WEBVTT 00:00.183 --> 00:02.385 [SPEAKER_00]: Good morning, church, good morning. 00:03.867 --> 00:05.448 [SPEAKER_00]: It is so good to see you all. 00:05.688 --> 00:09.272 [SPEAKER_00]: And to thank you for all those who are joining online or in the parents room. 00:09.352 --> 00:10.353 [SPEAKER_00]: It's so good to be with you. 00:10.433 --> 00:16.019 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's actually such an honor to be serving this morning alongside so many wonderful members of our team. 00:16.459 --> 00:23.927 [SPEAKER_00]: The band members who get here early, the people who are behind the scenes that we don't get to see, but who play a large part in making this service work. 00:24.327 --> 00:30.649 [SPEAKER_00]: But as Beck mentioned on the youth pastor and I just wanted to take a moment to really just honor and thank the youth team. 00:31.009 --> 00:34.170 [SPEAKER_00]: They put in a massive effort or across this weekend. 00:34.250 --> 00:37.371 [SPEAKER_00]: They were here from 7 a.m. till 10 p.m. last night. 00:37.692 --> 00:42.673 [SPEAKER_00]: We converted this whole building into escape rooms and challenges that were based on the Bible. 00:42.933 --> 00:44.434 [SPEAKER_00]: You should have seen what this place looked like. 00:44.534 --> 00:50.476 [SPEAKER_00]: It was awesome, but it's a massive effort and it all comes thanks to a team of wonderful young volunteers. 00:57.066 --> 01:08.531 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, if you see someone that you know is in the youth team during, like, after the service out in the for you, just like go up and give them a part on the back and say thank you for they did because it is a massive effort. 01:09.431 --> 01:13.813 [SPEAKER_00]: And yes, it was such an incredible time to be able to minister to our young people. 01:14.773 --> 01:18.058 [SPEAKER_00]: But this morning we are turning to the Old Testament. 01:18.118 --> 01:28.372 [SPEAKER_00]: We've been going through a series of these stories we find in the Old Testament and digging through what they have to say to us about God's story and how they're relevant to our lives today. 01:28.872 --> 01:31.997 [SPEAKER_00]: And what we're going to be focusing on this morning is a story that 01:32.477 --> 01:35.020 [SPEAKER_00]: Spans across 15 chapters in Genesis. 01:35.180 --> 01:36.922 [SPEAKER_00]: It is one third of that book. 01:37.322 --> 01:45.010 [SPEAKER_00]: It is a powerful and incredible story about this young man who has a dream and in spite of all the circumstances he faces. 01:45.330 --> 01:49.654 [SPEAKER_00]: God's able to use him to bring about this incredible deliverance of God's people. 01:50.375 --> 01:52.957 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the story of Joseph's journey. 01:53.477 --> 01:55.939 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be looking at the journey of Joseph this morning. 01:56.419 --> 02:08.068 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, it's a story that you might have heard, or maybe you've never heard before, but for the Israelites, they would have gathered around campfires around the dinner table and passed on this story. 02:08.148 --> 02:14.733 [SPEAKER_00]: It was so incredible and powerful for them, and inspiring what God can do with an individual. 02:15.797 --> 02:20.681 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we're going to be opening up the scripture and digging through scrapy selves in 15 chapters worth of content. 02:20.921 --> 02:21.982 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get through it, though. 02:22.723 --> 02:24.344 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's going to be great fun. 02:24.404 --> 02:29.648 [SPEAKER_00]: But before we dig into the text, would you join with me and just open up in prayer? 02:31.730 --> 02:34.953 [SPEAKER_00]: Father, Lord, we just want to thank you so much that we have your word. 02:35.790 --> 02:41.975 [SPEAKER_00]: That your word is enduring, that it's stood the test of time, that your words are true. 02:42.735 --> 02:52.383 [SPEAKER_00]: They're all able to take a look at your scripture, at stories like this one, and not just observe it, but be able to see how you've been faithful throughout the ages. 02:53.304 --> 02:58.788 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, we just take a moment now to post your ourselves, open to you. 03:00.209 --> 03:03.352 [SPEAKER_00]: We invite you to speak, our ears are open, 03:06.098 --> 03:12.502 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, whatever words you have to speak to us this morning, would you use me and would you let them come out and reach people's hearts? 