Good morning. I love that song. And it's uh not planned, but it's the perfect song uh for our conversation about Joseph today, because you know we've kind of endured a lot of adversity and suffering along with Joseph. And uh today we get to see him get set free. And uh God is so good, and just to record everything the way he has in his word, it's for us. It's a gift to us, and it's uh to tell us the truth about God. And one of the truths about God is God sets people free. And uh when Jesus sets us free, we are free indeed. And uh so we'll get to talk about that a little bit more this morning. Well, I could tell it was March because it's snowing outside. It's the first the first tip off, you know. And uh but it reminds me uh just uh kind of how fast the year's going and and Easter is coming up really, really quickly. It's it's uh early this year, it's March um 31st. And so a couple things. One is a week from Saturday, the 16th, we're gonna have a spring clean spruce up uh day. And there'll be something for um all of us to do if if we can. We're gonna organize, we're gonna clean, and we're gonna touch up paint, and we're gonna fix some things, and uh in part to you know get ready for Easter, which is such a great uh day, but uh also just because God's given us such a beautiful building and we want to keep it uh in perfect uh shape. So if you can help with that, that'd be great. If you sign up at the infodesk, uh we'll send an email to remind you and give you some ideas about what um you might want to bring. And then the other thing is just so you can be thinking about it, um, we're gonna have uh two services on Sunday morning this Easter. Uh kind of like we do on Christmas Eve, but we're gonna add an 8:30. It'll be our um modified sunrise service. Probably be perfect for us. But um, you know, the God's really uh blessed us and blessed us with each other. And we've got two or three hundred more people every Sunday today than we did this time last year. And um it's cool to watch what he's doing and and how he's just bringing us together as a family. And on Easter, what happens, or at least what has had has happened, we never know exactly what's gonna happen, but what has happened is we pretty much have double on Easter Sunday. Uh you know, so last year we had about a thousand on Sunday mornings, and we had a little over two thousand on Easter Sunday, and it's part all of us being here on the same Sunday, and then also you don't bring in family and friends and and visitors. So now we're about twelve hundred or thirteen hundred. Uh and so if history repeats itself, we'd have twenty-four, twenty-six hundred people on um Easter Sunday, and I believe we will. Uh it's cool. I mean, the more people that can share with what God's doing, uh, the better. It's exciting. But we can't handle 2,600 people at one service. That's the thing. You know, we'd be pass lows on parking, I think, and just in the kids' areas and all that. And so uh I've always felt like we would never add another service on Sunday morning as a strategy. Uh we'd only do it out of necessity. And so, as you've probably experienced, some some Sundays the parking lot gets full and we end up some of us over Lowe's. And so sometime down the road, we'll talk about it, figure out how to approach it, but we might add uh a second Sunday morning. But definitely this Easter Sunday we will at 8:30 and 10. And the nice thing is if you're helping um in in some way, uh then there'll be another service that you can come and uh enjoy. So we can all kind of plan and think about that. I mentioned last week that Papa's Pantry is having an annual fundraiser here uh this Friday. It's over on the youth side, it's called Bella Note, and it's uh Italian theme. There's maybe music and uh and food and the silent auction. And so if uh if you'd like to be part of that, they will be selling tickets in the lobby afterwards. And let's pray. Father, thank you for being such a uh great and loving father, for adopting us as your very own children. We just praise you for that. Thank you for being our Abba Father, our Daddy Father, and Holy Spirit. We just thank you for how powerful you are in our lives and just the way that you teach us and encourage us. And this morning I just ask that you would teach and encourage each of us, and that we could all go knowing that we had something uh directly from you uh for us. And Jesus, we just praise you for being a savior, being our friend, being our Lord, uh, being uh an example of what love really is. And it's in your name we pray. Amen. All right, so this is good news. Uh we're we're gonna leave Joseph in a great spot today. I've just kind of felt bad because we left him at the bottom of a cistern. Uh we've left him in prison uh twice, but uh when we're done this morning, he's gonna be in a really good uh spot. But that seemed to be how Joseph's life was going. Uh we kind of met him if you uh when he was 17 years old, now he's 28 years old. Uh if you haven't been here, you probably know the story anyway. But he was really loved by his father. And uh and really the rest of his brothers were kind of unloved by his father because he favored Joseph so much. Uh and the famous thing he did was have this custom-made robe of many colors that he gave to him. But the whole dysfunction of their family ended up with uh the brothers being very uh jealous of Joseph. And they weren't very nice guys to begin with. And so they decided to kill him and then realized that, hey, they could maybe make some money on the deal and not have to kill him. And so they sold him into uh into slavery. And so he was sold and to a caravan that took Joseph to Egypt, and and he was bought by a man named Potiphar, who had a pretty prestigious job. He was the head of the Secret Service, and protecting uh Pharaoh was his responsibility. And so here's Joseph, uh a young guy. I