running the whole shebang.

He's over everything in Potiphar's house except for two things.

Don't touch the food that I eat and don't touch my woman.

OK, those are the only two rules.

OK, but he's over everything.

And next thing you know, he's thrown into prison under false accusations.

Two steps forward, three steps backwards.

But God is working something very deep into this young man's life and he's shaping this young man through this.

And it's it's amazing.

The amazing thing about Joseph is he is that he seems to be aware that God is doing something,

though he doesn't completely know what it is.

But, you know, when we read about this, we never read where Joseph complained.

You don't read it.

I mean, maybe it went on, but I don't know.

But we never read in the scriptures.

Now, while he was suffering, he was isolated.

He was isolated.

By that, I mean, there were no believers around him to encourage him.

He didn't have any of his family or any of his friends around him.

And he didn't have any of the scriptures that he could read to encourage him.

There wasn't any at that point in time.

He didn't have any of that.

OK, but there.

But he did have a bunch of pagans who were watching him.

They were watching him.

Dr. F.B. Meyer once said that perhaps one of the reasons God calls his child or children to suffer

is because onlookers in viewing the life of a believer see the reality of his or her faith

when they suffer and they're drawn to that kind of steadfast endurer of trials.

You know, I'll tell you, it makes an impact when an unbeliever watches a Christian suffer

and give the glory to God and say, I see that God has a plan.

I might not see it clearly.

I might.

In the Potiphar's house, he's in prison. Just when he gets a dream from heaven, okay, all of a sudden he's sold as a slave. And it made me think, you know, when our lives have those sudden reversals, how do we handle them? How do we, how do we go about our business in that? How do we, you know, when things are going good, you know, we love it, okay, in our lives, you know, and good things happen. We have those sudden reversals where good things happen. Oh, we love you, Lord. We love you. We trust you, Lord.

I trust you, you know, because it's in your favor. It's in your favor. That sudden reversal worked out in your favor. And you see the blessings coming and you feel it and you're like, this is awesome. But what about the sudden reversal that turns into a setback?

How do we deal with it then? How do we handle it then? You know, what do you say to God when that marriage, that marriage that seems like that all of a sudden we're, we're, we're, we're, it's being restored and we're getting back to where, where we wanted it.

And all of a sudden there's a setback, so to speak. And there's a, there's a reversal, so to speak in that, in that whole thing. Just when, just when you think that you're conquering that addiction, all of a sudden you fail and you falter.

And, and, and, and when that cancer's been in remission all those years and all of a sudden you get that report that the cancer is back.

When that child of yours, that child of yours has started to grow spiritually and you see signs of hope and then all of a sudden they go off the deep end.

How do we handle those sudden reversals then? What do we say to God then?

Well, we see that, we see how Joseph handles these things. And before we jump into verse one, there's a key scripture that sort of gives away or tells us, um, what accounts for Joseph's amazing behavior.

And you'll notice back in chapter 39 and verse 21, it says, but the Lord was with Joseph, but the Lord was with Joseph.

And you, you may want to underline that in your Bible or highlight it or whatever you want to do.

If you have, if you're less spiritual and you only look at the Bible on your phone, you don't really have a Bible, then you may want to make, make a mark on there.

Okay. But I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Don't throw your phones at me. I'm just kidding. Okay.

But the Lord was with Joseph. Okay. So let's back things up and look at chapter 39 where we ended on verse 23.

The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him and whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

Sometime after this, the cup bearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their Lord, the king of Egypt.

And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the cup bearer and the chief baker.

And he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was confined.

And we talked last week about prison and our understanding of prison and what really prison in this day and age is and what it really was.

What we see it and what it is here is different.

But it says that he's in the house of the captain.

Who's the captain of the guard?

It's Potiphar.

So Potiphar has a, it's like a holding cell that's attached to his house, basically is what it is.

Okay.

And that's where Joseph is taken.

That's where the cup bearer and the baker are taken in there.

This holding cell.

So here's Joseph.

He's in this holding cell.

He has to look at the very house that he used to have rule over.

He's got to look at that every day.

I used to have favor in this.

Now I'm over here under false accusations.

What a stark reminder every day, day after day.

But the word baker, I mean, we get that.

We get what that means.

