Foundation of Our Faith

The Golden Touch

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Dinzey (Host), Pr. Edward Bryan

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Series Code: FDOF

Program Code: FDOF000038A


00:19 Hello, and welcome to Foundation of our Faith.
00:23 In this program you will hear the preaching of God's Word.
00:28 And we rejoice to be able to bring you this message
00:32 through Dare to Dream, Foundation of our Faith.
00:35 And we have two special guests during this hour.
00:38 And I would like to speak to you for a moment
00:41 about Pastor Edward Bryan.
00:43 Pastor Edward Bryan was a person
00:45 that the Lord rescued from the shackles
00:48 of addiction and crime.
00:50 And now he is a minister of the Lord.
00:54 Conversion was complete in his life
00:57 as the Lord called him to ministry
00:59 and not only does he rejoice in bringing the message
01:03 to both young and old, but he rejoices
01:06 to be able to do this along with his wife Xenia.
01:09 They have two children and it is a blessing
01:13 to have him here during the last opportunity
01:17 he was with us.
01:18 He presented the message called Burn Baby Burn.
01:21 During this hour you will hear the message The Golden Touch.
01:28 And I am happy to also tell you
01:31 that we have Brother Mark Prentice
01:33 also with us during this hour.
01:35 And the Lord called him to ministry at a young age,
01:38 at the age of three already the Lord's blessing
01:42 was upon him as he began to sing,
01:45 and also he enjoys writing and singing.
01:48 And not only that his family recognize that
01:52 the Lord blessed him with the musical talent,
01:55 but also his peers have also done so.
01:58 Wining a national soloist contest,
02:04 male soloist at the National Gospel Competition
02:07 for High Schools.
02:09 And the Lord thus far has brought him
02:11 to have the opportunity to prepare three CD projects.
02:16 Number one, my testimony,
02:19 several song that you will enjoy
02:21 and that will take you through a journey
02:24 of how the Lord blesses individuals
02:27 through what He does in their lives.
02:29 Also CD number two, Refashioned Hymns,
02:33 also Way out of No Way.
02:35 And the Lord continues to use him also through
02:38 the Dare to Dream network.
02:40 He's also presented
02:41 in Three Angels Broadcasting Network.
02:43 And we have the opportunity to hear him in a moment
02:47 as he presents to us a message in song
02:52 entitled "Great is Thy Faithfulness".
02:59 Before that we'd like to invite you
03:00 to go to the Lord in prayer.
03:03 So wherever you are let's take this opportunity
03:05 to approach God's throne of grace.
03:07 Let us pray together.
03:09 Our loving heavenly Father, we thank You, Lord,
03:14 for this opportunity You have given to us
03:17 to receive the blessing through Your servants,
03:21 Pastor Edward Bryan and Brother Mark Prentice.
03:25 We pray that Your Holy Spirit will be upon them.
03:28 And we pray, Lord, for a blessing upon all,
03:31 both young and old, wherever they may be,
03:34 may they hear You calling them through Your servants.
03:38 We pray, heavenly Father,
03:40 for Your name to be glorified in all things.
03:42 And we thank You for hearing our prayer,
03:45 for we asked it in the wonderful
03:47 and mighty name of Jesus.
03:50 Amen. Amen.
03:52 We'd like to invite Brother Mark Prentice
03:54 to join us and immediately after that,
03:56 the next voice you will hear will be
03:58 the voice of Pastor Edward Bryan.
04:00 May God bless you.
04:10 Great is Thy faithfulness
04:15 O God my Father
04:19 There is no shadow of
04:23 Turning with Thee
04:27 Thou changest not Thy compassions
04:33 They fail not As Thou hast been Thou
04:40 Forever wilt be
04:44 Great is Thy faithfulness
04:49 Great is Thy faithfulness
04:53 Morning by morning
04:57 New mercies I see
05:02 All I have needed Thy hand
05:07 Has provided
05:10 Great is Thy faithfulness
05:14 Lord, unto me
05:19 Summer and winter
05:23 Springtime and harvest
05:27 Sun, moon and stars
05:30 In their courses above
05:36 Join with all nature in
05:40 Manifold witness
05:44 To Thy great faithfulness
05:49 Mercy and love
05:52 O Great is Thy faithfulness
05:57 Great is Thy faithfulness
06:01 Morning by morning by morning
06:08 New mercies I see
06:12 All I have needed
06:16 Thy hand has provided
06:21 Great is Thy faithfulness
06:25 Lord, unto me
06:29 Pardon for sin
06:33 And peace that endureth
06:38 Thine own dear presence
06:42 To cheer and to guide
06:47 Strength for today
06:50 And bright hope for tomorrow
06:55 Blessings all mine
06:59 With ten thousand beside!
07:03 O Great is Thy faithfulness
07:08 Great is Thy faithfulness
07:12 Morning by morning by morning
07:18 New mercies I see
07:23 All I have needed
07:27 Thy hand has provided
07:31 Great is Thy faithfulness
07:36 Lord, unto me
07:39 O Great is Thy faithfulness
07:46 O my Lord
07:49 Great is Thy faithfulness
07:57 Great is Thy faithfulness
08:03 O my Lord
08:06 Great is Thy faithfulness
08:10 Great is Thy faithfulness
08:14 Morning by morning by morning
08:20 New mercies I see
08:25 All I have needed
08:29 Thy hand has always provided
08:33 Great is Thy faithfulness
08:38 Great is Thy faithfulness
08:42 Great is Thy faithfulness
08:52 Lord
08:57 Un
09:01 To
09:06 To me
09:15 Lord
09:18 Unto me
09:32 Amen.
09:36 Praise the Lord once again for that beautiful,
09:39 beautiful music.
09:42 Can't wait for the day
09:45 when I can hold a note
09:47 and glorify God in the way
09:50 that Brother Mark just did.
09:53 Today I want to share a message,
09:58 a topic that I never in my wildest dreams fathom
10:01 preaching on when I came to accept Jesus Christ,
10:05 the prosperity gospel.
10:10 I used to be quite skeptical and then studying God's Word
10:13 I actually found out that prosperity is indeed
10:16 God's ideal for His children.
