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Grateful, Even When Life has been Painful (Psalm 105:1-2, 16-22)
34 Plays1 year ago
Sunday Message recorded 19 November 2023
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church -- Columbus TX
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
Amen.
The Biblical Theme of Thankfulness
00:00:07
Speaker
Well, happy Thanksgiving. Tell you what, we're so excited to be here today to praise and thank the Lord for His goodness to each one of us. Do you know that thankfulness actually runs throughout the scriptures? In the Old Testament, the word thankfulness or thanks, thanksgiving, it's mentioned 102 times and in the New Testament, 71 times.
00:00:30
Speaker
That's why we definitely are thankful people. We're very grateful today for our blessings. And like Josh was saying earlier, we invite you to join us around the tables after this service in the Family Life Center to enjoy some delicious food and to count our blessings together. I was already blessed when I noticed pumpkin pies on the dessert table.
00:00:52
Speaker
It's a little bit difficult when the Hostess Committee declined to put my name on each one of those pumpkin pies. But anyway, I'm so thankful for God's goodness. You know, it is hard whenever you want to be grateful, but let's say the year has been painful.
Gratitude Letters of the 1930s
00:01:08
Speaker
That's the way it was back in the 1930s. There was a pastor in the United States who, like many others, were suffering with the economy. It was down at that time. Economic depression.
00:01:23
Speaker
So he thought, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna try to look on the bright side by thanking the people who have influenced me throughout my life. So he just sat down and he wrote a few letters and he sent them off and he received one letter unusually quickly. It came back to him. Here's what the letter said. It said, dear Willie, I can't tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my 80s now, living alone in a small room, cooking meals for one,
00:01:53
Speaker
lonely like the last leaf of autumn lingering behind. You'll be interested to know that I taught school for more than 50 years and yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue cold morning and it cheered me as nothing has done in my many years. Isn't that sweet?
00:02:18
Speaker
It's ironic sometimes whenever we choose to be grateful even though it's painful. You may be the boost that someone else needs.
Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving
00:02:27
Speaker
Like Justice Hyde read to us earlier, you know the legacy of our national tradition of Thanksgiving can be traced all the way back to Thanksgiving to Plymouth, 1621. Based on the writings of pilgrims like Edward Winslow and William Bradford, these were real men.
00:02:48
Speaker
Their gratefulness in 1621 had been preceded by 16 months of hardships. 58 of the 102 passengers in
Thanksgiving in the Psalms
00:02:58
Speaker
the Mayflower had died of starvation, of scurvy, or of the harsh conditions during their first winter. Yet they, along with 90 from the Wampanoag tribe, chose to give thanks for the blessings and to share some of those blessings with one another.
00:03:19
Speaker
See, the pilgrims refer to giving thanks 37 times. The most frequent in scripture
00:03:30
Speaker
is the Psalms. More than any other book in the whole Bible, Psalms is definitely going to lead you in the direction of thanksgiving. In terms of the highest concentration, we could look at Colossians in the New Testament. Colossians only has four chapters, but nine times in those four chapters, it mentions being thankful.
00:03:51
Speaker
You know Psalm 105 is where we're going to be today. I want to invite you, if you would, to turn to that Psalm. Psalm 105 begins by calling us to give thanks to the Lord for what he has done. It says, O give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, sing to him, sing praises to him, tell of all his wondrous works.
00:04:17
Speaker
So you can see right away that the emphasis there is thank God for what he's done. Has he done things for you this year, 2023?
00:04:28
Speaker
But the Psalm right after this, when Psalm 106 calls us to thank God, not for what he's done, but for simply who he is. Have you ever had a hard time getting started in giving thanks? I think if you were to list some of the characteristics of God, Psalm 106 begins verse one saying, oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. For his steadfast love endures forever.
00:04:55
Speaker
And it goes on and tells more and more of how we can give thanks to the Lord. So the Psalm we're going to look at says, I'm going to give thanks because of his mighty deeds, his actions.
Joseph's Journey of Gratitude
00:05:06
Speaker
The Psalm right after this one, Psalm 106, says I'm going to give thanks because of his attributes. Do you know that Thanksgiving is actually commanded? It's something that's God's will for our lives as we finish out this year.