He bakes bread and he makes food for the king and all this stuff for the pharaoh.

But the cup bearer, he was kind of like the ancient equivalent to the secret service agent.

Okay.

He's making sure that everything is secure, whatever it is that before it comes into the presence of the king.

Okay.

Whether it was food or drink, you had to taste it first to make sure it wasn't poisoned.

How would you like that job?

You know.

Nobody really likes me these days, so I want you to be my cup bearer.

Okay.

Everybody's really mad at me, so you're going to do this.

Okay.

Nehemiah had that position in the Persian court with Artaxerxes.

Okay.

But something happened in this court where we don't know exactly what it was, but Pharaoh is upset.

Something bothered him.

And these guys are thrown in jail.

But it's not by accident.

It's by appointment.

It's by appointment.

We're going to see this.

Verse 4.

The captain of the guard appoints.

So Potiphar puts Joseph in charge.

And who is going to go with the bear.

He's.

He's.

He's.

He's.

This guy, I mean, there's no mundane task for him. Okay? He doesn't say, well, you know, that's not my job description. You know? He's like, I'm your huckleberry. Okay? You know, a slave? I'll be the best slave you've ever seen. We talked about that in our book study this morning. Okay? You know, I'm a prisoner? Guess what? I'm going to be the best prisoner you've ever seen. Wherever I am, wherever I'm planted, I'm going to be the best at that. Because God was with him.

God was with him. Okay? And in prison, the same thing. He's in charge. And these guys are under his custody. And what does he do? He serves them. Again, not going to go way back again. But we talked earlier about how there's a foreshadowing of the characteristic of Jesus Christ in the life of Joseph. For serving those around him. Serving them. Even when you are falsely accused, still serving those around. Verse 5.

And one night, they both dreamed. The cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in prison. Each his own dream. And each dream with its own interpretation.

In ancient times, like in Babylon and Egypt especially, dreams were a huge deal. Okay?

And so they played a big significant role in their theology and cosmogology. All that stuff.

And so they believed that the gods, the pantheons of gods that they had, communicated to people through dreams.

And they had a dream one night. But it wasn't one of the many gods communicating with them.

It was God. Singular. It was Joseph's God who was communicating to them.

Verse 6.

When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled.

So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house,

Why are your faces downcast today?

You know, before we get reading more, I just want to say I'm really amazed that Joseph even notices that they're sad.

You know, that he takes the time.

There's an interesting thing about your own personal suffering.

When you're suffering, whatever hardship it might be, it tends to be very self-focused.

When you're going through hard stuff.

When you're going through some stuff.

And it tends to make a person consumed with whatever it is that they're struggling with or dealing with.

Where you don't really care about much else or anyone else, to be honest with you.

When you're going through a hard struggle.

And so the fact that Joseph noticed it.

And second of all, the fact that he asked them about it.

He didn't say, hey, what's up?

He said he noticed.

And he politely says to him, why are you guys so sad?

Why are you guys so sad today?

And I think that there's a principle here.

And I don't want to just skip over this.

I think that one of the keys to enduring your own hardships, okay, is to push the pause button on your hardship for a time.

And go find someone else who has a tougher situation than you do.

And serve them in that situation.

And serve them.

You're deliberately taking the focus off of your own needs momentarily to minister to someone else's needs who are far greater than your needs.

And it's amazing.

The results tend to lift your spirits.

The results tend to give you a fresh perspective in your own suffering when you do those kinds of things.

Years and years ago, I had a very, very good friend who was a worship leader.

And he was going through some tough times.

He was battling depression.

He had a lot of some things going on.

He confided in me that he was going through all these struggles and this, that, and the other.

He didn't see God's hand.

He didn't do this, that, and the other.

And these were real things for him.

But he comes to me and he tells me this.

And I invited him.

I said, listen, why don't you come with me and some of my students tomorrow night?

God gave me a ministry for three and a half years.

And on Monday nights, I took a handful of high school kids and we went to the Scottish Rite Hospital.

In Atlanta, Georgia.

And we went to the third floor.

And on the third floor unit, these children up there were either car accident victims,

had been hit by cars, or in some sort of motor vehicle.

And they were in a car accident.