03:12.722 --> 03:15.464 [SPEAKER_00]: Anything that's from me, let it fall to the ground and be forgotten. 03:15.564 --> 03:22.889 [SPEAKER_00]: But God, we ask that you would speak to us this morning that we would hear from you in Jesus name, amen. 03:23.830 --> 03:24.490 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 03:25.211 --> 03:30.294 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is the story of Joseph and it begins in Genesis 37. 03:33.101 --> 03:44.183 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, Israel loved Joseph, more than any of his other sons because he had been born to him in his old age, and he made him an all-night robe. 03:45.915 --> 03:49.017 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the scene that we're entering into Joseph's story. 03:49.398 --> 03:52.360 [SPEAKER_00]: He is one of the younger sons in the family. 03:52.380 --> 03:54.281 [SPEAKER_00]: There are many older brothers above him. 03:54.402 --> 04:05.810 [SPEAKER_00]: And for them in their context, it's not really the same for us now, but apart from with the royalty, you have a king and a queen and then their firstborn son, that's the king in waiting. 04:05.870 --> 04:12.555 [SPEAKER_00]: And then the second is just a spare, it's just kind of like, all right, there's a back up and as you go down the ranks, that they're less and less valuable. 04:12.575 --> 04:13.997 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what it was like for them. 04:14.738 --> 04:16.719 [SPEAKER_00]: The oldest was the one that inherited everything. 04:16.739 --> 04:21.381 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet for some reason Israel loved his son, Joseph. 04:21.941 --> 04:25.923 [SPEAKER_00]: There was something about his character, his desire for righteousness. 04:26.784 --> 04:29.105 [SPEAKER_00]: That drew his father's favor. 04:29.953 --> 04:32.497 [SPEAKER_00]: which this is cool, but unlikely. 04:33.118 --> 04:36.162 [SPEAKER_00]: He is the unlikely hero of our story. 04:36.603 --> 04:38.866 [SPEAKER_00]: You wouldn't expect to see it with him. 04:38.966 --> 04:44.754 [SPEAKER_00]: You wouldn't expect that Joseph out of all of the other sons was the one that was looked upon with Faber. 04:45.680 --> 05:03.016 [SPEAKER_00]: but also the other side to it is I think we could maybe all relate a little bit to that feeling of when there's a sibling or there's a family member or the person in the friendship group who just gets more attention than everyone else who comes to Christmas day and everyone's going to get in their presence and then you realize all right. 05:03.436 --> 05:10.822 [SPEAKER_00]: This present was clearly way more expensive, way nicer, like clearly my parents are setting us a message about who their favorite kid is. 05:12.143 --> 05:18.728 [SPEAKER_00]: And so for all Joseph's brothers, they didn't expect him to receive this favor, and they didn't like the attention. 05:18.768 --> 05:23.512 [SPEAKER_00]: The fact that he was getting dricked out in this really nice robe from their dad. 05:24.632 --> 05:31.458 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, as the story has it, we have this unlikely hero. 05:32.455 --> 05:34.896 [SPEAKER_00]: This person that we wouldn't expect God to choose. 05:36.357 --> 05:41.940 [SPEAKER_00]: And in spite of his brothers disapproval, God chose to speak to him. 05:43.301 --> 05:47.103 [SPEAKER_00]: God gave him dreams and spoke to him through visions at night. 05:48.784 --> 05:52.186 [SPEAKER_00]: He would tell Joseph about the things he had in store for him. 05:52.386 --> 05:54.047 [SPEAKER_00]: The plans he had to use him. 05:54.427 --> 05:57.929 [SPEAKER_00]: The ways that those around him would bow down to him 06:02.029 --> 06:11.682 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, despite any doubt that he might have had from the people around him or how he viewed himself, God gave him this dream and said, you are my unlikely hero. 06:13.832 --> 06:26.383 [SPEAKER_00]: We see this, we've gone through a couple of stories now in this series, we started off and before we got into the Old Testament, we heard about David and Goliath, we heard about David, how he too was one of the youngest siblings. 06:26.643 --> 06:32.168 [SPEAKER_00]: He too was one of the unlikely people, yet God chose David to be the one who became the King. 06:33.657 --> 06:34.818 [SPEAKER_00]: We also heard about Ruth. 06:35.198 --> 06:37.219 [SPEAKER_00]: She was from, she was a Canaanite. 