mean, you can imagine, 17 years old, he's got to be scared out of his mind, doesn't know the language, doesn't know the culture. Uh probably the ultimate entry-level job, Hebrew slave. Um, and but he works his way up and he learns and he always displays this positive attitude. And eventually he's Potiphar's personal assistant and running everything for him. Well, Potiphar's wife ends up getting obsessed with Joseph, and Joseph consistently rejects her, and so she ends up lying and saying that Joseph attacked him. And so Joseph ends up uh in prison. And so last week we saw that while he was there, uh a couple people, a baker and a cupbearer of Pharaoh's, also ended up in prison. And one day Joseph notices that they're upset and asks him about it, and it's because they had these dreams. And so Joseph interprets uh the dreams. One of them was good, one of them was bad. Um the bad one, Joseph didn't ask him anything because he knew he wasn't going to be around much longer. Um, but the cupbearer he said was gonna get put back in his uh important position with Pharaoh. So he says, hey, when you get back, remember me and say something to me about um Pharaoh. And so you can see, I mean, you can just imagine Joseph sitting there, and uh he said in the dream it was going to be three days. So after three days, he probably heard about the baker being executed. And so, just like probably every day, the fourth day, he hears a door open or he hears somebody coming. You know, is this my day? Did did he say something to Pharaoh? And then it's a couple weeks, and then it's a few months, and then after a while he realizes that he either didn't say anything to Pharaoh or he did, and Pharaoh uh didn't care. But but either way, he's still in a really tough situation. In Psalms 105, it talks about the details of Joseph being in prison, and it describes him having uh cruel uh chains and bracelets on his ankles, and uh and even an iron um what would you call it? An iron collar around his his neck with with a uh a chain. And so he's going through a really uh difficult, very hard um time. And we saw last week we kind of finished up talking about how even through all this adversity, uh he was just so positive and and even thankful at times. And we'll see that through his whole life. We kind of pick up Joseph when he's 17, um, he goes to heaven when he's 110. And all these people that have wronged Joseph, his uh his brothers, uh Potiphar's wife, the cupbearer, you know, I'm sure he was subjected to a lot, um, probably tremendous racism being a Hebrew slave in an Egyptian um prison. But through that, he never changes. And what we'll see down the road is he has an opportunity to get even with every single person. And and he doesn't. You know, he says God's used it for good. And and that was just kind of his attitude about adversity. And so I wanted to finish up on that just quickly this morning and talk about um adversity and the role that that played in in Joseph's life and the way um it plays in our lives. And so in a group this size, uh there has to be many of us going through uh struggles and really tough times, um, just like Joseph, you know, and it may not be, you know, in chains in prison, but there are so many things we go through uh that are so tough. And sometimes we think that, and thankfully we are, we're not all in that spot, you know, but but in our lives we are going to suffer. It is part of a part of life. There's no way to get out of it. In fact, God uses it. That's one of the prominent parts of this story about Joseph, is God how God uses it to uh to mature us and to give us compassion and to give us patience and grow us as people. Uh one good thing that we're going to see about Joseph today is one of my favorite proverbs, this one I get to share with people quite a bit. And that is even when we're going through adversity and it feels like maybe God's forgotten about us, or maybe he doesn't love us, maybe he loves everybody else, but but he's just not there. It's not true. He is there. You know, and it's just a matter of his timing, and things can turn around so fast. And here's the proverb. It says, it's Proverbs 13, 12. Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick. But a sudden good break can turn life around. God can turn our lives around so fast. This morning we'll see maybe one of the greatest examples of that of all time. And so when we're struggling, you know, have hope. Not only will God change your circumstance, but he can do it so quickly. You know, so quickly. It can be a job you didn't know about, it can be a cure you didn't know about, it can be a new friend you didn't know about. Um God can turn our lives around so fast. But even more importantly in this story is how God uses adversity to train us, to strengthen us, to give us compassion, to give us uh patience. And so we're gonna see the most dramatic life change, maybe in the history of the world, really, other than Jesus' resurrection from the dead, uh there's never been a story just like uh just like Joseph. And when he gets this opportunity, he's gonna be prepared. And the reason he's gonna be prepared is because of all he's gone through. All he learned from seeing the bad parts of his father. I'm sure he learned good things from Jacob as well. You know, he learned from what his brothers did to him. He learned as he worked his way up in Potiphar's house. He learned through the disappointment of that whole thing with his wife. He learned it in prison and took on more responsibility uh there. You know, one day he's gonna get that opportunity to tell his brothers that exact same thing. You know, it was bad, but it was important because God used it uh for good. And Jesus said, well, before I read this, or we can read it, um, you know, it's just that when we're going through hard times, it feels like something's wrong, you know? That