Would you be open to that? She'd set it up ahead of time. There are five families, blah, blah, blah. And we would go in, I would bring my guitar, we would do a worship song, we would have a word with the family, we would lay hands on those children, and we would pray for those children. There was some amazing spiritual warfare that went on in that three and a half years. We saw God do some amazing things in those rooms, but in our hearts too. But I invited Him to come with us and bring His guitar that Monday.

And He came with us that Monday, and He came and He followed us around, He played music and this, that, and the other. I didn't say a word to Him, but the next day we had coffee. And He said, you know what? I feel kind of cured a little bit.

He said, you know, we went in there last night and we sang songs to kids that may not ever wake up again.

They had halos screwed into their heads, some of them, some of them couldn't hardly communicate except for raising their fingers.

Twelve years old, their life is over as you know it.

All these things, and it gave me, my problems haven't gone away, but I have a fresh perspective on some things right now, and I needed not to be so self-focused.

He did say, I'm kind of cured, because his problems were real for him, and they were still there.

They were still there.

But I'm telling you, when we get outside of ourselves, and we're willing to serve other people, there's an awakening that happens within us.

There's a quickening that God creates within us.

This is what's happening, so here's Joseph, he's in prison, not supposed to be there, falsely accused, all these things, and he notices the sadness of other people.

How can I help you guys?

That wouldn't be me, I'll admit it openly and candidly to you guys.

I'd be peering out the window, maybe to Potiphar's wife, give me one more chance.

I'm kidding.

Alright, just see if you're awake.

Verse 8.

They said to him, we've had dreams, and there's no one to interpret them, and Joseph said to them, do not interpretations belong to God, please tell them to me.

Seriously, how many people greet each other with please in the roundhouse?

Please tell them to me.

This is a different man.

This is a man of integrity.

Yes, amen.

Verse 9.

So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, saying to him, in my dream, there was a vine before me.

Now, let me just say this.

We would not have faulted Joseph.

We would have no fault with Joseph if he were to say right here, stop.

Stop right there.

Listen, don't tell me about your dream.

I don't want to hear about your dream.

Dreams got me in trouble in the first place.

This whole dream thing, I don't subscribe to dreams, okay?

None of that.

But rather, this statement is an affirmation of faith, as if to say, tell me, because I do believe in dreams.

I've had my own dreams, and although they haven't come true, I believe God, and I believe that they will come true in his own way, in his own time, and he has a plan, so tell them to me.

It's a strong affirmation of his faith that God really has spoken to him, and though he has not seen the fruition of it in all of these years, he still trusts in the Lord.

This is important.

So he says, you know, he says, tell me.

And so the guy starts to tell him about his dream, verse 10.

And on the vine, there were three branches, and as soon as it budded, a blossom shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes.

Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.

Then Joseph said to him, this is its interpretation, three branches are three days.

In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly when you were his cupbearer.

So this dream has a positive interpretation.

It's a good dream, right?

And so it's a dream of being restored back to his previous place, and he says he's going to lift up your head.

When you come into the presence of a king, you always come down in a humble manner.

It's like, like a little kid, like a little kid, you're, my dad used to always tell me, you better pick that lip up before I step on it, you know? You're, you're, you got, you're, you're all down, you're downcast.

And, and the Lord comes, and he lifts up your head. And when the Lord lifts up your head, you see things a little more clearly.

When the Lord is the lifter of your head, you see things just a little bit more clearly. And so, um, he says you're going to find favor, and you're going to get restored back to your former position.

Verse 14, only remember me. Remember me when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so to get me out of this house.

Joseph saw this not only as a chance, uh, to, to serve the prisoners, but this was his get out of jail free card.

Finally, there's a ray of hope in here. He thought, great, you know, I know this is going to happen, and when it happens, you know, this guy's going to put a good word in for me to Pharaoh, and I might get out of here.

So please, remember me. Remember me. Put a good word in for me when you're, when you're back in Pharaoh's house.

Verse 15, for I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into this pit.

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, oh, I had a dream too.

There were three cakes, uh, cake baskets on my head, okay, the, the, the, um, the baker didn't speak up right away.

He's probably wondering, I don't know if I should share anything, but there's a favorable outcome, and he thinks, great, there's going to be a good outcome for me too.