06:37.439 --> 06:38.200 [SPEAKER_00]: She was from Canaanite. 06:38.520 --> 06:40.621 [SPEAKER_00]: She was not one of God's chosen people. 06:40.681 --> 06:42.862 [SPEAKER_00]: She was not one of the people who was tied into the family. 06:42.882 --> 06:51.267 [SPEAKER_00]: And when her husband who was in his right passed away, she chose to be faithful and God used her as an unlikely hero. 06:52.560 --> 07:01.225 [SPEAKER_00]: You might be in here today and when you look at your story, when you look at your circumstances, you think there's nothing especially amazing about you. 07:01.325 --> 07:05.147 [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing that would point towards you being someone that God would want to use. 07:05.387 --> 07:09.810 [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing that points towards you that would make you think you could accomplish something incredible. 07:10.310 --> 07:14.912 [SPEAKER_00]: And yet we serve a God who uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary. 07:15.532 --> 07:20.694 [SPEAKER_00]: And so there's nothing stopping him from being able to join in with your story and your life. 07:20.814 --> 07:23.775 [SPEAKER_00]: And do something that you would never have thought or dreamed of. 07:24.640 --> 07:28.743 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, across the weekend, we had this guy Sam Rens didn't come down and speak to our youth. 07:28.823 --> 07:40.410 [SPEAKER_00]: And he was working, he served in a youth industry for a long time at another church, but he was working at a trade, and he has these young kids, and he would tell them bedtime stories. 07:41.473 --> 07:45.634 [SPEAKER_00]: And then one day he felt a prompting from God to start recording these stories. 07:46.195 --> 07:50.096 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he started recording them and he put them into a podcast called silly stories for kids. 07:50.796 --> 07:55.458 [SPEAKER_00]: This podcast blew up and has gone across to millions of people streaming them. 07:56.658 --> 07:59.179 [SPEAKER_00]: He had no idea God was going to do something like that. 07:59.279 --> 08:08.842 [SPEAKER_00]: They was going to be able to use what he thought was just him serving his kids to be able to actually minister and share God's values through stories to millions of people. 08:10.279 --> 08:11.560 [SPEAKER_00]: He was an unlikely hero. 08:12.381 --> 08:14.603 [SPEAKER_00]: I wonder what God could do with your story. 08:15.664 --> 08:16.965 [SPEAKER_00]: So we have the unlikely hero. 08:17.005 --> 08:20.989 [SPEAKER_00]: This is our first point in first of five movements across this story. 08:21.810 --> 08:24.472 [SPEAKER_00]: And then we hear what's next. 08:25.233 --> 08:29.797 [SPEAKER_00]: Second point is that he's raised among injustice and yet defiant in character. 08:30.578 --> 08:34.962 [SPEAKER_00]: In Genesis 37, 19 to 23, we hear about what the brothers do. 08:36.108 --> 08:50.178 [SPEAKER_00]: Here comes that dreamer they said to each other, come now, let us kill him and throw him into this system, this ditch, and say that a ferocious animal devout him, then we'll see what comes of his dreams. 08:51.079 --> 08:54.221 [SPEAKER_00]: When Ruben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. 08:54.541 --> 09:04.729 [SPEAKER_00]: Let us not kill him, what does not take his life, do not shed any blood, no throw him into the system and hear it in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him. 09:05.690 --> 09:09.332 [SPEAKER_00]: Ruben said this to rescue him and take them back to his father. 09:10.072 --> 09:18.256 [SPEAKER_00]: So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the Ornate robe he was wearing, and they took him and threw him into the system. 09:18.837 --> 09:21.578 [SPEAKER_00]: The system was empty, and there was no water in it. 09:23.277 --> 09:25.378 [SPEAKER_00]: So Joseph, he'd received this dream. 09:25.438 --> 09:26.418 [SPEAKER_00]: He'd received this vision. 09:26.638 --> 09:27.918 [SPEAKER_00]: He had this plan for his life. 09:27.958 --> 09:29.879 [SPEAKER_00]: He thought that his life was going in one direction. 09:30.399 --> 09:35.100 [SPEAKER_00]: He was the son of this wealthy farmer who was in a position to be able to do something good. 09:35.980 --> 09:44.522 [SPEAKER_00]: And yet, his brothers despised him, and their evil thoughts led to evil deeds, and they beat him and they threw him into a ditch. 09:45.462 --> 09:48.583 [SPEAKER_00]: Cast out, betrayed, and made a slave. 09:50.679 --> 09:54.940 [SPEAKER_00]: See, they went on to Salim when we read in verse 28. 