00:05:21
Speaker
You know, this Psalm and the Psalm after it, Psalm 106, but also one quite a ways before it, Psalm 78, those three are called historical Psalms, historical Psalms. What they're going to do, they're going to review God's mighty acts in the history of the nation of Israel.
00:05:40
Speaker
So what I'm saying is all of this really happened. This is not make-believe. These things actually took place. And so this psalm that we're going to look at, Psalm 105, is going to recount 500 years of God's faithfulness. Perhaps in your family there's a legacy that has been passed down from generation to generation.
00:06:05
Speaker
Now I don't want the food to get cold down the hall. So we're going to limit our Thanksgiving text to just seven verses in Psalm 105. And we're just going to look at one man and his life. So you can start out your Thanksgiving celebrations. I'm so thankful I do not have a long winded preacher. I have got a short winded preacher.
00:06:29
Speaker
I want you to listen as I read Psalm 105, skipping all the way down from that command, that exhortation to give thanks, to talking about one man and what his life was like when he gave thanks. Would you stand in honor of God's word? I'm gonna begin with verse 16 and read down through verse 22. We're gonna be looking at the life of Joseph in the Old Testament. When he summoned a famine on the land,
00:06:59
Speaker
and broke all supply of bread. He had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. His feet were hurt with fetters. His neck was put in a collar of iron until what he had said came to pass. The word of the Lord tested him. The king sent and released him. The ruler of the peoples set him free.
00:07:27
Speaker
He made him Lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions, to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom. Let's go to the father in prayer. Would you join me? Lord, I thank you so much for what we can learn from your mighty deeds in history, what we can learn from those passages in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, because these things really took place
00:07:57
Speaker
And you really are there. You're working out your plan, even if we can't see it. And so I thank you so much for what you want to say to us today. Lord, one of my responsibilities that you've given to me as the pastor is to equip the body of Christ. And so Lord, I ask you, would you help me to equip the body of Christ this day so that on Thanksgiving Day, they're ready?
00:08:24
Speaker
They're ready to give thanks even if it's been a difficult year. Help them still say there are things for which I can give thanks. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. I want us to look at four things today that are found in these verses and then we'll mosey on down the hall.
00:08:46
Speaker
The first one is this, can you thank God for His providence? Can you thank Him for His providence? When you look at verse 16, it begins with this really harsh word, famine. We know what that's like to have a famine, to go through long stretches here in South Texas where there's no rain.
00:09:06
Speaker
But it says here in verse 16, when he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread. We also know what it's like when the supply chain breaks down. But you know, the Bible speaks about 13 famines throughout from Genesis all the way through the book of Revelation. This famine is mentioned in Genesis chapter 41 verses 50 through 57.
00:09:35
Speaker
You see, Joseph had been falsely accused and he had been thrown into prison. So Genesis 40 interprets two prisoners' dreams. Joseph says, tell me the dream. I'll see if God gives me the interpretation. And he did. And so these two men were given the interpretation of their dreams. And it happened exactly like Joseph said. But Joseph said, you know what's going to happen?
00:10:05
Speaker
He said, there's gonna be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. Pharaoh had had a dream, and he cried out to this man who could understand dreams, and he said, I'm told you know how to interpret dreams. And Joseph said, only if God gives me that insight and that ability, can I tell you what your dream means. But whenever the Pharaoh of Egypt described it to Joseph, Joseph said, you know what?
00:10:34
Speaker
It says seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. That's what these dreams mean. But the issue I wanted you to see in verse 16 is who caused the famine? Look with me at verse 16. When he summoned a famine on the land, could you summon a famine? This obviously is not talking about Joseph summoning a famine. This is talking about Almighty God summoning a famine.
00:11:01
Speaker
If you want to hold your place, we'll be right back, but I want to show you something in Genesis 41 and verse 25. In Genesis 41 and verse 25, it says, then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
00:11:24
Speaker
So Joseph knew early on God is telling the Pharaoh of Egypt, he's going to sin seven years of plenty, and then he's going to sin seven years of famine. Drop down to verse 28.