But, and, and, uh, but this dream turns out to be a nightmare for, uh, for, uh, the baker.

It's a, it's a nightmare when he hears the interpretation.

Verse 17, and in the utter, uh, uppermost baskets, there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating out of it, uh, of baskets on my head.

And Joseph answered and said, this is, this is his interpretation, the three baskets are three days, and three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you.

Not for you, lift up your head from you.

And hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat the flesh from you.

Wow, see, it's a nightmare.

It is the nightmare on Pyramid Street.

How's that?

Yeah, that, that's what it is.

And Pharaoh Kruger is, got the, got the dream in there, so.

But, you know, you notice the dreams in here.

The first dream, he sees, he sees the Pharaoh's cup is in his hands, and Pharaoh is drinking out of the cup.

And the second dream, though the basket is for Pharaoh, the birds are eating out of the basket.

And let me just throw this out to you, and keep this in mind.

In prophetic scripture, or in, uh, um, parabolic scripture, parables.

Parables, okay, we're doing, we've been doing parables on Wednesday nights.

You know, uh, birds are often a symbol that signify evil and not good, okay, in, in the light of these scriptures.

You know, just a couple of, for instances, in Matthew chapter 13, Jesus gives the parable of the sower and the seed, okay.

And the seed falls upon the rocky soil, and it says, and the birds of the air came, and they ate it up.

Speaking of how Satan comes and removes the word of truth from a person's heart as soon as they hear it.

And then again, in, in, in Matthew 13, the parable of the mustard seed, okay.

We, we, we went around on that on Wednesday nights.

And so, it's the smallest herb, and it grows into this huge bush, and the birds, uh, lodge in its branches.

And he follows that parable up with the parable of the leaven.

And leaven is a symbol of, of evil, as the birds, also a symbol of evil,

that would lodge within the organized community, uh, throughout church history, within the church, okay.

The birds, so birds are evil.

Birds are evil, there, there you go.

But all, Revelation 18, it begins, um, fallen, fallen is Babylon,

which has become the habitation of every foul and unclean bird, okay.

So, just another example of how they don't signify good, but evil.

So, yep, three days, three days, your head's off, your days are numbered, and you know what?

And the birds are going to eat your flesh.

The baker has to be thinking, steak, that didn't turn out the way I, maybe I should have told my dream first.

Maybe I was.

He restored the chief cupbearer to his position and placed the cup, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hands. But he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but he forgot him. Hey, remember me. Remember when you get out of here. I didn't do any crimes, okay? Tell the Pharaoh, I need to get out of here. But he forgot him. He forgot

him. Listen, there are certain experiences in your life that you cannot control. There are certain things in your life that you cannot, they happen to you, you wish they didn't happen. I get it, but they happen to you. Jesus says that the sun and the rain fall on the just and the unjust. Amen? There are certain things. You cannot control all the things that happen to you in your life. However, you can control

your response to all of those things that happen to you in your life. The way you respond, okay? That is in your control. How do I respond to this thing that has happened to me? How do I take it? How do I deal with it? There's an old preacher, William Sangster. He was a great preacher in England about a century ago. And he went to the doctors and the

doctors told him that he had a progressive muscular atrophy disease and his muscles were just going to waste away. You're going to waste away. Eventually, he's a preacher. Eventually, you're going to lose your voice. And at the end of your life, as your muscles continue to deteriorate, you're going to be unable to even swallow.

And so he went home and he wrote down, I read about this, he wrote down four little things that he said I'm going to commit to for the rest of the days of my life. And he wrote these things down and he committed to these, he kept them until the day of his death. And the first one was this, he said, I will never complain. I commit to never, I'm not going to say poor me, I'm not going to say woe is to me. I'm going to trust God. I'm not going to complain.

How many of you realize that complaining about your issues never really brought about resolution to your issues?

And how many of you want to tell your close friend to stop complaining about that same thing they've been complaining about for the last 10 years?

At some point, you've got to build a bridge and get over it.

Seriously.

The second thing that he wrote down is I'm going to make my home a bright place.

I'm going to make my home, instead of, you know, just sad and horrible state affairs, you know, he's thinking, I got kids and grandkids, they're not going to want to come around me.