09:55.840 --> 10:05.223 [SPEAKER_00]: We see that when these Medianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of that system and they sold him for silver. 10:05.843 --> 10:11.685 [SPEAKER_00]: 20 shackles of silver to the Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt. 10:12.937 --> 10:20.863 [SPEAKER_00]: His story was heading in one direction and reached this point where the sin and the wicked doings of others turned it south. 10:21.944 --> 10:23.706 [SPEAKER_00]: He now found himself as a slave. 10:25.567 --> 10:37.577 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we shouldn't be surprised when we see in the short turn the wrongdoings of others people making choices to do what isn't right and profiting off of it. 10:38.418 --> 10:44.600 [SPEAKER_00]: His brothers, they betrayed him and yet they were the ones who walked away with their pockets lined with silver while he was a slave. 10:46.021 --> 10:55.084 [SPEAKER_00]: But when you look forward on them when we get towards the end of the story, you'll see that the small blessings that come from evil doings balance out with the justice of God. 10:55.604 --> 11:03.907 [SPEAKER_00]: The pain and suffering that they were going to have to face later on in the story shows that evil never pays in the end. 11:05.092 --> 11:14.035 [SPEAKER_00]: but God is faithful, and He looks to redeem and to save, and not just those who do good, but even those of us who make mistakes and do wrong. 11:15.355 --> 11:19.237 [SPEAKER_00]: God does not abandon Joseph, and He doesn't abandon His brothers. 11:21.037 --> 11:26.839 [SPEAKER_00]: And so Joseph is in this ditch, and then now a slave, what does Joseph do? 11:28.900 --> 11:34.122 [SPEAKER_00]: In 39 from verses two to six, we read that the Lord was with Joseph. 11:35.037 --> 11:36.278 [SPEAKER_00]: so that he prospered. 11:36.798 --> 11:40.141 [SPEAKER_00]: And he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 11:40.621 --> 11:49.649 [SPEAKER_00]: When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success and everything he did, Joseph found failure in his eyes and became his attendance. 11:50.449 --> 11:52.791 [SPEAKER_00]: Pottaffer put him in charge of his household. 11:53.131 --> 11:55.974 [SPEAKER_00]: He entrusted to his care everything he owned. 11:56.434 --> 12:00.837 [SPEAKER_00]: From the time he put him in charge of his household and all that he owned. 12:01.764 --> 12:05.868 [SPEAKER_00]: the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. 12:06.409 --> 12:11.654 [SPEAKER_00]: The blessing of the Lord was on everything part of her heart, both in the house and in the field. 12:12.014 --> 12:21.083 [SPEAKER_00]: So part of the left everything he had in Joseph's care with Joseph in charge he did not concern himself with anything except the food that he ate. 12:22.540 --> 12:23.760 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, this is looking up. 12:24.340 --> 12:35.543 [SPEAKER_00]: His going into slavery, but his now in his found favor and his in this household, it's easy for us to read this and think that, okay, this is looking good, or okay, it's now made his life easy. 12:35.603 --> 12:44.806 [SPEAKER_00]: He's got all this stuff that is in charge of, so life must be good, but we can't forget the fact that for Joseph, he had this dream, he had this promise. 12:45.558 --> 12:55.283 [SPEAKER_00]: and now he's still a slave, and what he chose to do in the face of everyone around him making bad choices and doing wrong against him, he chose to put his head down and get to work. 12:56.368 --> 13:00.232 [SPEAKER_00]: He actually decided, I'm in this position as a slave and a servant. 13:00.292 --> 13:05.176 [SPEAKER_00]: If this is where I meant to be, if this is what life has dealt me, I'm going to use what I've got to want a God. 13:05.637 --> 13:06.698 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to get to work. 13:07.018 --> 13:09.160 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to do it in a way that brings him glory. 13:09.380 --> 13:13.584 [SPEAKER_00]: To the point where we even hear a pot of recignizers the hand of the Lord I am. 13:13.905 --> 13:15.927 [SPEAKER_00]: He recignizers the God Spirit is with him. 13:16.777 --> 13:17.797 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he promotes him. 13:18.197 --> 13:19.978 [SPEAKER_00]: And guess what, that doesn't mean like it's easier. 13:20.038 --> 13:29.861 [SPEAKER_00]: It actually means he's got more responsibility, he's got more tasks, he's got more work to do, but he's got more opportunity to be able to point even to someone who's completely foreign to the idea of God. 13:30.541 --> 13:33.142 [SPEAKER_00]: He's able to reveal the goodness of God's character. 