00:11:37
Speaker
Once again, he says, it is as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. Wouldn't that be amazing to know what God is going to do? That's why the word of God is written so that we can know what God is about to do. Verse 32 of Genesis 41 says it a third time in a different way.
00:12:03
Speaker
And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God and God will shortly bring it about. God will shortly bring it about. So what he's telling him is, there's gonna be a famine. And so that's what we're reading about here in Psalm 105 in verse 16, when it says, God summoned a famine on the land and God broke all supply of bread.
00:12:33
Speaker
You know, some people choose to refer to the providence of God, to the sovereignty of God, to the control of God as though it were an invisible, as though it were an unseen hand that is at work in our world. Some people assume there is no God, but there is a God and he's working. He's working out his plans.
00:12:56
Speaker
And so some people say, you know, God's invisible hand can work favor or God can work resistance. You see, God is shaping his plan in his sovereignty. He's taking circumstances and taking it in the midst of a broken and disobedient world. And how in the world he does it, I have no clue.
00:13:20
Speaker
But all I know is what the word of God reveals to us, and what the word of God reveals to us is that God is sovereign, that he's in control, that providence is real, and he shapes the destiny of nations. He shapes the future of individuals like he will see as we continue on through Joseph's life. But you know, it's just amazing to me, if you were to look back again at Genesis 41,
00:13:50
Speaker
I want to show you something in that passage in verse 41, verse 37. This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find a man like this in whom is the Spirit of God? And then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has shown you all this, there's none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house.
00:14:18
Speaker
and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt." Isn't that amazing? How could that happen? How could that happen that Joseph would not being an Egyptian, how in the world could he
00:14:44
Speaker
Although sent there as a prisoner, how could he now be put as second in command in Egypt?
00:14:53
Speaker
Well, if you were to go back in Genesis 37 when Joseph was just 17 years of age, I know that we have college students here, but they're already beyond 17 years of age. But perhaps we have some that are here that are 17 years of age. And so I'm thinking to myself, what would it be like at 17 years of age for God to show you a vision?
00:15:14
Speaker
For God to show you what he's got in store for you. And what he shows you is your mom, your dad, and all your siblings. They're going to bow down to you someday. Well, when he told the brothers, they didn't like that dream. They thought that was a crazy dream.
00:15:30
Speaker
But now, like we see under the providence of God, it's amazing. 13 years later, he's now 30 years of age. So 17 years of age, God says, someday, Joseph, you're going to be in an amazing position where even your family will bow down before you.
00:15:52
Speaker
But it took 13 years to get there. Could you say to God, thank you, Lord, for your providence? Thank you, Lord, that even though it's been tough, I trust that you're working in the background, in the shadows around my life. There's a second thing I want to ask you to think about. Has God been providing for you in 2023?
00:16:15
Speaker
You know, each of us that are here, we look healthy and strong. I'm thinking to myself, I believe God has provided what we need. That's why I wanted you to look at verse 17 as we look back now at Psalm 105. It says that he had sent a man, once again, the he there, it's God. God had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. Sold as a slave.
00:16:42
Speaker
So what happened in order to get Joseph, who was up in Israel, down into Egypt? Oh, there's a lot that happened.
00:16:52
Speaker
You see, not only did God's providence have this whole thing shaping up where there was a famine that was going to force him and his family down, but there's also something else. There were several provisions. It says in here, ahead of them, ahead of who?
Joseph's Rise and God's Providence
00:17:10
Speaker
Ahead of Joseph's family. Joseph's family was going to be caught up in this whole famine. The whole world was. So they were going to starve to death.
00:17:19
Speaker
But God had already sent ahead of them Joseph, the brother, the son, so that he would be down there and that he would have this incredible position of authority.
00:17:32
Speaker
So isn't that amazing? But I wanted you to know what happened before it happened. For example, let's go back to Psalm 37, verses five through 11. Do you know the first thing that God provided was that vision? Maybe there's some young people here and you don't know which way God wants you to go. Do you know that God gives direction? God directed Joseph by letting him know this is my plan, this is my vision that I have for your life.