10:21 Now before you get too excited or too irritated
10:24 and change the dial.
10:27 When I ask you to hang in there with me
10:28 for just a moment as I make a biblical case
10:33 for the prosperity that the Lord desires
10:35 us all have in our life.
10:37 Invite you to bow your heads as I kneel
10:40 and we go to Lord in prayer.
10:43 Dear heavenly Father, though we come to You
10:47 'cause we would not be so presumptuous
10:49 as to open your Word Lord and pretend to understand it
10:52 apart from Your Spirit.
10:55 So far I just pray at this time
10:57 that You would speak to our hearts, Lord,
11:00 and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, Lord.
11:04 Make Your word practical, in Jesus' name, amen.
11:17 There was a Greek myth
11:20 that was later turned into children's story
11:24 and eventually became a cartoon by the time I came across it.
11:27 It talks of a King
11:33 by the name of Midas and his golden touch.
11:36 It goes like this.
11:38 King Midas was a rich ruler, the richest in all the land.
11:45 He had an abundance of gold of golden coins.
11:47 And his favorite hobby was to sit around counting them.
11:52 He would sit around counting them
11:54 as frequently as possible
11:55 sometimes at the expense of not getting to spend time
11:58 with his beautiful young daughter
12:00 who he loved very much.
12:01 On one occasion as he counted his gold coins,
12:04 the story says that he was approached by a fairy
12:09 whatever that is, apparently a fairy
12:11 can grant wishes and that fairy told him that
12:13 he would grant him any wish that he desired, any one wish.
12:17 And he didn't have to think about it very much
12:18 because he knew exactly what he wanted.
12:20 He wanted the ability to touch anything
12:23 and turn it into gold.
12:25 Well, the next day he woke up and sure enough
12:28 he had been granted the golden touch.
12:31 He grabbed his bed linens
12:32 and immediately it turned into gold,
12:34 he jumped out of bed, went and grabbed his robe
12:37 and it turned into gold as well.
12:39 Then he started running throughout his whole palace
12:41 searching everything he can lay his hands on
12:44 and it all turned to gold.
12:45 He went outside, touched the flower beds
12:47 and the same thing.
12:48 Well, he was ecstatic as you could imagine.
12:51 Before too long
12:54 he had worked up an appetite.
12:56 And he went to his banquet table
12:58 and he sat down to eat, he grabbed a grape,
13:01 took it to his mouth, and he almost chipped a tooth
13:05 because it had turned to gold.
13:07 Then he grabbed a turkey leg, attempted to take a big bite
13:11 and once again almost split his tooth.
13:16 He was becoming quite frustrated,
13:18 quite desperate to eat, hungry, he wasn't sure what to do.
13:21 So he sat there pondering this predicament
13:23 and he had a mixed feeling of joy and frustration.
13:26 It was about that time that his daughter
13:27 came into the quarters.
13:32 And she was herself saddened
13:35 because her beautiful bed of roses
13:39 had been turned into lifeless shiny gold.
13:42 So he shared with her
13:43 this beautiful extraordinary gift
13:45 that he had been given but at the same time
13:48 he shared his desperation to eat
13:51 and the predicament that he was in.
13:54 Well, his daughter feeling sorry for her father
13:57 as you can imagine came up and embraced him,
14:00 and as he in return wrapped his arms around his daughter.
14:05 You guessed it.
14:07 He turned her as shiny and lifeless as everything else
14:11 that he had taken so much pleasure
14:13 in just moments before.
14:17 Friends, isn't it the truth that our ambition for gain
14:20 can become as much a curse
14:24 as it has potential to be a blessing.
14:27 And while the golden touch is not something to be desired
14:30 obviously in a physical sense,
14:34 it's something that we certainly would all want
14:36 in a figurative sense.
14:39 Wouldn't we all like for every aspect of our life
14:41 to flourish.
14:44 Well, the annals of history actually tells of a man
14:46 that had such an ability, a man who had the golden touch.
14:50 He lived in Egypt thousands of years ago
14:53 and his name was Zaphnath-Paaneah.
14:55 Have you ever heard of him?
14:58 Very few seem to have heard of him.
15:00 Maybe 'cause you knew him by a different name,
15:03 by his Canaan, his name in Canaan
15:06 before he come to Egypt.
15:08 You probably know him by Joseph.
15:11 We find his story in Genesis 37.
15:13 I invite you to join me there in Genesis 37.
15:20 Now for time sake I'm going to just kind of
15:22 highlight or give a quick...
15:30 Overview of how his story started
15:33 and how we got to the point that we want to focus on today.
15:36 See Joseph had several brothers,
15:39 his father had multiple wives, the Bible doesn't tell us this
15:42 to condone such behavior.
15:43 As a matter of fact, this became very problematic
15:45 in his life because his brothers
15:48 had strong resentment to Joseph
15:51 because Joseph was clearly their father's favorite.
15:55 Joseph and his brother Benjamin,
15:56 they had been born to his favorite wife,
15:58 and they had been born in his father Jacob's old age.
16:02 So while Joseph's brothers would be out
16:04 working in the fields for his father,
16:07 Joseph would be back home,
16:10 him and his little brother somewhat hampered.
16:12 On one occasion he even got a coat of many colors
16:16 which you could imagine sprung up envy
16:19 in the hearts of his brothers.
16:20 To make matters worse, while he was a good boy,
16:23 he was also a little naive,
16:25 and he would share with his brother's dreams
16:27 that he had that seems to imply that one day
16:30 they would be bowing to him.
16:33 If that wasn't bad enough, when his father would send them
16:35 to check up on his brothers,
16:36 sometimes he would wind up coming back
16:38 and giving a bad report.
16:41 How many of you like when your young siblings
16:43 would tattle on you.
16:44 As they say well I'm from snitches
16:46 get stitches, right.
16:48 So his brothers didn't like this whatsoever,
16:50 they did not appreciate this.
16:52 So on one occasion Joseph's father
16:56 sends him to go and check up on his brothers.
16:59 And as Joseph is drawing near to his brothers,
17:02 they see him, and we'll pick up that dialogue in Genesis 37,
17:05 we'll pick that up in verse 18.