I'm a grump, you know, I don't want to be that guy on grumpy old men.

You know, that's my whole lot in life now.

I'm going to make my home a happy place.

Third, he says, I'm going to count my blessings.

Every day, I'm going to count my blessings.

I'm going to think on the things that all the things that God has done in, through and for me, my life.

I want to think on those things.

That's where I want my heart to land.

I can't change this muscular situation, this deterioration that's taking place in my body.

God can, but he may not choose to heal me this side of glory.

The healing may only come on the other side of glory, but I will choose not to complain.

I will choose to think on the things God continues to do in and through and for me.

And the fourth thing that he wrote down, he said, I'm going to try to turn this horrible situation into something good.

He knew he wasn't going to be able to talk for a long time, so he began to give himself to writing books, articles, and pamphlets.

And he gets involved in a British home missionary group, where he had home fellowships around England.

And they began to have prayers for all these missionaries.

And they got involved.

And he kept these four little things until his dying day.

Great commitments for us.

You can't always control all the things that happen to you, but you can control your response.

Joseph is a great example of us to that.

All right, that's where I was going to end the sermon this morning. What time is it? It's early. So, because I've been here since 345, that's not where we're going to end the sermon this morning. Because I want you to think on these things. Exodus. I knew we'd get there. I don't want to end the story there because,

listen, we all know the story of Joseph, where all this goes, right? Joseph tells us how this massive amount of Hebrews gets to be slaves in Egypt, right? But first, it was just one slave in Egypt. His name was Joseph. But then, he brings about all the salvation. I know we're jumping ahead in the story. We'll get to that in a minute. But all these things happen, and he gets this great favor with Pharaoh, right? Because he not only saves Egypt, but he saves the world.

He has a plan. He has a plan. God gives him a plan to save the world. The known world that we knew about. And he wins favor with all the Egyptians, all the people. And so, all the people from Egypt start to come over, right?

I mean, all the people from Israel. The Israelites start to come over. And I want you to think about this. Again, those sudden reversals. Remember how life throws sudden reversals?

Anybody had a sudden reversal thrown at you this past month? Yeah. You're going along? Sudden reversal.

I thought I was... No, no. No. Sudden reversal. God's got them in everybody's path. God's got them in everybody's life.

Listen to this. Exodus chapter 1. Let me just skip ahead a little bit. I know I didn't give you guys the scripture up there in the sound booth. That's okay.

Verse 5. All the descendants of Jacob were 70 persons. Joseph was already in Egypt. We know that, right? Okay.

Then Joseph died. And all his brothers and all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly.

And they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so that the land was filled with them.

You see what's happening? Egypt is getting overpopulated with all the Israelites.

Now, all of a sudden, we're going to see a country that was all about bringing people in.

But now when they get to be a huge number and start taking over stuff and start taking over businesses and start taking over all this other stuff,

now we ain't so happy with them anymore. Does that sound familiar? Oh, we're not going to preach that today.

We're not going to preach that today. But this is what's happening. They're not happy.

Egypt is not happy. Egypt is not happy. So now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph.

And he said to his people, Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.

Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply.

And if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from our land.

Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens.

And they built for Pharaoh the store cities of Pithom and Rameses.

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied.

And the more they spread abroad.

And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.

This is crazy.

This is crazy.

So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves.

Now they're not just neighbors and owning business.

They own businesses and all this other stuff.

So this is telling us that they took their businesses away.

And now you're slaves.

All you millions of people.

Now you're slaves, okay?

And made their lives bitter and hard work with hard service in mortar and brick and all kinds of work in the field.

In all their work, they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

And we read this and you would think, what an absolute interruption.

All that Joseph did was for naught.

I mean, would you not succumb to that?

To that understanding?

All this work that Joseph did to bridge the gap.

To save the Egyptians.

To save all this.

To save the world as we know it.

To build these relationships.

So that's what's going to happen.

all this power and all this power and all the relationships that are built. This story is about God and Egypt. God and Egypt. God was sovereign in all of this. Pharaoh is going to end up trying to kill all the male babies. That doesn't work. Then he's going to throw them in the river. But guess what? Pharaoh is not in control. Pharaoh is not in control.

