Becoming A Joseph

Oh, Father, hallelujah, thank you, on this Friday, November 4th, God will come before you seeking your face. Lord, we love your word, we love your ways, most of all, Father, we love your face. Oh, show us your glory. Show us who you are tonight, Jesus. God, you are so able, you are so able, oh, God, and we worship you tonight, Jesus, on how you make a way where there is no way, you are a way maker, hallelujah, hallelujah. So Lord, we just come before you tonight asking you, minister to us, God, encourage us one with the other, Lord. Yes, Lord. God, we are going to give you all of the praise, all the honor, and all the glory, and we're thanking you, Lord, but there's none like you, there is none like you, there is none like you, oh, Lord, there is none like you. Yes, Lord. So, God, we praise you, we praise you, we praise you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Christ. Amen. Amen. So, you know, last week was a blessing in that, I believe the Lord showed us some things about crisis and disaster, and, you know, the common belief through the centuries has been that, you know, if there's a disaster, it's got to be God's judgment. You know, we know that sin came into this world, it's not the way God intended things. And we know that, we know that this world is not right. We know that the rain falls on the just and the unjust, you know, favor, it's just something that... So, sometimes it seems that disaster is just discounted because of the world that we live in, that it's not the way God created it. And yet, also, we know it is absolutely true that sometimes God sends calamities and he will destroy and he will favor, does that mean that he's God of wrath? Should we fear him in a negative way and everything that happens to us, do we interpret that like the blind man, the Pharisees asked, okay, who sinned, him or his parents? Somebody had to sin here. Even like we saw that it was the mercy of God that during famine placed Joseph in that place. And 74 people, Jacob and his family, a small, small tribe went in and out came the incubator of Egypt, out came 400 years later, out came a million maybe of this people God had for himself, you know, so many things just with that last week. I remember favor, the thing that really struck me from last time was noticing how it was that when the people were in such trouble and such discomfort, it was not until then that they cried out to the Lord with a loud voice, they really cried. And then it says, and God heard. And it says, and God came down, then it says, and he saw, and then it says, and then he delivered, he raised up, he raised up a deliverer. And I think the part that we maybe could come to more quickly is crying out to him in the midst of such hardships and crying out to him. Maybe he would move sooner when our hearts were ready for him to move. You know, God's appointed time is not, you know, October 17th, 2029. That's not how he works. He works with when the hearts of men are, are ready, yeah. So is, is God, is God a good God? He's absolutely good. You know, I'd just like to share this. Tell me about it, favor. Tell me about it. He's absolutely good. Romans, Romans 1, Romans 1, 17 changed my life and affected me in such a tremendous manner. And that was the, was a gift of the Holy Spirit, I tell you, it was the power of God. You know, we are very, we're very used to verse 16 of Romans 1. It says, for I am not ashamed of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that I believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Yes, very powerful scripture. We're very familiar with that. But then after it, the Lord opened my eyes to verse 17, it says, for therein, and through the gospel, through the preaching of the gospel, and through the message of the gospel, it says, therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Revealed. It has changed my life, that word revealed. And then I realized that, first off, God is perfect in all his ways. Everything and just because we don't understand it doesn't make him, make it wrong or make him wrong. He says, and also I see from that scripture, the Lord is not under obligation to explain anything to us, but rather he expects us and just like you asked, just like you said, Reverend, he works with us according to the desire of our heart, according to our seeking, our ability to cry out from the innermost of our beings. And then he says, and just like Paul says here, he says, for there is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And so when we seek, when we cry out because of, and you know, it takes faith to cry out to the Lord. Right? Because we must know that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek. We must know that, the word makes it really clear, in parts of God, the fact that he is, what kind of God is he? Well, he's the kind of God that rewards those who diligently, oh, without that faith that he rewards us in that, I'd have given up, you know? Because there's times where, I don't know, it seems like he hides his face for a time, almost like Song of Solomon. But it intensifies our earnest desire to seek him. I just think we can't give up, or we can't start to believe the lies of the enemy that God is not to, and then go ahead, David. So he says, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. So the degree to which we cry out as a reflection of our faith in him, the degree to which we cry out determines what God reveals to us. And you just, even with the children of Israel, the degree to which we cry out determines what God reveals to us. And it's such a huge blessing, and it blessed me because now I came to understand that God doesn't need to explain anything to me, of course I know that, but