17:07 We'll read 18-20.
17:08 It says and when they saw him...
17:11 and I'm reading from the King James Version.
17:12 "And when they saw him a far off,
17:14 even before he came near unto them,
17:16 they conspired against him to slay him.
17:19 And they said one to another, 'Behold, this dreamer comes,
17:23 come now therefore and let us slay him
17:26 and cast him into some pit,' and we will say that,
17:29 'some evil beast has devoured him.'
17:31 And we shall see what becomes of his dreams!"
17:36 Now looking for Joseph, his older brother Reuben
17:38 didn't allow them to kill him to carry out their plan,
17:41 instead they dug a pit that he could not get out of,
17:45 and they grabbed the boy, they ripped off his coat,
17:47 and they threw him into the pit.
17:49 And then he took the coat and dipped it in goat's blood.
17:55 And eventually they would send it to his father
17:57 and say that he was dead.
18:00 Now I got to back up just a little bit
18:02 because as they sat there eating.
18:06 They saw a caravan of travelers,
18:09 that caravan of travelers was headed to Egypt,
18:11 they were Ishmeelites.
18:13 And they were heading to Egypt which was the most prosperous
18:16 and powerful empire at the time,
18:18 they were going there to trade.
18:20 So they figured, you know, what we might as well
18:21 get some money for the boy.
18:24 So they decided to sell him to this caravan of travelers
18:27 headed to Egypt.
18:30 And that's where we will pick up
18:32 and break it down just a little closer.
18:35 Genesis 39:1.
18:39 It says, "And Joseph was brought down to Egypt,
18:45 and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh,
18:50 captain of the guard, an Egyptian,
18:52 bought him out of the hands of the Ishmeelites,
18:55 which had brought him down there."
18:58 Joseph was purchased it says by a man named Potiphar,
19:01 the captain of the guard, of Pharaoh's guard.
19:04 Now Pharaoh wasn't just any man,
19:05 Pharaoh was the king of Egypt but even more so,
19:07 he was considered like a god.
19:11 And therefore Potiphar, Joseph's master
19:14 would be something like the head of the secret service
19:16 or the top ranking general in the military.
19:22 While Joseph was a slave, he had no ordinary master.
19:25 He was in a peculiar position.
19:27 Now when we look at verse 2,
19:29 we're going to see two things that are somewhat.
19:34 It makes little sense to conventional thinking.
19:36 Genesis 39:2, "And the Lord was with Joseph,
19:41 and he was a prosperous man,
19:44 and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian."
19:48 Have you ever thought about that verse?
19:50 It says, "And the Lord was with Joseph."
19:53 Well, that may not seem peculiar to you,
19:56 just think about it.
19:59 How do you feel when you find yourself
20:02 facing the most trying circumstances in your life?
20:05 Do you feel like God is with you at those times?
20:08 Now I know you guys are very pious,
20:11 but for some of us question and doubt may even set in,
20:15 think about it.
20:16 When your car is broken down on the side of the road,
20:18 and it's cold, and no one stops to help.
20:21 Do you feel like God is with you at those times?
20:24 When you're diagnosed with a disease
20:26 while everyone around you seems in perfect health,
20:29 and they don't even practice the health message.
20:32 Does it feel like God is with you then?
20:35 When you put your heart and soul into studying
20:37 for a test only to fail.
20:40 When you already can't pay your bills,
20:43 yet you're paying your tithe.
20:45 And then an emergency springs out of nowhere,
20:48 they just crash the bank.
20:51 When you lose your job, no worse.
20:54 When you lose a loved one.
20:57 Are you not tempted at those times to feel like
20:59 God has abandoned you?
21:01 Sometimes you feel like God has abandoned us.
21:03 You had to understand that Joseph, he was a pampered kid,
21:06 his father's favorite, and in the blink of an eye
21:10 his whole life changed.
21:12 Now there's someone out there who can relate
21:14 because you've had some kind of
21:15 traumatic situation in your life
21:17 that caused everything to change in just a moment.
21:19 But you know what?
21:21 The good thing about those moments
21:23 when we find ourselves on our back,
21:24 the good thing about those moments
21:25 when like Joseph, we find ourselves in a pit
21:27 is that it causes us to look up.
21:30 Before he was thrown into the pit,
21:32 he had grown up with a daddy who trusted in God.
21:35 As a matter of fact you probably read in the Bible,
21:37 the God of who?
21:39 Of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
21:43 They were men known for their faith.
21:45 But now Joseph find himself having to question
21:49 whether God had abandoned him, having to question
21:51 whether to just leave behind all of this God stuff,
21:56 or whether to make his relationship
21:59 with God his own.
22:00 And he had to decide and he made a decision.
22:02 I'm convinced that Joseph probably
22:06 on the journey to Egypt
22:07 had to make the decision that you know what?
22:09 The God of Jacob, the God of Abraham,
22:12 the God of Isaac that's going to be my God,
22:14 that's the God of Joseph.
22:17 He had to make it real.
22:21 God has no grandchildren,
22:23 you've probably heard that before.
22:24 He only has children.
22:26 And Joseph decided to hold on to the Lord.
22:31 The second part of the verse
22:33 makes even less sense, watch this.
22:36 Verse 2, it says, "And he was a prosperous man."
22:42 Now how does that make any sense, you tell me,
22:44 how was Joseph a prosperous man?
22:48 I mean, he used to have it good back in his father's house.
22:52 When he had servants
22:54 that would serve him and his little brother,
22:55 when they were nice and pampered,
22:57 when he walked around in a Gucci tunic,
22:59 he had it good.
23:02 But now he has been relegated, reduced to being a slave,
23:07 he doesn't own anything himself.
23:11 He himself is the property of another individual.
23:13 Please tell me, how can that be considered prosperous?
23:18 Easy, you got to revert back to that first line
23:21 because God was with him.
23:27 You see, I've realized that preacher sometimes will do
23:30 a lot of hooping and hollering about
23:32 how if you get right with the Lord,
23:34 he will rain down blessings on you.
23:36 If you are generous in your giving,
23:37 then your cup will overflow.