Let's bring this around to modern times today. Listen, we have community leaders. We have a lot of stuff going on in our community right now. A lot of things that we need to vote on. Be aware of. Listen, all these people that are in office, I get that. They're not in control though. Our state senators, our governor, I understand they have these jobs, these positions. They're not in control. They're not in control.

Our president, our president, he's not in control. I don't care what he says. I'm not being political. I'm being theological with you. He's not in control. God is in control. God is sovereignly. That's what this whole story is showing us. That no matter what life throws at you, whatever sudden reversal you may have in your life, God is doing something in your life. Don't miss it. Don't miss it.

You know, I think about this. We think about... We're going to step on some toes here in a second. Listen, we read this story and we think, what a broken situation. What a broken world. I just scared the phone right out of Bobby's hands. You see that?

What a broken situation we've come to, right?

How did it get to this point where we read that in Exodus, okay? There's nothing new. Nothing new in this broken world. We got terror in Spain. We got terror in Finland. We got racism. We have hatred. Murder in Charlottesville.

We have 21,000 children that are going to starve to death today in this world. And you know what? 21,000 children starved to death yesterday. And 21,000 children are going to starve to death tomorrow. That means we got 60,000 kids that have died this weekend.

We have 20 veterans. We have 20 veterans. 20 veterans that will take their lives tomorrow. American U.S. veterans who have come home after a decade of war. That's 7,000 veterans that will end their life this year.

We live. Talk about these reverse. Boom! We live in a broken situation. We live in a world that is broken. And so listen to me. The ultimate solution is not to have more dialogue about this stuff.

Oh! Okay, let's have dialogue and see where you stand and where I stand. I get all that. Okay, I'm with you on that. That's great. Let's do that.

But we are going to have to engage people personally. For personal conversion. Because only when they have an understanding of a high view of sin, okay, and a view of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how He can pay for that sin to restore broken lives and to raise people up from the new lives, okay, that's the only hope that we really have.

And that takes a personal, real conversations. These real conversations didn't happen back here. God needed all this to happen in order to push for a different narrative.

God's doing some things in our nation, in our world, in the church, because He's trying to push for a different narrative. To awaken the people of God. Awaken the people of God.

Amen. You know, a couple of thoughts and let's just close this down.

Your life, your life and my life is big and small at the same time.

You think about that. Look at Joseph. It was big. His life was big. It was small too.

It was small. Big. Sometimes I am so...

intend comfort for me. I need to be okay for that. He may not intend comfort for you. Because he might be doing something bigger. Suffering is used to dislodge us from our temporal hopes and comforts. Our earthly hopes. God brings about suffering to shake up our

and let us loose from those things. Think about the people and the generations that were oppressed. Our great nation. I love our nation. We are a blip. We are a blip in the radar of history. We are talking about Egypt. We are talking about the Ammonites. We are talking about people that reigned in this world for 3,000 years.

We have been the power of the world for 3,000 years. We have been the power of the world for what? A few hundred? I mean, I don't read anything in the end about the United States came to the... No. I love this nation. So don't email me about that. I love this nation. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

but sometimes god brings about suffering to dislodge us from our our temporal hopes and

comforts and and and and he's using he's using suffering all the time to break me from my

addiction to my my earthly hopes and my earthly comforts and generations from now the israelites

are going to find themselves deep in slavery and suffering great cruelty at the hands of the

egyptians and pharaoh and it'd be easy for us to stand up here and to say you know um um you know

guys you need to get back to where you belong you need to go back to where you belong god wants you

be the people who god wants you to be be that distinct people you know be the israelites and

that seems to be the right things to say right the israelites you weren't meant to be over there

to egypt get back to where you belong come on people but if i stand up here and say hey christians

you do not need to be americans

then you're going to light up my email so i won't say that this morning yes i will say that

christians you are not first and foremost americans christians christians you are not first and foremost

american this is where you were born by the grace of god this is where you were born you have a hope

and you have a belief but you cannot put your hope and put your belief in this country

you cannot you cannot do it okay there there is too much that's broken too much that has gone wrong

from the very beginning and right now i mean really

you had better have your hope in a sovereign ruler and a sovereign king who will be a benevolent dictator

a benevolent dictator to the whole universe not just this little spot on the on the globe to the

whole universe a benevolent dictator that's you that's what you want you don't want a democracy

you want a benevolent dictator that rules the whole cosmos that's what you want okay that's what you want

and and because that's you know that's the only way that's the only way we are ever going to see

true justice that's the only way we will ever see true justice and if you don't have justice you will

never have peace see i should have slept last night i wouldn't drag you guys with me through all this

and we have a perfect example we need a deliverer listen that only god can provide

joseph was a foreshadowing of what that ultimate deliverer was going to look like

but the hebrew children

Sing songs on the banks of the Nile River.