that you know, we've really done something wrong, or this isn't the way it is. And so I guess just for this one moment, I want us to see that it's part of life. You know, it it just happens. We all we have struggles, we have adversity. I'd say in my life, I've probably brought two-thirds of them on myself, and the other third just happened, you know? But but they're part of life. And and so when we well, when when we're going through them and we're in those toughest places, it was something Jesus told us about. You know, he said in John 16, I've told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart because I've overcome the world. So there's nothing wrong with us because we're struggling. Jesus thankfully told us, hey, expect there's going to be hard times in life. And thankfully all times aren't hard in life as well. But we can trust Jesus in those times because he's overcome the world. Uh John Maxwell has a book. It's called Failing Forward, and it's just about how important uh what an important role failure plays uh in success. And he uses Joseph as an example in one of the chapters in his book about this idea of how God uses adversity. But he also tells about a guy named Bernie who grew up in Newark, New Jersey. And his dad was a Russian immigrant and a cabinet maker. And so ultimately uh Bernie got a job at the store where he would buy some of his uh supplies. And this was a very impoverished family, but the store was handy done. And he got a job there, it was a kind of a new concept, and and it was a hardware store, but kind of geared towards uh you know do-it-yourself home improvement types. And so this job was super important to Bernie and to his family, and he got fired. And you know, he was disgraced, he was uh uh ashamed, um, discouraged, and so he ended up moving to Atlanta and got a buddy, and they decided to start their own store, you know, and his buddies Arthur Blank and he's Bernie Marcus, and they started Home Depot together. And if it wasn't for that hard time in his life, that adversity that he went through, probably even the process of whatever he did to get fired, prepared him for the opportunity that he had. And that's the way life works. I mean, I I've got um my own story. I mean, there's millions of stories. I'm sure you have your own stories about going through hard times, but how God's taken that hard time and turned it into good. Uh James is Jesus' brother, and he he tells us this. He says if I can find it. And this is hard to hear, even. But this is what he says consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. And so, to the degree we can remind ourselves of that, that struggles and pain and adversity, it's actually good for us. If we can, we could even embrace it, is what James is saying as part of life. And don't even, you know, feel bad and try to get out of it too quick, but rather embrace it and see what God's doing. And so, my question, like when I'm struggling, doesn't have to be God, where are you? God, are you mad at me? God, have you forgotten me? It might be God, what do you want me to learn? You know, what are you preparing me for? That type of thing. And so we left Joseph in the middle of his suffering and his adversity. It says, Pharaoh's chief cupbearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought. And so picture again, if you will, that what Psalms describes of Joseph and uh chains on his ankles and an iron collar around his neck. Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass. Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin. These cows stood before the fat cows on the riverbank. Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven healthy fat cows. At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up, but he fell asleep again, and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stock. Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and widwithered by the east wind, and these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads. Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream. Well, the next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by his dreams. So he called for all the magicians and the wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them could tell what they meant. Finally the chief cupbearer spoke up. Today I've been reminded of my fa of my failure, he told Pharaoh. And so then he tells Pharaoh how Joseph had interpreted his dream. Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he was quickly brought from the prison. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he went in and stood before Pharaoh. This is really a super small aside, but this is Joseph's big opportunity. This is going to be a supernatural favoration for him. But the first thing Joseph does is he shaves, changes his clothes, and does what he can to be ready for this opportunity. You know, and it's sometimes it's easy to separate, you know, the supernatural from, hey, we got an opportunity, let's get ready. You know, if we ask God for a job and we get an interview, let's go in there knowing more about the company than the company we're interviewing with. You know, if we're asking for favor uh on our business, you know, then let's make sure that we're we're prepared, that we're working hard. All those types of things helps us be in that position for for God to bless us. So that's one thing we see about Joseph throughout his life, is uh he does what what he can do. In this case was just shaving and uh changing his clothes. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream, you can interpret it. It's beyond my power to do this, Joseph replied. But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease. And so Pharaoh then repeats his dreams and tells them to Joseph. And Joseph responded, and I'm going to read quite a bit here, but it just really flows through the story. Joseph responded, Both of Pharaoh's dreams mean the same thing. God is telling Pharaoh in advance what he's about to do. The seven healthy cows and the seven healthy heads of grain both represent seven years of prosperity. The seven thin scrawny cows that came up later, and the seven thin heads of grain, withered by the east wind, represent seven years of famine. This will happen just as I have described it, for God has revealed to Pharaoh in advance what he's about to do. The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout the land of Egypt, but afterward there will be seven years of famine, so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten in Egypt. Famine will destroy the land. This famine will be so severe that even the memory of the good years will be erased. As for having two similar dreams, it means that these Events have been decreed by God, and he will soon make them happen. Well, this is kind of interesting because Joseph kind of stops interpreting Pharaoh's dream and gives Pharaoh a dream interpreting tip. And he said, Hey, here's the deal. When you have two similar dreams in a row, that means it's about to happen. Now, to me, what's interesting about that, and it shows something about how we can learn from God through the Bible. But the interesting thing is Joseph had two similar dreams right in a row, and it was 13 years ago. And God hasn't made it happen yet. And so what Joseph is sharing with Pharaoh is not a formula, which we sometimes want to look for. What's you know the formula? It's a principle. He's just sharing a principle that we can think about if uh if we have a dream from God. But it's it's not a rule or formula, it's just a principle. In fact, I don't think Joseph even remembers that he had those dreams. Because in a couple chapters uh it's gonna say, and then Joseph remembered his dreams. You know, and so here he is interpreting um Pharaoh's dream, and he goes on with really a plan. He gave him the dream, now he's gonna give uh Pharaoh a plan. Therefore, Pharaoh should find an intelligent and wise man and put him in in charge of the entire land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one fifth of all the crops during the seven good years, have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead, and bring it to Pharaoh's storehouse, store it away, and guard it, so there will be food in the cities. That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise, this famine will destroy the land. Joseph's suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his officials. So Pharaoh asked his officials, can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the Spirit of God? I mean, could we any of us receive a greater compliment? You know, look at this person, he's so obviously filled with the Spirit of God. In fact, I would say many of you do receive that uh that compliment. You know, but it's something that that's there to be so filled with God's Spirit that that anybody can uh notice it. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are. You'll be in charge of my court, and all my people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours. Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt. And then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothing and hung a gold chain around his neck. Then he had Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for his second in command. And wherever Joseph went, the command was shouted, kneel down. So Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all Egypt. And Pharaoh said to him, I am Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand or foot in the entire land of Egypt without your approval. Then Pharaoh gave Joseph a new Egyptian name, which I can't pronounce. But he also gave him a wife. It's okay, because I'm going to still keep calling him Joseph. But he gave uh also gave him a wife, and she was the daughter of Potapharah, the priest of An. And so Joseph took charge of the entire land of Egypt. He was thirty years old when he began serving in the court of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And when Joseph left Pharaoh's presence, he inspected the entire land of Egypt. And so I wonder how long this whole process took. You know, Potiphar's palace had to be pretty close to Pharaoh's palace because he was responsible for protecting them. You know, all he did they said that they rushed and they got him, and then he shaved and got ready. He heard the dream, interpreted the dream, gave him a plan. Excuse me again, this is probably gonna be an every Sunday thing, no. Um maybe an hour. I mean just think an hour ago, Joseph's a foreign slave in shackles, in prison. One hour later, he's running the entire country of Egypt, the most prosperous country in the world. I mean, Pharaoh puts his own ring on his finger, gives him a car. He's riding in the second best chariot in uh in Egypt. He has a wife. It's an amazing turn of events. The type of thing God can do, only God can do. And so Joseph does two things. First, he accepts the responsibility, but then he also accepted the blessing. And that's like another conversation for another time. But Joseph's been through a lot. You know, so now he has this opportunity. God's prepared him for it through all of his adversity, and he takes on the challenge, he accepts the responsibility, but he also accepts the blessing. It's not like, no, I don't need your ring, Pharaoh. I'm a humble Hebrew slave. And and there's we're talking a lot about struggles and adversity. Um, all of us are going to experience both. And so when we're in times, like some of us are, I'm sure, where God is blessing us, it's not the time to feel guilty and reject that. You know, we can accept both, the responsibility as his children and the blessings as the children. I've experienced that when God's blessed me, I felt really so guilty about