23:41 And generally when folks get to preaching
23:42 about prosperity, what are we talking about?
23:46 Material gain.
23:48 We're talking about it from a material standpoint.
23:50 However in God's perspective,
23:53 true prosperity is not about what you have,
23:55 true prosperity is about who you have.
23:59 Therefore if you have nothing but you got God by your side,
24:03 then you've got it all.
24:06 And if you've got it all but you're lacking God,
24:09 then, buddy, trust me you ain't got nothing.
24:13 The verse seems contradictory on the surface
24:15 to call an adolescent boy a prosperous man.
24:20 At this point Joseph is only 17 years old.
24:22 But age doesn't make you a man,
24:25 and money doesn't make you rich.
24:29 Some of the wealthiest people I know
24:32 would not consider themselves prosperous
24:36 because there is much that is missing,
24:38 and much to be desired still in their lives.
24:42 It's not about what you have, friends,
24:43 it's about who you have.
24:45 We continue reading in verse 3, it says,
24:48 "And his master saw that the Lord was with him,
24:51 and that the Lord made all that he had
24:54 to prosper in his hand."
24:56 I love how it points out that his master took notice
25:00 that the Lord was with him.
25:02 It doesn't say that Joseph had to point it out to him.
25:04 His life testified to the fact
25:07 that he had a relationship with God.
25:10 You know for as much scriptures as we can quote,
25:14 for as much as we can post a Bible verse
25:18 on our social media accounts, and we can name, jot God.
25:21 I wonder whether people would be able to deduce
25:24 that we were Christians
25:26 without us having to say anything
25:29 by just observing us from day to day.
25:31 I wonder if our neighbors and our coworkers
25:33 would be able to draw these conclusions
25:35 for themselves.
25:37 The Bible does say after all that by their fruits
25:40 you shall know them.
25:43 The verse says that his master notice
25:44 that the Lord made all that he did prosper.
25:47 There was something different about Joseph,
25:49 it didn't matter where he put him, it prospered.
25:53 He put him out in the field to tend to the garden
25:57 and everything just seemed to flourish.
26:00 He put him over in the shop to work on the chariot,
26:04 it seems like everything had extra horse power.
26:06 He put him out in the kitchen to look over the chefs
26:10 and everything was never had tasted better.
26:13 Joseph had that golden touch,
26:16 whatever you put in his hands turned into gold.
26:21 See we ought to look at his prosperity
26:23 as God's means of blessing us.
26:25 However maybe our prosperity which we've already defined
26:30 as having God with us is God's means
26:33 of blessing others through us.
26:37 But here's a question worth thinking about.
26:40 Is my relationship with God
26:42 a blessing to the people around me?
26:45 Does my work place, my community,
26:48 my neighborhood, my local church,
26:51 do they benefit as a result of the fact
26:55 that I am a Christian and that I am there.
26:58 Does my integrity, does my character,
27:01 my work ethic and willingness to participate
27:03 shine in the places where God would have me
27:06 be even if I am not in the place
27:08 where I would like to be like Joseph.
27:13 Can onlookers see that the Lord is with me
27:17 and then my environment prospers as a result?
27:22 Let's jump to verse 4. I'm reading verse 4-6.
27:25 It says, "And Joseph found grace in his sight,
27:29 and served him, and made him overseer of his house,
27:33 and all that he had he put into his hand.
27:35 And it came to pass from the time that
27:37 he had made him overseer in the house,
27:40 and over all that he had, that the Lord
27:42 blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake.
27:45 And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had
27:49 in the house, and in the field.
27:51 And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand,
27:53 and he knew not ought he had,
27:56 save the bread which he did eat.
27:59 And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored."
28:03 There is a whole lot there, I want to start
28:05 by looking at that last line, it says,
28:08 "That he was a goodly person and well favored."
28:10 You know, we often talk about
28:11 being blessed and highly favored.
28:13 But sometimes we talk about it as though we have some kind of
28:17 preferential treatment because of the fact that
28:19 as Christians we drop into church once a week
28:26 and we profess to follow the Lord.
28:29 However in this verse we see that Joseph's favors
28:31 directly connected to his character.
28:34 And then he's finding favor in the eyes of his master
28:37 because of who he is as a result of
28:40 his connection with the Lord.
28:43 Potiphar decides that he's going to entrust Joseph
28:46 with everything he has,
28:48 after all why wouldn't he, right?
28:49 Everything that touches Joseph's hand prospers.
28:53 The verse said that he had no reason
28:55 to question Joseph, to check up on Joseph.
28:58 He didn't have to double check Joseph's work.
28:59 He didn't have to check his punch card to make sure
29:01 he wouldn't stealing out with the job.
29:03 He didn't have to run audit on Joseph's taxes.
29:06 I'm being facetious, I'm making it practical to us
29:08 but he didn't have to run an audit to see
29:12 if he was lying on his taxes, right?
29:14 See this is what we call integrity, friends.
29:19 And it's what we call prosperity
29:20 having God with you.
29:22 If God is truly with me, if I acknowledge that
29:23 God is with me, then I realize that it doesn't matter
29:27 what man is able to catch me in.
29:30 I would not compromise my character
29:32 because the Lord is with me, no matter what.
29:34 So I don't have to run around scared that
29:38 my teacher may find out that I cheated,
29:40 that my boss might find out
29:42 that I added extra hours to my time clock,
29:46 that I don't have to run around scared that
29:48 I may have left my computer or my phone unlocked,
29:51 and my wife may find something
29:55 troubling on my account
29:59 because the Lord is with me and what I do,
30:01 I don't do out of fear for man, I do it out of love for God.
30:09 So while Joseph may not have owned anything,
30:14 God provided for all his needs.
30:17 Check it out, he was young and gifted, he ate well,
30:21 in all likelihood he lived in luxury,
30:22 he probably dressed well, he probably drove
30:25 a late model chariot fully equipped.
30:28 I know we like to have the title to the car,
30:31 I know we want to have the deed to the house.
30:33 But you know what?
30:35 God provides for all of our needs,
30:36 and best of all He's there with us through it all,
30:38 is that not enough?