My deliverer is coming.

My deliverer is coming.

And the last thing I'll say is this.

Brothers and sisters in Christ.

When you roll with God.

You got to roll with him on his terms.

On his terms.

Joseph has suffered some great reversals.

And again, I didn't go into that last part of Exodus to shame anything.

I'm unapologetic.

But I want you to know, I love our great nation.

I love our country.

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

But I'm a child of the living king.

And I want true biblical justice and peace for all.

You know, I was watching.

Let me step back here for feedback.

I was watching a documentary series on Netflix.

On Malcolm X.

It was very eye-opening in a lot of ways.

And growing, I don't know what your knowledge is.

I mean, I'm sure he had some, you know, things that he said or whatever.

This, that, and the other.

And, but I was always brought up that, you know, with the understanding that he was so militant.

Militant.

The whole Muslim nation thing is just really whack and crazy.

I'm not even, I'm not even going to unfold all that.

But, but the heart of what Malcolm X was trying to say, in the midst of all this, he was saying something very important.

He said, listen, I'm, I'm being, I'm being outspoken right now.

And I'm speaking forth.

But, listen to me.

I'm not, I'm not against anyone who's, who's for, I don't care what they look like, what their skin looks like, or whatever.

But I'm not against anyone who's for true justice.

I'm not against anyone who is for true rights for all people.

All people.

And that all people in the Greek means all people.

Everyone.

That means people that don't look like you and didn't come from where, you know, for all people.

People, he says, but I'm not for those who continue to try to hold down someone because of where they are from, or where they're from, or where they're race, or whatever.

And, and I get that.

I get that.

It was really eye-opening for me.

Because I made some, I made some summations about a time and period that I didn't really know all the information about.

It's a good documentary.

Watch it if you get a chance.

It's a good documentary.

But I will just say this.

God is, has blessed us at Ramon Community Church with a great deal of diversity for us to be able to have honest, we said that this all starts with honest conversations.

So it starts with me being able to sit down and talk to a beautiful young man like Nigel and say, what's it like to raise a black son in today's culture?

Send him off to college and have to trust in some things that, what's it like to be a single dad in your shoes?

I don't know, I don't know.

Hey, I want to tell you what it's like for me trying to shepherd a people with so much diversity and trying to stay true to the biblical mandate and yet have a heart for everyone, but yet not compromising on what God says.

And how can I love you better?

How can I get to know you and really love you better?

Not just give you words of love, but just to love you better.

Let you know I'm there for you, whatever that means.

Let's see.

Let's see.

Let's see.

Let's see.

a great deal of responsibility. I welcome that. I love that about our fellowship. I love that we are so diversely different. And not just racially, socioeconomically. It's a beautiful picture of the church. Because, see, just as the unbelievers and the pagans were watching Joseph, those in the community

are watching us as well, too. I can't tell you how many people say to me, how do you guys do that? With awe. And I answer them, God does it. I can't tell you how many times I tell people, I am so humbled at what God is doing. And I mean that. I'm so humbled. And I'm just trying to stay out of the way. That's it. And that's what the elders do. They're like where those crosswalk guys in school, where the

things in there. They tell me, stop. No, come on. No, stop. Come on. And then they put me in after school suspension for a while. Oh, people. What are we closing with? Never lost. Never lost. Oh, gosh. That's a good song. You guys feel like singing? I know half of you are going to run out the door because I went long, but I still love you anyway. I know you've got to beat somebody to the steakhouse today, but

may the Lord give us strength when we come across those sudden reversals in life. When life throws at us those changes. May the Lord give us wisdom on how to handle that. May the Lord give us wisdom on how to love each other. In Jesus' name. Amen? Amen.