it, I guess, that I couldn't really enjoy it the way and be thankful the way I should have. And so Joseph here does both, but more importantly, he gives God the credit. If we reread this uh whole story, it would be, I can't tell you, God can tell you. You know, God has revealed, God has decreed, God will make it happen. You know, and so he gives God the credit for the whole thing. And he let God lift him up. I there is no chance when Joseph was describing his plan that he was thinking it was going to be him. I guarantee you that thought never crossed his mind that there was any way in the world that they were gonna pick a Hebrew slave for that role. I mean, there's obviously wise people in Egypt. There's obviously a second in command already, someone that could do that role. But God lifted them up. He gave God the credit, kept his humility, his integrity, his faith, and God lifted them up. And it reminds me of uh something Jesus said, an instruction he gave in Luke 14. It says, When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice. When you're invited to a wedding feast, don't sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who's more distinguished than you has also been invited? The host will come and say, Give this person your seat. Then you'll be embarrassed, and you'll have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table. Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, Friend, we have a better place for you. Then you'll be honored in front of all the other guests. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. See, this is I mean, God cannot lie. This is what God does. God will lift us up. You know, it's it's if if we keep things in the proper perspective, it gets so frustrating when we're waiting. You know, a uh but the key is is the timing, I guess. Umone mentioned a conversation that about uh when I was talking about how God says hard work always pays off, and and this person's working really hard and he doesn't see it paying off. That doesn't mean that it won't. It will. It always does. But it's gonna be in God's timing. And sometimes the bigger promotion, the longer the preparation. You know, sometimes the bigger the responsibility, the more adversity and the more suffering it takes to get us into a position where we can accept that responsibility. But God will lift us up just like he did Joseph with his timing. And so don't give up on God if you're struggling. Don't feel like he's given up on you. That uh he hasn't. He loves you just as much as he loves Joseph. You can trust everything that he says. He is a great God. And he'll use whatever our struggles are to mold us and build us and strengthen us and give us character and compassion. And then at the exact right time, often when we least expect it, he'll lift us up. Just like he did Joseph. And Joseph's faith and his patience and integrity and all that is gonna end up saving himself, his family, and really that entire part of the world. And the cool thing is uh this is not even the biggest miracle he's gonna do in Joseph's life. Uh the biggest miracle he's gonna do is in his family. And uh Justin's gonna share about that next week. But we're gonna stop here for now. So if the worship team will come up. So we leave Joseph in a good spot. That's kind of relief. You know, he's already hard at work, out inspecting all of uh Egypt. And and Joe, or God is so good. You know, I just so many times in my life have taken the Bible for granted. Um, you know, if it had just been found today for the first time, it would be a mind-blowing event. But but God was so good to write down the story of Joseph in such detail, you know, and he did it to see how um for us to see kind of how God works, see kind of how um life works, I think to inspire us. I mean, certainly his integrity inspires me, and uh his humility and um perseverance and all those types of things. But he also wrote it down for us to encourage us, you know, to give us courage, to put courage inside of us, to see that when we need God's help, that he is there and he has the perfect timing, and uh and he will lift us up too. And so let's uh let's stand and we'll get ready for this last song. You know, the first thing, most important, is just to get connected with our Father that loves us. And he's made that, like so many things, so simple. You know, when we put our trust, that's what he sent Jesus for, one of the things. I mean, Jesus did so much while he was here. Um, showed us what our father's really like, showed us what love's like, answered the question once and for all, does God really love me? You know, of course he does. Look what he did. But he also allows us to connect with our loving Father. You know, when we put our trust in Jesus, we're created in God's image with the Spirit. That Spirit comes alive, and then God starts doing the heavy lifting, changing us from the inside out, bringing people, using struggles, you know, not necessarily even creating struggles. Life is full of its own struggles. You know, he uses those struggles, that adversity, to prepare us for the great things that he has. So let's pray. Father, we praise you. Thank you for this day. Thank you for being such a good God. I just thank you for the story of Joseph. I thank you for what you did in his life and how you used him to save so many people and how encouraging the story is to me. And I just pray, God, that you would just stir up our hearts with faith and hope and see sometimes even when things seem to be going too long, the struggle's too hard, that you're there and that you have a plan and that you will lift us up every single time. And we praise you and we thank you for that. We ask you to give us that same courage and faith that uh we see in Joseph. Uh please, Father, give each of us here whatever we need. It's in your name we pray. Amen. All right. Well, love you all.