30:41 And in some cases as in Joseph's case
30:42 as a result of his fidelity, the Lord had him living better
30:46 than most of the Egyptians despite being a slave.
30:49 And he had him living better than most of the world
30:53 to be quite honest even at a very young age.
30:57 Now I wish I could say it was all blessings for Joseph
31:02 but there was an area in his life when he was cursed.
31:06 Some of you might be able to relate with it, I can.
31:10 Joseph was cursed with good looks.
31:13 Joseph was cursed with good looks.
31:16 Let me explain how that could be a curse?
31:18 And some of you already know where I'm going.
31:20 See Joseph's mother, we told in the Bible
31:22 is very beautiful.
31:24 And his grandmother were told in Bible
31:25 was very beautiful on his father's side.
31:28 And his great grandmother on his father side,
31:31 we're told was so beautiful
31:32 that his great grandfather Abraham had lied
31:36 because he was afraid he might be killed by a king
31:39 who wanted to take her from him.
31:40 And she was 65 years old at the time.
31:44 So not only was the young man Joseph honorable,
31:48 trustworthy, and prosperous
31:51 but physically speaking he also had genetic advantages.
31:56 Well, this is a fact that was not lost
31:58 on his master's wife unfortunately.
32:02 She took notice and she began lusting after the boy.
32:05 And made a series of attempts to lure him
32:07 into sexual misconduct.
32:10 But he refused telling her...
32:12 We'll pick up in verse 9.
32:14 Genesis 39:9, "There is none greater in this house
32:18 than I, neither hath he..."
32:20 Talking about Potiphar...
32:21 "Kept back any thing from me but thee,
32:24 because thou art his wife: how then can I do
32:27 this great wickedness, and sin against Potiphar, my master?"
32:33 Is that what he said?
32:34 No, you got to read your Bible,
32:36 don't even trust what the screen says.
32:38 You got to read your Bible.
32:39 It says, "How can I do this great wickedness,
32:41 and sin against God?"
32:45 Look here's what we have to understand,
32:48 Joseph was a hard worker, honest, dependable, respectful,
32:53 not because he feared the consequences
32:55 from his master but rather because he loved God,
32:58 and he lived his life before the audience of one.
33:03 Therefore despite having every opportunity
33:06 to take advantage of the situation,
33:07 he declined out of respect for God,
33:10 not out of fear for man.
33:14 He repeatedly turned down her advances.
33:17 But one day things got ugly for the pretty boy.
33:21 Look at verse 11, 12.
33:23 It says, "And it came to pass about this time,
33:25 that Joseph went into the house to do his business,
33:29 and there was none of the men of the house there within.
33:33 And she caught him by his garment,
33:35 saying, 'Lie with me.'
33:36 And he left his garment in her hand,
33:38 and he fled and got him out."
33:41 You know what Joseph response
33:42 was the only appropriate response
33:44 in such a scenario.
33:46 Psychology, if you've ever had to take it in college
33:49 teaches the fight or flight response.
33:54 Some of you guys are familiar with it.
33:56 The fight or flight response.
33:59 It says that when the heart gets the beating,
34:01 when the adrenaline gets going,
34:02 you find yourself in a compromising situation,
34:04 your natural inclination is to either run or stay
34:09 and fight, and stand your ground.
34:12 And I say Joseph's response was the only appropriate one
34:15 because despite the fact that today
34:17 he would probably be ridiculed for what he had done.
34:21 In his day he was probably ridiculed for what he had done.
34:26 He realized that if he stayed and fought the urge,
34:29 he may very well fall.
34:31 So instead he did the only appropriate thing
34:33 and he ran.
34:37 Isn't it sad how often we're willing to run
34:39 into temptation as opposed to run from temptation...
34:45 At the expense of what?
34:47 At the expense of our values, at the expense of our families,
34:50 of our livelihoods, sometimes of our own freedom.
34:55 How many homes, how many careers,
34:57 how many friendships,
35:01 how many lives could be salvaged,
35:03 would have been salvaged if we only knew
35:05 how to flee from temptation rather than sit there
35:08 and try to fight temptation presumptuously?
35:10 The sad thing in Joseph's case was that Potiphar's wife
35:14 accused him of trying to sexually assault her.
35:17 And when Potiphar came home,
35:19 she shared her false accusations about Joseph.
35:23 We read about it in 19, 20.
35:26 It said, "And it came to pass, when the master heard
35:30 the words of his wife,
35:32 which she spake unto him saying,
35:34 after this manner did thy servant to me,
35:37 that his wrath was kindled."
35:40 And Joseph's master took him, and put him in prison,
35:42 a place where the king's prisoners
35:44 were bound, and he was there in the prison.
35:49 Now we have to believe that Potiphar's anger was kindled
35:54 not at Joseph but at who?
35:57 But at his wife.
36:00 See, he already knew the character of Joseph.
36:03 And if he had believed that Joseph was capable
36:06 of such a thing, Joseph would have lost his life,
36:08 after all he was just a slave.
36:10 But in order to spare himself any further embarrassment,
36:12 he wanted to take in Joseph and placing him in prison.
36:17 Now this is the second time that Joseph finds himself
36:21 facing a completely unfair consequence
36:24 through no fault of his own.
36:27 He went from being a slave who had worked himself
36:29 up in the ranks to the point of overseeing
36:32 the entire property of this wealthy
36:37 and empowered individual Potiphar,
36:39 to now being a prisoner on the very same grounds
36:42 that he used to manage.
36:44 This must have been devastating for Joseph.
36:47 And once again the Bible makes the same crazy claim
36:51 in verse 21 of chapter 39.
36:54 It says, "That the Lord was with Joseph."
36:59 Once again in a similar situation
37:02 how would we feel?
37:04 I don't know if anybody else here has ever found himself
37:06 in shackles for something they didn't do.
37:10 And the first thing that happens
37:12 is you start to question, is there a God,
37:16 'cause why would He allow this injustice.
37:18 It's probably somebody out there watching right now
37:20 who has been falsely incarcerated
37:22 or who is falsely incarcerated.
37:23 And you say, "Where is God?"
37:25 Once again we would question, where is the Lord?
37:29 Has He possibly abandoned us?