I also understand, I came to understand that his righteousness, he's sacred about it. It's like, he doesn't just go about saying, okay, I need to explain everything to everybody so they understand that I was going to meet him, and all of that, no! It's revealed. It's revealed based on your measure of faith, based on the level of faith, the level which you cry out is revealed. And that's the thing. And through our scripture we see as the children of the Lord begin to cry out and demonstrate such fervent faith, God reveals a thing to them. God reveals his plan, God reveals his purpose. See, just like a reference, and I thank the Lord for you, last week when we looked at the plagues, the teaching on the plague, you know, we understand God's plan, you know, but when we understand the purpose of the plague, we see that it's about faith in us. And so, last week, by the teaching, we understood, we came to understand the purpose of the plague. And it was such an uplifting teaching. And this is what happens when God reveals his righteousness, then we understand the purpose. Then we understand the purpose. I was thinking, I have been brooding on this scripture almost every day since the Word came to me. And I was thinking about when the Apostle Paul said, and I believe it's 1 Corinthians 12, where he says, three times I asked the Lord to take away this, and the Lord said to him, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is. So he says, God says, my grace is sufficient for you. Now, he had cried out all this while, but then a point came, so he had cried out all this while, then a point came, and he continued to cry out to the Lord with such fervor, see, that the Lord then revealed to him the purpose of that thorn in the flesh. And he wouldn't ask the Lord to take it away again, because now he had come to understand the purpose of it, and to see the righteousness of God in the midst of that. Yes. Yes. God is that. So it was such a blessing. So if we have the feeling, and we're saying, this is not fair, is that faith? Awesome. Well, if we say, I think, first off, that's not faith, that's our humanity talking, that's our fleshly nature, you know, we're feeling, our feelings talking, and faith is not a feeling. So it's our human feeling, you know, crying out, or playing out, or making a scene, all of that, that's what I feel. I think it's human feeling, I think it's more on the carnal side, when we complain, when we say, this is not fair, this is this, and this is that, it's more on the carnal side, because when God wants to help us, and our spirit, and our faith, man, kicks in, we begin to ask the Lord, okay, what's the purpose of this? What's the plan for this? We begin to approach the situation from a very different point of view. So I think it's our human nature, just kicking in at first, you know, and beginning to say, oh no, this is not fair, oh, this is too hard, oh, this is disappointing, that's what I feel. I think, I'm not entirely sure, at that point in time. So is it fair, or isn't it fair? If God is good, and what is happening is not good, isn't God a God who can turn all things? He works in all things for our good. Romans 8 just says, everything, God is working for our good, and in every situation, he's turning it, if we will continue to trust him. I think it's when we lose our trust that the greatest challenge is, Jesus, I remember, prayed for Peter, and the greatest public crisis of faith in Peter's life, when not only did his master leave him, his expectations were dashed, they expected an earthly king, and he himself personally failed in the worst way. I mean, what worse could you get than that, other than death? And so, Jesus said earlier, he says, I pray for you, I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not. It's the source of all things for us, it's the roots, roots of it all, and I don't think God ever minds us crying out for understanding, God, what are you doing? This hurts, this is terrible, this is disastrous, God, what are you doing, what do you want us, what do you want to be one of us, what else can we do in a disaster, in a crisis? Cry out to the Lord, humbly follow his leading. When we begin to accuse God, we become like the children of Israel, whom God said, I loathed this generation, who for 40 years, tested me, complained and murmured. I mean, God didn't say he loathed the people, the nation, he doesn't say he's sorry that he ever had them, he loathed that generation, until he'd done dealing with them and purified their hearts, and they sought after him, and they began to get some backbone in them, that they were willing to face the enemy and believe God to give them the victory. This is where we really need God to help, because as soon as we face difficulty, we fall apart inside, and we need a backbone that comes from the boldness of the Holy Spirit, comes from confidence, not in ourselves, but in God. So when I fall, I fall on him. When I fail, I'm not beyond his reach. Like Peter felt so devastated and so unworthy and so ashamed. Peter felt all of those things, such shame, such failure, such unworthiness and hopelessness and despair, perhaps even despaired of his life, and yet he said, I'm going to do the only thing I know, I'm good at, only thing I know to do. I'm not really called to do anything in God, I'm just, let me go fishing, that I know to do. And Jesus, and Jesus said, Peter, I need you to feed my sheep, and Peter goes, who, me? I don't even know if I love you, I can't even say it, I can't even, yeah, I've failed you, man. I'm certain, I don't even know if I love you. I mean, the work of the enemy at that point. Oh, Jesus. But was Jesus good to Peter? He prayed in his faith, failed not, and the second he reached out to him with such mercy and such love, and he called him when Peter least expected to be called. Yes, sir. What a marvelous Savior. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. What a marvelous Savior. So we grow from faith to faith, and as we study the Word of God, we find out what is it that causes our faith to grow? The trial of your faith, which is more precious than gold. What's more precious, the trial or the faith in that verse? Yes, it's the faith, sir. Yeah, I think so. The trial is the means. By which your faith is, yes, sir. By which faith is an increase. Yes, sir. But when our faith fails, do we then grow? No. Peter did only because of the mercy of the Lord. Yes, sir. But I don't think Israel did. You know, it's a hard question, but God is the only one who can redeem. I like that word, redeem. God is the only one who can restore. God is the only one. These things that look so evil and so wicked and so horrible and so destructive, can God redeem even that? I think that's what Peter was wondering in his heart, you know? I'm a loud mouth, gutless. I'm not what I thought I was. I'm a failure. And God, you know, I don't take lightly the suffering of the people in Nigeria at this time. The food shortages, the electricity challenges, the governmental corruption, mismanagement, and all of that. It's known at this time to be the most dangerous place to be a Christian. Yes, I see. But can God redeem even this? Is God at work? Has the devil won? Come on, Peter. Doctors. No, no, the devil can never win. The Lord is always at work, you know? Oh, thank you, Jesus. You know, Reverend, as you talked about this and as you talk about faith, thank you all this time. This is timely. I remember what the scripture says, and I believe this was Samuel, I think, 14 to 6, when Gideon of Amalbiera said to him, let us go over onto the garrison of the Philistines. And he said something. He said, it might be that God will work for us. It might be that God will work for us, that all this is meant on faith. Now, all they were seeing, there were more men against them than they had for them. But he said, well, let's just give this a try. It could be that God will work for us. And he had faith that God will work for us. And it happened that way. And so we see from that, that in spite of the opposition, in spite of the challenges, that God was working. And so this is just in support of what you said and how you asked, is God working? Has the enemy won? Or the enemy can never win. God is working through everything. It's amazing how that, and Joseph did not know it. I mean, and if we were to be there in that time and age without knowing the final result, we would have thought that, you know, the story of Joseph and the process he was in, God was taking him through. We would have not seen God walking through all of that. I mean, how do you explain that God has been giving him this revelation of leadership and then his own family, his own brothers would not be happy with him about that. His own brothers. And then they would sell him off. And then he goes to the house of Potiphar's wife and Potiphar's wife becomes a challenge as well. And everything is just, I mean, and if somebody was to tell us then, if I was there present and somebody says, do you know that this young man, God is working? God is working for him. I'm going to have to say, I can't see it. I know, I can't see it. He's been going from one trial and one problem to another. And somebody says, well, God is working for him. But you see, in the end of it, God's purpose for his life came to fruition and to manifestation. And so wasn't it Caleb that said in Numbers 13 and Numbers 14 in that story of the 10 spies, 12 spies, 10 were bad and two were good. And Caleb stood up in the midst of the negative report, the midst of the fear and the midst of the commotion, and he stilled the people. It says he stilled the people. And he said, let's go up at once. Let's go now and possess it for we are well able to overcome it. If God be for us, who can be against us, he's the same. If God be on our side, if God be on our side, I think it was David that said if it had not been for God who was on our side, we would have died. But God is on our side. But God is on our side. But in the midst of calamity and challenges, can we still have a confession of faith which says, can we still have a confession of faith which declares, as Caleb declared in Numbers 13 and Numbers 14, that we are well able to go and overcome it. It's like David said, if God had not been on our side, we would have died. Can we still, in the midst of a greatest calamity, can we still proclaim that, first of all, that God is good? And it's not necessarily just that somebody has sinned. You know, it's good to seek the Lord, to clear our hearts before him. Have we opened the door for judgment? Absolutely. But it's also the enemy's tactic to bring hopelessness and discouragement and shame upon us when maybe God's working a work that we cannot see. Maybe God's bringing judgment not against us, but against wickedness in high places. Maybe God is at work in ways that we have, you know, his ways are often shrouded in a mystery to our mind. But Lord, can we still declare, even so, God, you are good. And Job's friend said, yeah, curse God and die. His wife was like, no, what are you doing? And yet, Job said, I will yet praise him in the land of the living, as my soul liveth. How is it that our faith so easily is shaken? First of all, can a crisis increase our faith? Yes. First of all, can God work in the midst of disaster? Yes. First of all, is God able to turn circumstances? Something I was thinking about, Faber, I was thinking of Joseph. How weeks