13:34.042 --> 13:35.443 [SPEAKER_00]: That's an encouragement to us. 13:36.281 --> 13:42.762 [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever you might be facing, maybe you feel like you're in this situation, where everyone around you is making choices that you can't agree with. 13:43.082 --> 13:51.324 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you're in a situation where it seems like people are making your life hard, or you're facing some kind of challenge, some kind of injustice. 13:52.104 --> 13:58.786 [SPEAKER_00]: The encouragement to you is for us as Christians in a world that's full of darkness, we're called to be a light. 13:59.286 --> 14:00.586 [SPEAKER_00]: And we do that throughout work. 14:00.786 --> 14:02.126 [SPEAKER_00]: We do that through our character. 14:02.206 --> 14:05.367 [SPEAKER_00]: We do that through bringing our best to point towards God. 14:08.833 --> 14:13.254 [SPEAKER_00]: We see this same trend in some of these other stories who take you know, look at. 14:14.274 --> 14:18.155 [SPEAKER_00]: For Daniel, instead of abandoning God, he stayed faithful. 14:18.915 --> 14:24.137 [SPEAKER_00]: It would have been easy for him when he saw that his people, God's people, had been taken out into exile. 14:24.397 --> 14:25.857 [SPEAKER_00]: He found himself in a foreign land. 14:25.877 --> 14:28.878 [SPEAKER_00]: It would have been easy for Daniel to give it up. 14:29.758 --> 14:32.259 [SPEAKER_00]: But instead, he put himself to work. 14:32.539 --> 14:34.639 [SPEAKER_00]: And it becomes an official to the king. 14:39.056 --> 14:42.037 [SPEAKER_00]: Noah was righteous and was faithful while everyone else was sinning. 14:43.098 --> 14:44.078 [SPEAKER_00]: What does that mean for Noah? 14:44.979 --> 14:46.880 [SPEAKER_00]: He asked to go to work, he asked to build a boat. 14:47.860 --> 14:53.743 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't mean he gets through a lot, it doesn't mean all right, you've earned this, no, no, no, he had to work and become the laughing stock of his town. 14:54.603 --> 14:55.984 [SPEAKER_00]: But God was faithful. 14:58.345 --> 15:04.288 [SPEAKER_00]: And so now we move across into our third movement, the innocent, it's punished. 15:06.832 --> 15:08.314 [SPEAKER_00]: continuing on from verse six. 15:08.914 --> 15:11.377 [SPEAKER_00]: Now Joseph was well-built and handsome. 15:12.738 --> 15:14.540 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why these kind of details are in there. 15:14.800 --> 15:16.422 [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible, but they're in there. 15:17.142 --> 15:18.804 [SPEAKER_00]: He's got nice roads, his handsome. 15:19.144 --> 15:29.775 [SPEAKER_00]: He's got a log on from, except as a slave, but after a while, his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, come to bed with me. 15:31.321 --> 15:35.905 [SPEAKER_00]: And then down in verse 11, one day he went into the house to attend his duties. 15:36.726 --> 15:38.968 [SPEAKER_00]: And none of the household servants were inside. 15:39.809 --> 15:42.911 [SPEAKER_00]: She caught him by his cloak and said, come to bed with me. 15:43.612 --> 15:46.615 [SPEAKER_00]: But he left his cloak in her hands and ran out of the house. 15:47.734 --> 15:52.777 [SPEAKER_00]: When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hands and ran out of the house, she called the household servants. 15:53.177 --> 15:57.700 [SPEAKER_00]: Look, she said to them, this Hebrew man has been brought to us to make sport of us. 15:58.100 --> 16:00.922 [SPEAKER_00]: He came in to sleep with me, but I screamed. 16:01.242 --> 16:04.625 [SPEAKER_00]: And when I screamed, he ran out and he left his cloak beside me. 16:08.087 --> 16:10.068 [SPEAKER_00]: We see this turning in the story. 16:11.477 --> 16:19.759 [SPEAKER_00]: And the truth is, every single one of us in this place, every one of us has dealt with a situation of temptation. 16:21.020 --> 16:24.861 [SPEAKER_00]: Joseph is given a choice on how to respond. 16:25.601 --> 16:31.083 [SPEAKER_00]: See, we all know this feeling of when we have this temptation to take the easy route. 16:31.403 --> 16:34.924 [SPEAKER_00]: This temptation to do something that we know isn't right, isn't honoring, isn't good. 16:35.730 --> 16:43.053 [SPEAKER_00]: We know the feeling of that pain when we make the mistake, and we choose to follow our desires rather than doing what is right. 