37:31 However the reality is this, in Joseph situation
37:34 that God actually spared Joseph's life
37:38 for the second time.
37:40 Think about it, the first time
37:41 what did his brothers initially want to do
37:43 rather than throw him in the pit.
37:45 They wanted to kill him.
37:47 This time around when Potiphar's wife lied on Joseph,
37:51 he should've gotten what?
37:53 The death penalty.
37:55 But God has spared him for the second time
37:57 because God was with him, and his master knew that,
38:04 he knew he wasn't capable of such a thing.
38:06 So he wind up getting a lesser charge,
38:08 even while it may not have been the most pleasurable thing
38:13 or definitely was not something Joseph was desiring.
38:15 Now let's read verse 21-22.
38:18 It says, "But the Lord was with Joseph,
38:21 and shewed him mercy, and gave him favor
38:24 in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
38:27 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand
38:30 all the prisoners that were in the prison,
38:32 and whatsoever he did there, he was the doer of it."
38:37 Look, I'm just going to be honest.
38:39 There's a part of me that wishes that Joseph
38:42 when he got into that prison and just started to revolt.
38:45 That he would have gone in there,
38:46 rallied up the troops, and gone wild.
38:48 But you know what?
38:50 God's ways are not our ways.
38:53 God has a way to say that we know not of.
38:57 Joseph's character spoke volumes.
39:00 And it didn't take long before the keeper of the prison
39:03 was able to see in Joseph the very same thing
39:07 that Potiphar had seen earlier.
39:09 So he started entrusting Joseph with everything.
39:11 And then we read in verse 23.
39:14 "The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that
39:18 was under his hand, because the Lord was with him,
39:22 and that which he did, the Lord made to" what?
39:26 "To prosper."
39:28 There was that "P" word again, prosper.
39:33 How do you prosper in prison?
39:36 Was he stockpiling or commissary?
39:39 He had more honey buns, burritos in,
39:41 and cigarettes than anybody else.
39:43 Was he cranking out license plates
39:44 faster than anybody else in the county?
39:50 I don't know, I can't tell you
39:51 how it was that he was prospering.
39:52 But wherever you put Joseph, it was blessed,
39:56 the results were seen.
39:58 The keeper of the prison put his keys in Joseph's hand,
40:02 he walked out, he says, "I'm taking a vacation,
40:04 do me a favor man, please don't run off.
40:06 I don't even know what I'd tell Potiphar.
40:08 But I know you can be trusted."
40:10 He entrusted Joseph's...
40:15 integrity.
40:18 It will get you'd probably say, "He's still locked up."
40:23 We'll see, hold on.
40:25 Now we mentioned a moment ago that it's possible that
40:27 the Lord prospers us not simply to bless us but to what?
40:32 But to bless others through us.
40:35 So we're told that during his stint in prison
40:38 that Joseph met two prisoners, one of them was formally
40:43 the chief butler for Pharaoh,
40:48 and the other one was formerly Pharaoh's chief baker.
40:52 One day Joseph noticed that they were troubled,
40:55 and he asked them about, he asked them
40:57 why are you guys so disturbed.
41:01 And he told them about troubling dreams
41:04 that they both have had.
41:05 Joseph asked them to recount the dreams to him
41:08 knowing that if God so chose he could reveal
41:13 the interpretations of those dreams to him.
41:17 So they both confided their dreams to Joseph.
41:20 The chief butler and Joseph went to God,
41:24 and he got the interpretation for.
41:25 He told them, he told the chief butler
41:27 that he would be released after three days.
41:30 He would be released and restored to his position.
41:33 However he told him, "Hey, man,
41:34 when you get out don't forget about me.
41:37 When you get out, don't forget about me."
41:39 And then to the chief baker he revealed the dream
41:42 and he said, "Unfortunately, you two are going to
41:46 get out of the prison but he would get out
41:49 by having lost his head after three days."
41:52 Well, sure enough Joseph's interpretations
41:55 all came to fruition.
41:57 After three days the baker was executed
42:00 but the butler was restored to his position.
42:02 Now what do you think was the first thing
42:04 that butler did when he got out.
42:07 He remember his boy Joseph, right?
42:10 Of course not.
42:12 I hate to say but when people are in a box,
42:15 you tend to forget about them.
42:17 That's a society and that hasn't changed
42:19 in all of these years
42:20 Joseph was completely forgotten about,
42:22 that is until two years later which to us,
42:27 "Oh, two years flies."
42:28 But imagine for Joseph how long that time felt.
42:31 Until two years later when Pharaoh himself
42:34 had a troubling dream which none of the wise men
42:37 could interpret,
42:38 then the chief priest remember, that dude Joseph.
42:44 He told Pharaoh that there was a man in the prison
42:46 by the name of Joseph
42:48 who had the ability to interpret dreams.
42:50 And he told them how he had interpreted
42:51 his dream as well as the bakers.
42:54 So Pharaoh had Joseph brought out of the prison.
42:59 We read about it in, we're jumping to Genesis 41.
43:04 We read about in 15, 16.
43:06 It says, "And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
43:08 I have dreamed a dream,
43:11 and there is none that can interpret it:
43:14 and I have heard say of thee,
43:16 that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it."
43:19 And Joseph answered Pharaoh saying,
43:20 "It is not in me, but God shall give Pharaoh
43:24 an answer of peace."
43:27 So Pharaoh told Joseph his troubling dream
43:30 and immediately God gave Joseph the interpretation.
43:32 He told them, you know what?
43:34 You guys are going to have seven years of great abundance
43:37 followed by seven years of great famine.
43:40 And he told him what he needed to do.
43:42 He said, "You know what? You need to...
43:44 During the seven years of abundance,
43:46 save a portion of that which you guys get
43:51 in order to last you during the seven years of famine.
43:55 And you need to find somebody wise
43:58 to put in charge of this whole operation
44:01 because your livelihood is going to depend on it."
44:04 We see Pharaoh's response in verse 37.
44:11 We'll be reading down to verse 44,
44:12 but we'll be pausing.
44:13 Verse 37 says, "And the thing was good
44:16 in the eyes of Pharaoh,
44:18 and in the eyes of all his servants."