before, Joseph was the answer to a crisis that was coming, that he had nothing, that he owned nothing. The only thing he was in charge of was a prison. And so it's like, could not Joseph have easily said, well, I'm going to go to prison. Could not Joseph have easily said, well, how can I save Israel? How can I save this nation? I have nothing. I have nothing. I have no position other than I'm, you know, the head prison keeper. Yes, sir. And I can feel that. And I can feel him. I'm sorry to cut in, but when you said he would feel that. I get excited, it's all right. You know, that feeling of I am nothing would be portrayed by the situation and the events that had happened in his life. And at that point, even the event of the, even the event of the butler forgetting him, forgetting about him, and not even making a mention of Joseph, would utterly depress him. He would keep thinking about it. Keep thinking. Yeah. So he would think, well, maybe I'm nothing. Maybe, maybe, maybe I'm nothing after all. Because if there was anybody at that time he would expect to, you know, take a walk with the Pharaoh was the butler. Because he, he interpreted the butler's dreams and it came to pass just like that. And it was such, it was, it was such an awesome, it was so awesome and so significant that the butler himself also witnessed the hanging of the baker. Just as, just as Joseph had said. So that event was, was so powerful, I mean, it was enough to leave him awestruck and never to forget that. And to, to, to, to take seriously the words of Joseph. In fact, I was, maybe, yeah, maybe, maybe the excitement of getting back into the palace of the Pharaoh, maybe the first day, the second day, the third day. Okay. It may be understandable, but one week passed, two weeks, one month, two months, 12 months, 24 months. And he never for once made mention of Joseph to Pharaoh. I wonder why? Did he forget or did he just? Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I tell you what, Reverend, I mean, not a lot of, not a lot of spiritually much more people can be able to handle that. I, for one, I don't think I'll be able to say, well, that's fine. I'm not sure I'll be able to say that because. I know two years, like you could ask me. I mean, it's bad enough. Have you ever been, somebody forgot to pick you up for a meeting and they said they were going to pick you up. You know, there you are and it's raining and there you are sitting on the side and how do you feel? You feel like you want to be offended. You want, but for two years in prison. Oh, that was too much. And it affected his feeling, you know? Yes. Yes. Amen. So becoming a Joseph doesn't require us to have a large bank account. An amazing plan to begin with. And it doesn't require us to have a high position of influence. If we depend on the story of Joseph, which is probably one of the greater stories of the intervention of God through storing up and managing and, you know, wow, just a lot of neat things in that story. He had seven years of famine and the then known world was preserved because of one man. And so what did it take to develop a Joseph who in the dungeon and being falsely accused and being rejected by his brothers and being so far from home and lonely and a whole nother culture and all of that took a lot of work from God in his heart. He must have grown. Come on now. He must have grown from faith to faith. Yes, sir. As you, Jesus, help me. As he went from trial to trial, did he not grow from faith to faith? He must have said from Romans one and from faith to faith, the righteousness of God was revealed in Joseph. The greater the trial, the more faith and the more righteousness from God alone was needed. Hallelujah. It takes a righteous heart to take the abuse of your brethren and forgive them the way he did. It takes the righteousness of God to do your best for your heart and to be falsely accused and imprisoned and not turn bitter. That's the righteousness of God in someone's heart. It takes faith saying, Father, I humble myself before you. You are good in every, you are right in every situation. Wow. Wow. It takes the righteousness of God in us to endure what we endure. Hallelujah. Amen. Yeah, we definitely can't see ourselves as a Joseph, but can we position ourselves to be used to God in times and growing from faith to faith and growing from one dimension of God's righteousness in us and through us to another. I think that's God's plan and God's purpose in us. Hallelujah. Oh, this is good. What else, Favor? I like that. You know, if God be for us, who can be against us? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Psalm 124, if the Lord had not been on our side when men rose up against us, we would have been swallowed up quick when they became angry with us. The waters would have overwhelmed us. That's a good verse for Nigeria right now. The waters would have overwhelmed us. The stream would have gone over our souls. Then the proud waters would have gone over our souls, Psalm 124. If it had not been, can we believe that the Lord is on the side of his people in Nigeria in the midst of this? Can we find the God who is good? Favor, how, where do we find the God who is good in the midst of these horrible things happening and over a million people displaced? Where can we find it? We can just trust in his righteousness. We just bank in his righteousness. We trust his righteousness and that's, we trust his righteousness. We trust that he is working through, working in the midst of it for us, in us, right? So God works in us through these things. God works for us and just like you mentioned with Joseph, the trials had to build his faith. And it was the faith that God had built in him that enabled him to forgive his brothers because, my goodness, he was in a position to put them in jail forever. But no. Oh yeah, anything he wanted, no one would question him. Yeah, so through all of this, I can say yes, that we can trust in God's righteousness. We can trust in his faithfulness, right? We can trust in his faithfulness and that's where we can receive anchor for our souls. You know. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. How are you going to say that? I was going to say... Say it together. Okay, we'll say it together. One, two, three. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. I was going to make a reference to scripture that is similar to what you just said. Go ahead. Yeah. I was going to refer to the three Hebrew men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and what they said to the king, to the Hebrew coordinator. They said, be it known to you, O king, that we're not going to, that in this matter, we're not careful to give you an answer. Our answer is simply, we're not going to bow unto Baal, unto this idol. And the God, and if you throw us into the fire, our God is able to save us. But, but, oh, sorry, but if he doesn't, we're not going to bow. So even if, so they were saying, they were relapsing to this. They were saying, even if he doesn't, that means there is a more righteous reason for that. Oh, God help me. So then we're saying, even if he doesn't save us, we are confident. We trust in his righteousness. We trust in his judgment. Even if he doesn't, we trust in his righteousness. And because we trust in his righteousness, we still would not bow. Wow. Oh my goodness. I like that scripture from the message version. Sometimes the message is just so raw that it's good. Daniel 3, 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us into the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnaces. And anything else you might cook up, O King. But even if he doesn't, it won't make a bit of difference, O King. We still won't serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up. Oh, wow. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Father. Woo. You know, Reverend, this is about after 11, past 11, but I tell you what, Reverend, my spirit might have been nourished. But I tell you what, my spirit might be so nourished. And it was almost as if I knew when we started. We just, it was, thank you. You know, I just, I just started off, you know, on an exciting note. And I just talked about, you asked me, do you think we should go on? I said, yeah. You know, like, we just, like, I'm hungry. I want to take up as much of a word as Lord wants to release. I didn't know what, what he was going to, you know, what he had in store for me. And I'm not sure you had it all planned out as well, you know. I did not. I had a journal about Joseph. I understood that, as you can see, if you look at the WhatsApp, I don't know if you have access to that at this point, but. I can see that from my wife's phone. Let me check that now. Let me check. It's quite interesting, actually, what I posted there. Yes. Those are questions from the family. Oh, beautiful. And those are a picture of what they call Joseph's. There are many of them. This is just one section. But this is called Joseph's storage. Yeah, his granary. And then all throughout the northern part of Egypt. These particular things. And in fact, it became, I didn't know, but it became part of the banking system that they would store grains as a source of wealth, of money. And, you know, when they were wealthy. I didn't realize myself how important grain was to that whole area. So I was learning some things as I went through some pictures. Amen. Well, we've had a good time in the Lord and thank God for his encouragement. No, thank you. We're learning what God would have us to do in the midst of crisis, because, you know, alone, we don't really know what we ought to do. What we ought to do. Thank you, Father. Lord, we thank you for your feeding this tonight. God, we ask that you would just move upon those who would hear this recording. And they also would be encouraged, as we've given of ourselves, to just seek you or decide and seek your word. Absolutely. I would thank you, our God, that preserves people in the midst of these things. You're a God who restores your people in these kind of times. And Lord, we're asking you, mighty God, for each who's been affected by these things, we pray as Jesus prayed, Lord, that their faith fail not. Oh, God, you are at work in this time and let faith increase. Let it not be diminished, but let faith, when it is tested as with fire, let it increase. Because that faith is the most precious thing, more precious than gold. Lord, we pray for your people. God, we pray for your people to have your nature during this time to help one another. Lord, we might not have a lot, but at least we can help what we can. So, Father, we pray for those. Right now, who are needy, those who are suffering, hungry, those who are weak. Even those who are experiencing that malaria that comes in that country. God, we just thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord. Lift up and strengthen. For, we say, malaria, you will not hinder the purposes of God, in the name of Jesus. Roll back, in Jesus' name. All your medication, you're going to just do what needs to be done, and you're not going to hinder, in the name of Jesus. By faith, we take that. And by faith, we expect that our body is going to receive it and will be ministered wellness by it, in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen. Bless each one who hears your words, Lord. That you minister to us and through us tonight. Let us minister to others, we pray, in the wonderful name of Jesus. Amen.