00:18:01
Speaker
Every person's life is created for a special purpose. That means each one of you who are in this room are still saying, I don't know what that is yet. I'm still looking for it. Joseph found it when he heard from God. I believe secondly, there was a man that was provided when Joseph was disoriented in Shechem.
00:18:25
Speaker
You see, Joseph's father had all the other brothers, Joseph's brothers, he had all the other brothers taking care of the sheep. And they were going to go to a place called Shechem. So they took the sheep to Shechem. So Joseph is still at home with his dad, Jacob.
00:18:42
Speaker
And so Jacob says, you know, I haven't heard from your brothers. I think maybe you better go check on them, Joseph. So Joseph says, okay, I'll go check on them. He says, where are they? He says, they're in Shechem. So just go to Shechem. So he goes to Shechem and guess what? The brothers aren't there. The sheep aren't there. What's happening?
00:19:01
Speaker
So he's so disoriented. Maybe that's you in your life. Maybe you're disoriented in 2023. Maybe it's been a very perplexing time for you this week, this month. You don't understand the things that are taking place. You know what God provided? He provided this complete stranger to walk up to Joseph in the field. And the stranger said,
00:19:25
Speaker
You look like you don't know where you're going." And he said, I don't. And he said, here's the story. My dad sent me to check on my brothers. They were out here with some sheep, and I don't see them now. And he said, you know what? I overheard them. Those brothers, I overheard them say they were going to a place called Dothan. It's just down the road.
00:19:44
Speaker
Joseph said, thank you so much. If you're disoriented, do you know that God can provide the orientation that you need if you'll just look to him? He can provide the person in your life who can help you to find that out. If nothing else, he always speaks through his word.
00:20:03
Speaker
But then, whenever he goes walking up to the brothers, the dad, well, he gave him a special jacket. That's why I wore my jacket today. And also, I wanted to cover up how much food I would eat. So I thought, you know, this is kind of kabuki. But you know, Jacob gave Joseph a special jacket. It was a multicolored jacket. Many colors was that coat.
00:20:28
Speaker
But you know what? He didn't give a jacket to all the other brothers. And so Joseph's brothers, they hated him. They hated him. And then he had these dreams about they were going to bow down to him. So they hated him all the more for the dreams. And so they could not stand it. And so when they see Joseph coming over the horizon, you know what they said? Let's kill him. This is our chance. Dad's not here. Let's just take him out right now.
00:20:55
Speaker
So I want you to know Joseph was in danger, very real danger.
00:21:00
Speaker
Danger from murder. But guess what? God provided a brother. Not all of those brothers were the same. Some brothers knew a little bit more than the other brothers. And Reuben, the oldest, he knew, you know what? This is not right. So he said, rather than kill him, why don't we just throw him in this pit? And so Reuben's idea was, I'll come back later and I'll get Joseph out of the pit and I'll spare his life. So Reuben leaves.
00:21:27
Speaker
So he comes back later, Joseph's not in the pit and he's like, oh no, what happened? Well, what happened was God provided transportation, transportation for Joseph to his destiny down in Egypt. God knows that he's got in his plan. He wants Joseph to become the number two guy in the whole kingdom of Egypt. So how's he going to get down there? Is he going to walk?
00:21:57
Speaker
No, you know what? There was a caravan of Ishmaelites. Sometimes they're called Midianites, but these Midianites, these Ishmaelites,
00:22:06
Speaker
one of the brothers named Judah, he also was thinking. And he thought, you know, if we just kill Joseph, we're not gonna make anything. It's not gonna profit us. What if we sell Joseph? Now don't get any ideas about your little brother, your little sister. This is not something that you wanna try at home. But anyway, they sold Joseph to these Ishmaelite traders in this caravan, to these Midianite traders. And so they took him down into Egypt.
00:22:36
Speaker
So, so far, God's been providing the transportation. God's been providing the protection. He's been with him all along, providing, you know, direction and so forth, but there's still one more thing. He provided a job. He provided a job where Joseph could develop his skills.
00:22:53
Speaker
See, there was a man down there named Potiphar, and this guy was like the head of security for the Pharaoh. And so he said, I'd like to have a guy like that that I see there in those Ishmaelites, Midianite traders. So he buys it and begins to put him to work.