44:20 Verse 38, "And Pharaoh said unto his servants,
44:23 'Can we find such a one as this,
44:25 a man in whom is the Spirit of God?'"
44:30 What powerful words.
44:33 A heathen ruler who considers himself a God
44:36 saying, can we find such a man as this,
44:39 point to Joseph and saying,
44:40 a man in whom is the Spirit of God.
44:44 Oh, that the same thing would be said of us.
44:47 Has somebody ever walked up to you
44:49 or converse with you and say, "You know what?
44:51 I just feel like I can talk to you,
44:53 there's something different about you."
44:55 Has somebody ever said, "You know what?
44:57 I see something different in your face,
44:59 it's as though it shines."
45:00 This was Joseph's experience.
45:02 This is the experience when you have prosperity,
45:06 real prosperity meaning what?
45:09 God is with you.
45:11 He's been in the presence of God
45:12 all these years through good and through bad.
45:14 Well, really through bad and through bad.
45:17 Through trial after trial.
45:18 And now Pharaoh notices in him the same thing
45:21 that the keeper of the prison did,
45:22 the same thing that Potiphar had,
45:25 that there is some special about this man
45:27 and he can be entrusted with much.
45:31 Verse 39, "And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
45:34 for as much as God has showed the all this,
45:36 there is none so discreet and wise as thou art.
45:40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word
45:44 shall all my people be ruled only in the throne
45:47 will I be greater than thou.
45:48 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
45:50 'See, I have set the over the land of Egypt.'
45:53 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand,
45:57 and put it on Joseph's hand,
45:58 and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen,
46:03 and put a gold chain about his neck.
46:06 And he made him to ride in the second chariot
46:09 which he had, and they cried before him..."
46:13 Talking about the people.
46:14 "Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over
46:17 all the land of Egypt.
46:18 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, 'I am Pharaoh,
46:20 and without thee shall no man lift his hand or foot
46:24 in all the land of Egypt.'"
46:27 This is an incredible turn of events.
46:29 Imagine this amount of power being given to a man
46:34 who just days earlier was away, was a convict, a prisoner,
46:40 a man who just years earlier was a what?
46:43 A slave.
46:44 And now he is the second most powerful man
46:47 in all the world and arguably we can say,
46:49 he was the most powerful man in all the world
46:51 because he is the one who made all the decisions.
46:55 Incredible turn of events.
46:58 Pharaoh, a pagan ruler
47:00 had testify out of his own mouth,
47:03 that he had seen God in him.
47:05 What did it say he did?
47:06 It said, he took and put a robe,
47:09 a kingly robe on him.
47:11 He put what on his hand? A ring.
47:14 He put what around his neck?
47:16 A chain. Think about this.
47:18 How did the story start with his brothers?
47:20 What did they do before they threw him in the pit?
47:22 Whether they stripped off him?
47:24 They stripped off his robe, right?
47:26 And now when a story ends, he's got an even better one,
47:30 one that comes with authority.
47:34 When the story started, when his hardship started,
47:37 he was what?
47:38 He was enchained, right, as a slave.
47:41 And now what he gets at the end?
47:44 He gets a chain to prove his authority.
47:50 And here goes a crazy, crazy, crazy fact.
47:57 Well, it made no sense to me when I read about Joseph
48:03 being a slave is that he said that
48:05 he was a prosperous man.
48:08 And then when he becomes a prisoner once again
48:10 he repeats what?
48:12 It says he's a prosperous man.
48:15 You know when it's the only time in his experience
48:17 that I was able to see that the Bible didn't refer to him
48:19 as a prosperous man?
48:21 Now that he was completely empowered.
48:24 Now that he was the second in charge.
48:26 Now that he had the gold chain, the ring, the robe.
48:30 Second in command.
48:33 Second most powerful man in all the world.
48:35 And he doesn't even mention that
48:36 he's a prosperous man, why?
48:38 'Cause at this point you should already know.
48:41 Lest you mistake prosperity with money
48:44 'cause prosperity once again is not what?
48:47 Is not what you have, prosperity is who you have,
48:51 because God wants us to understand this
48:53 that despite your circumstances or setting,
48:55 you can be prosperous.
48:56 Whether you were pampered by your parents
48:58 or whether you grew up in the pits of poverty,
49:02 you can have prosperity.
49:04 Whether you're in the penthouse
49:05 or whether you're in the poorhouse,
49:07 you can have prosperity.
49:09 Whether you're in prison or whether you're in a palace,
49:13 you can have prosperity.
49:14 Whether you're in paradise
49:15 or whether you're in the projects.
49:17 I can keep saying peace but I don't want
49:18 to keep spitting over the front row.
49:20 The point is, you can have prosperity
49:23 right there in your situation
49:25 because if you have God with you, you have it all.
49:30 It's not about what you have, friends,
49:32 it's about who we have.
49:36 Now you see when Joseph became the second most powerful man
49:40 in the world and the great famine hit.
49:44 God revealed to the world
49:48 why He had made Joseph a prosperous man.
49:51 Once again we mentioned earlier
49:52 prosperity is having God with you.
49:54 But why is it that God prosperous?
49:55 Why is it that He blesses us to do what?
49:59 So that He can bless others through us.
50:02 And this is exactly what Joseph did.
50:06 Not only that he saved Egypt by the storehouses...
50:13 that accumulated the grain under seven years of abundance,
50:16 he saved the surrounding region.
50:19 But not only that he saved their neighbors
50:22 the surrounding region who wind up coming into Egypt
50:26 for those of you who know the story,
50:27 who wind up coming into Egypt when the famine hit?
50:32 His brothers, the very ones that had sold him into slavery.
50:35 He wind up saving his brothers. He wind up saving his father.
50:39 He wind up saving his neighbors.
50:41 He wind up saving the very Egyptians
50:43 that had him as a slave.
50:44 He wind up saving the very individual
50:46 that put him in prison,
50:47 'cause he was a prosperous man and God gave him prosperity
50:50 that he might bless others through him.
50:53 God wind up saving a substantial portion
50:55 of the world through Joseph.
50:58 And you wonder why am I going to this trial in my life?