00:23:12
Speaker
You see, you got to have some way of connecting Joseph, who doesn't know the Pharaoh. He puts him in the head of security's house. He knows the Pharaoh.
00:23:24
Speaker
You know, on the surface, it might appear that Joseph's brothers or the Midianite traders, they took him to Egypt. But remember what we already learned? God sent him to Egypt, right? Isn't that what it says in verse 17? God had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. So we need to think of a third reason that we could give thanks. You know, I believe that we could give thanks for the providence of God.
00:23:54
Speaker
We could give thanks for the provisions of God, but there's a third thing that we could give thanks for, precision. God's precise. God gets us in sync with a timetable that we wouldn't go with the same timetable that God has.
00:24:12
Speaker
You know, for example, I'm sure that as far as Joseph was concerned when he was 17, he would say, okay, let's just take me to the top right now. I don't particularly like my brothers anyway, and they don't like my dreams, so why don't you just go ahead and take me to the top? But God didn't do that. It's Genesis 41, 46, which says he was 30 years old when he began to stand before the Pharaoh of Egypt.
00:24:39
Speaker
I think sometimes we're so in a hurry, right? But yet God's so patient. That's one of his qualities. What if he wasn't patient? I tell you what, I wouldn't be here. If he wasn't patient, if he wasn't merciful, if he wasn't forgiving, if he wasn't gracious, he'd have snuffed me out a long time ago. But God's not about that. He's not like that. But you look at his plan and you're thinking, wait a minute, look at this verse 18 and 19.
00:25:07
Speaker
It sounds to me like it was painful. Maybe God's timing, for you it's painful. And you're saying, wait a minute, how come God doesn't just take this away right now? I'd like to get the remote and change the channel. It says that Joseph's feet were hurt with fetters. His neck was put in a collar of iron. Maybe some of the college students would say, that's how I feel, a collar of iron. But anyway, it's just hard sometimes.
00:25:37
Speaker
But do you know that in the trauma and in the timing and with that testing that is brought up in verse 19 until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. Do you know that all that time
00:25:51
Speaker
Guess what it says in God's word? In Genesis 39, 21, 22, and 23, it says, God was with him. Do you know that God's with you? God's been with you, not just in 2023. God has been with you traveling the whole way from the day you were born. His presence is there.
00:26:12
Speaker
Not only is his presence says that with great steadfast love, he loved Joseph, even when he was there working for Potiphar. You know, also God's favor was there and also success was there.
00:26:30
Speaker
And so you're thinking, yeah, but this isn't the sheaves, right? There were two dreams that Joseph was given. One was the sheaves, and the sheaves all bowed down to his sheave. Even his father and his mother, each of his brothers, all those sheaves bowed down. Then the sun and the moon and the other stars, they all bowed down to Joseph.
00:26:53
Speaker
But that's not happening yet. You definitely couldn't say that's happening here. But you see, what we need to do is we need to trust in God's timing. One man said, trust in God's timing. It's better to have to wait a while and have things fall into place than to rush into something and have things fall apart. That was a man named Adam Kepa. You see, God's promises boost us
00:27:22
Speaker
And God can help us with patience if we'll trust Him like it says in Philippians 1.6. It says, and I am sure of this. Are you sure of this? Listen to what he says. Philippians 1.6, I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you
00:27:41
Speaker
will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Man, don't you know God's been working on you and working with you and patiently working. He's moving in a direction. We don't see the whole plan. Maybe you'd say, I want to see it right now. Maybe you'd say, I'm 30 years old. It's about time I see it.
00:28:04
Speaker
But you know what? You need to get to this last one because can you thank him for his plan? Can you thank him for his plan? Listen to verses 20 and 21 and 22. It tells us the end of the story.
00:28:17
Speaker
The king sent and released him from that prison. Got him out of those shackles, right? The ruler of the people set him free. He made him the lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom. The story's not over yet for you, for me, for any of us.
00:28:42
Speaker
You see, verse 16 reminds us that God's providence is at work, even through life's circumstances. Verse 17 reminds us God's provisions are there all along life's corridors. Wherever you're going, God's still there. But there's also the precision. Verses 18 and 19 reminded us God's precise. God is in perfect sync with what he wants to do.
00:29:10
Speaker
precision with life's clock. But now verses 20, 21, and 22 tells us one more thing you can give thanks for, the process, the process toward life's completion. For 13 years, Joseph, you know what he may have assumed? Joseph may have assumed, I'm taking this long voyage
00:29:33
Speaker
on a ship called Hardship. But you know what he really was on? He wasn't on just a hardship. Now that wasn't its name. 13 years he was on a voyage on a ship called Lordship. Jesus is Lord. He's able to work in circumstances, able to work in our hearts, in our lives. He's able to work in all those people all around us and to help us.
Parallels between Joseph and Jesus
00:30:03
Speaker
I think if you could have interviewed Joseph after he's second in command to the Pharaoh of Egypt, I think you could have asked him one question. He said, Joseph, if you just answer one question for me, it's all I need to know. Was it worth it? Was it worth it? God's plan? Was it worth it?
00:30:25
Speaker
I think Joseph would say the same things that lots in this room would say. Yeah. Hasn't always been easy, but it was worth it. It was worth it. You know, God took him from severe adversity to supreme advancement.
00:30:41
Speaker
It's almost like it's similar to the old way of developing photographs. Have you ever seen it before, like on an old movie? We were watching a movie last night. I saw a lady take some photographs in a dark room. She had negatives. Maybe you'd say, that's all I got in my life. Negatives. But you know what God can do?
00:31:02
Speaker
God can take those negatives into his dark room where we can't see, and he shines that light and puts on this photography paper this incredible picture that we couldn't see before. You know, I believe that God is working out a beautiful plan for each person's life here. For this man, his pain,
00:31:29
Speaker
You know, he could have just focused on himself, right? He could have said, you know what? Life's just a bummer. Life's terrible. It's been hard this year. It's been hard the last 12 years and hard this year. It's 13th year. But he didn't focus on his own pain. Instead, he changed the letter I in pain for another letter L.
00:31:52
Speaker
You take the eye out of pain and replace it with an L and you'll find makes plan. You see, he put the Lord as the focus. And he said, you know what? God has been leading all along and I never saw his hand. And now look, I'm free. The Pharaoh of Egypt gave me freedom. Maybe you'd say, what's so big about that?
00:32:17
Speaker
Well, it's big about that because he hadn't been free for the last 13 years. Can you imagine being locked up for 13 years? He's free. But not only that, he gets a promotion. He gets a promotion over incredible financial assets and resources and so forth.
00:32:37
Speaker
It says he made him Lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions. Am I promising you? If you'll just put God first, yeah, you'll have lots of possessions and financial resources. I'm not promising you. I'm trying to tell you what he did for Joseph, but he doesn't do the same things for all of us.
00:32:55
Speaker
But then also it's interesting how he gets to proclaim the faith. He gets to proclaim the faith when it says to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom. Wow. Maybe God gave you the platform that you have so you can be a witness, an example, so that you could be teaching some people something. You know that Joseph had two sons.
00:33:23
Speaker
Manasseh and Ephraim. You know what he chose to name them? It's really phenomenal when you know his past, right? You know the 13 years of hardship. He named his first son Manasseh. You know what Manasseh means? God made me forget my troubles. God made me forget my troubles.
00:33:44
Speaker
Right now, Kenny and Lou Anne Miller in Missouri, they're there with their son Alec, his wife, his wife Natalie, giving birth to their first born little baby girl. And so I'm thinking to myself, you know, it's probably really tough, probably really hard right now in labor, right?
00:34:04
Speaker
But then when you hold the baby in your arms, does that same thing happen? Don't you forget about the pain, forget about all of the troubles and so forth. That's how he felt when he held Manasseh in his arms. He thought, you know what, I'm going to call him Manasseh because Manasseh means God made me forget my troubles. But his second born was named Ephraim.