51:01 Because God is trying to get you ready
51:02 for something incredible that requires preparation.
51:07 Why can I get nowhere in life?
51:10 Well, why don't we be faithful to the Lord
51:12 in the little things.
51:13 Be faithful to the Lord
51:15 when you feel like a slave with your job.
51:17 In the small things be faithful to the Lord,
51:20 in prison and let Him pull you
51:22 and do something incredible with you.
51:25 Be faithful in the little thing that God might be able
51:27 to entrust you with the big things.
51:28 Man, it is beautiful that God used this situation,
51:34 the whole time He choreographed this situation,
51:37 He allowed these things to happen
51:39 to bring about great good.
51:40 That's what we read in Genesis 50:20.
51:44 Joseph's saying, "But as for you..."
51:46 Talking to his brothers now.
51:48 He says, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me,
51:51 but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass,
51:55 as it is this day, to save much people alive."
52:02 Friends, this is why God wants a relationship with you
52:06 not so you can be know more than your neighbor
52:09 about the Bible,
52:10 not so we can puff our chest up and feel righteous.
52:13 God wants a relationship with us
52:15 so that He can bless others through us
52:18 'cause He's coming soon.
52:19 But He doesn't just want us to be ready,
52:21 He wants us to bless our neighbors,
52:22 He wants to bless those who persecute us,
52:24 He wants to utilize us to save our very own family members.
52:32 I close with the story, another "kid story."
52:38 It's called the goose who laid the golden egg.
52:41 I'll say the chicken who laid...
52:42 How about that chicken?
52:44 The chicken who laid the golden egg,
52:45 you might have heard it.
52:47 See there was a farmer, right?
52:48 And he had a barn
52:50 I think that's where you keep chickens, right?
52:52 I'm from the city, sorry.
52:54 He was a farmer, he had a barn, and he went over there,
52:57 and he would go every day, and he'd pick up,
52:58 and he collected chickens, I mean the eggs.
53:01 He would lift up every chicken, he would collect the eggs,
53:03 I believe that's how it goes.
53:05 And one day, as he was doing his routine,
53:08 he picked up one chicken or goose
53:12 and lo and behold, it had laid a golden egg,
53:19 and he couldn't believe it.
53:21 He couldn't believe it. He got it, he looked at it.
53:25 Flip the thing around, put it back down,
53:28 and he went home, he showed his wife,
53:30 and he was elated.
53:31 He went, and I'm sure it didn't take long
53:33 before he went and sold it.
53:35 And then next day
53:36 when he comes to pick up his eggs,
53:39 he lifts up the chickens, he picks up all the eggs,
53:41 and he gets to that one chicken,
53:43 and he thinks to himself...
53:44 Oh, sorry I was on this side, right?
53:46 He gets that one goose and he thinks...
53:47 the chicken sorry and he thinks to himself,
53:49 "Wouldn't it be crazy
53:50 if there was another golden egg,"
53:52 then he picked it up and sure enough
53:54 there was another golden egg.
53:55 And he took it, and he went home,
53:56 and he was ecstatic.
53:58 The next day he could hardly sleep.
54:00 He could hardly sleep, he just waited until,
54:02 soon as the sun came out he ran over
54:04 to check this chicken and sure enough
54:05 another golden egg.
54:07 He's not even picking up the other eggs.
54:08 He's just going for the golden egg.
54:12 That night he couldn't even sleep
54:14 in his own bed, he just came out,
54:15 and he sprawled out right there in the barn.
54:18 Soon as he woke up the first thing he did
54:20 was pick up that chicken, he grabbed it,
54:21 he checked the golden egg, he said, "Beautiful."
54:23 Well, he started becoming so greedy and ambitious
54:26 for wealth and for self prospering
54:28 that one day he walked in there,
54:30 and he reach in his back pocket,
54:31 and he pulled out a big old sharp knife.
54:34 And he grabbed that chicken and he says, "Sorry, buddy,
54:36 but you've got a gold making factory
54:39 inside that body somehow and I got to get through it."
54:43 And he slit that chicken open, tore it apart,
54:50 and to his dismay
54:52 there was nothing out of the ordinary,
54:53 it was just an ordinary chicken.
54:58 However what had he done
55:02 with his fountain of blessing?
55:04 He had killed it.
55:07 You know in the pursuit for riches, for wealth,
55:12 sometimes for prosperity we wind up dissecting
55:17 and severing the most important things in life,
55:20 our very fountain of blessing,
55:23 or we're trying to accumulate wealth sometimes,
55:26 we become careless about our families
55:30 those who matter most.
55:34 While we work nine to five and put in extra hours,
55:38 and make time to pay the bills.
55:41 We negate our time with the Lord
55:44 through prayer and study.
55:49 In our great rush to advance and get ahead in life,
55:54 we let go of what is most important oftentimes,
55:58 our relationship with God.
56:00 God is the source of every blessing.
56:04 But it doesn't always come in the form of gold.
56:10 It doesn't always come in the form of currency, of money.
56:14 Friends, I appeal to you to make a decision
56:20 to follow Jesus with all your heart,
56:23 to be prosperous in its real sense
56:25 having God with you, to allow God to enrich your life
56:31 with the purpose of blessing others through you.
56:35 I don't know what your social economic situation is.
56:40 I've been all over the place, I've had highs, I've had lows,
56:45 but I tell you something, I've never felt richer
56:48 than I feel right now.
56:49 And that's on the pastor's salary
56:50 which I can promise you is not great.
56:52 I've never felt richer, wealthier than I do now
56:58 because the Lord has restored my family
57:00 when our situation used to be chaotic
57:02 and dysfunctional.
57:04 And this came as a result of trusting in Him
57:06 and allowing Him to reign in our home.
57:09 I've never felt in better health
57:13 because the Lord has been with me.
57:15 He has shown me that He is there with me
57:17 through thick and thin.
57:20 Friends, I want to appeal to you
57:23 to look for the Lord Jesus Christ
57:25 to make Him your everything,
57:28 to allow the Lord to infiltrate your life
57:31 in such a way that everything else
57:32 becomes secondary.
57:34 God bless you all.


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Revised 2017-11-20