00:34:29
Speaker
And Ephraim means God has made me fruitful, where? In the land of affliction. It may be in the land of affliction that God is gonna bless you and use you. You know, sometimes I remember when I was a youth minister, we used to have these object lessons and one of them was a sponge. And I would take the sponge and dip it in water and squeeze it. I'd say, what happens when you squeeze this sponge that's been dipped in the water? What comes out? They said, water.
00:34:58
Speaker
I said, what about over here, where we dip it, let's say in Coke, and we, this is the drink, not the substance. But, so are you thinking, this guy's our pastor? Look what he did with his youth list. But you dip it in the Coca-Cola, you dip it in the Dr. Pepper, and then you squeeze it. I said, what comes down when you squeeze that? And they said, yeah, the soda. I said, you're right.
00:35:24
Speaker
What happens when you get squeezed? What comes out? What's on the inside? That's what comes out is what's on the inside. And for Joseph, it's like what came out is incredible. You see, Genesis 45.5 and Genesis 50.20 are two recorded conversations that he has with these brothers who had a plan to kill him, decided, well, let's just throw him in a pit. And then they decide, well, why don't we just sell him?
00:35:54
Speaker
Here's what he said, and now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. Genesis 50 verse 20, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.
00:36:22
Speaker
You see, Joseph knew what to do. When the Pharaoh told him to dream, he said, during the seven years of bounty and fruitfulness, you better store up because seven lean years are going to be following that. And so Joseph knew what to do. So when he shared that plan with the Pharaoh of Egypt, he said, I can't think of anybody that needs to be over the resources more than you because you know what's going to happen.
00:36:48
Speaker
And so for us, I think about what can we learn from Joseph when he's the one that God used to spare his own brother's lives? You know, it's like he was focused not on the evil of his brother's deeds. He was focused on the goodness of God's sovereignty. You see, his gratitude for God's mission was held in over
00:37:15
Speaker
his memory of his brother's meanness. And I believe it all made Joseph a better person instead of a bitter person. See, all the pain that we've gone through this year, you've gone through, your family, your business, our country, on and on you could go. All the pain that we've gone through, it can make us bitter, or it could make us better.
00:37:39
Speaker
Notice that he's not downplaying the evil that was done. No, he's reminding them of what they did. But he's just choosing not to make that the driving force in his life. He's choosing to let the sovereignty of God be the driving force in his life. When I read this whole story of Joseph, and I encourage you to read it sometime from Genesis 37 all the way through Genesis 50,
00:38:09
Speaker
It's so easy to see all the pain and the sacrifice that he went through and then how many lives that God would have used him to save after that. And I can't help but think of Jesus. How about you? You know, Isaiah the prophet wrote these words about Jesus in Isaiah 53 verses four and five and six. I'm just gonna pull out a few phrases, but I think you'll get the idea when I finish.
00:38:36
Speaker
Here's what it says in Isaiah 53 verses four and five and six. Jesus was, he bore our griefs. He carried our sorrows. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. With his wounds were healed.
00:39:03
Speaker
The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
00:39:08
Speaker
You know, when you think about all that Jesus has done for each one of us, even though what we have gone through in our circumstances, maybe what you're going through in your health, with your finances, maybe something else, but whatever it is, I know it's been painful, but can you say, yeah, but God's also so good. He's so gracious. He's so merciful. He's been so faithful.
00:39:34
Speaker
I definitely could still be grateful for all that God has done this year. I want us to stand together, and it could be that someone here senses, you know what? There's something that God's putting on my heart that I need to do. There's a decision that I need to make. And so I want to pray. I want to have us sing this song. It's called Softly and Tenderly. Softly and tenderly, the song will say, Jesus is calling.
00:40:01
Speaker
calling you to come back home. Would you come back home with whatever God is telling you? I want you to know, just like the prodigal son, the father's waiting. He's waiting to embrace you if you will just come home.
00:40:15
Speaker
Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask His blessing on this invitation, and then we'll close our service today. Thank you, Lord, for this time to put you first, this time to say, okay, nothing else matters right now. We're going to put our focus on the Lord and allow Him to work during this invitation. So you speak, Lord, as we go through the time, and I pray you draw people to Christ. I pray that Jesus was lifted up. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:40:48
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.