16:43.948 --> 16:45.829 [SPEAKER_00]: We all battle with this. 16:46.349 --> 16:49.731 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that there's some advice in how Joseph responds. 16:50.411 --> 16:52.232 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't leave room for a thought. 16:52.893 --> 16:54.594 [SPEAKER_00]: He recognizes a situation. 16:54.794 --> 16:56.995 [SPEAKER_00]: He knows what's going on and he runs. 16:57.795 --> 17:00.217 [SPEAKER_00]: He gets up and he runs away from temptation. 17:00.897 --> 17:09.322 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're battle-intemptation in your life right now, there's something that's trying to snatching claw at you, trying to pull you down, trying to put in a roadblock in your story. 17:10.102 --> 17:11.443 [SPEAKER_00]: Respond like Joseph. 17:12.312 --> 17:14.613 [SPEAKER_00]: Get up and run from temptation. 17:19.135 --> 17:25.538 [SPEAKER_00]: Joseph despite his behavior, despite his desire to do right and serve the Lord. 17:26.499 --> 17:30.341 [SPEAKER_00]: He is the innocent, flamed, and accused, and made guilty. 17:31.101 --> 17:33.582 [SPEAKER_00]: He ends up being taken and thrown into prison. 17:34.242 --> 17:37.164 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet again, he finds himself at the bottom of a pit. 17:38.035 --> 17:43.076 [SPEAKER_00]: looking like this story that was starting to trend upwards has gone back down to rock bottom. 17:44.437 --> 17:46.557 [SPEAKER_00]: He finds himself here again. 17:47.377 --> 17:49.838 [SPEAKER_00]: It would be easy for him to ask a question, where are you going? 17:50.498 --> 17:51.198 [SPEAKER_00]: What are you doing? 17:51.918 --> 17:53.439 [SPEAKER_00]: I thought you said you had plans for me. 17:53.459 --> 17:54.859 [SPEAKER_00]: I thought you were going to do something. 17:55.359 --> 17:56.880 [SPEAKER_00]: But why am I here? 17:58.600 --> 18:00.060 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you know this sort of feeling. 18:00.100 --> 18:02.561 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you feel like you're in a similar place. 18:03.001 --> 18:04.402 [SPEAKER_00]: You're asking God where he is. 18:04.442 --> 18:05.982 [SPEAKER_00]: You're asking him, what is he doing? 18:06.982 --> 18:09.845 [SPEAKER_00]: I know this feeling, I've been in a place like this. 18:11.607 --> 18:25.863 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, when I was 18, I'd finished up as a youth and I felt God speak to me and say that He was calling me to ministry and He wanted me to travel to Bible College and learn how to be a pastor. 18:26.750 --> 18:28.652 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I made the decision in 18 years old. 18:28.692 --> 18:30.993 [SPEAKER_00]: I was going to pack my bags and head up to Sydney. 18:31.013 --> 18:32.475 [SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't have much money. 18:32.915 --> 18:40.201 [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't have much belongings or possessions, but I went, God, if you're in it, if you're calling me, I'm going to follow it. 18:40.821 --> 18:51.370 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I went and I moved up to Sydney and very quickly, as all 18-year-olds realize that life is expensive and it's not easy and you need an income. 18:51.510 --> 18:54.953 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I got myself a job at this Mexican restaurant. 18:55.433 --> 18:58.096 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I love GYG, and I wish it was GYG, but it wasn't. 18:58.196 --> 19:00.318 [SPEAKER_00]: It was another Mexican food chain. 19:01.138 --> 19:13.450 [SPEAKER_00]: And this one, I was serving in the church, and I knew that the reason why I was in Sydney was to serve and learn what it means to be a servant of the house. 19:14.118 --> 19:24.883 [SPEAKER_00]: So I prioritized my time serving and this job worked really well because it gave me nights where I was able to, I was able to work and earn, but it meant that I didn't have much of an income. 19:24.943 --> 19:30.605 [SPEAKER_00]: I had just enough to pay for rent and then some two-minute noodles and some rice and not much else. 19:31.206 --> 19:40.870 [SPEAKER_00]: But I was so hungry and I remember thinking, man, all of my friends are going out and they're able to buy nice quotes and have dinners out and I wasn't able to afford any of that. 19:45.078 --> 19:48.880 [SPEAKER_00]: But yet, what happened was while working in this business. 19:49.841 --> 19:53.282 [SPEAKER_00]: At some point, there were issues within the business. 19:53.342 --> 20:00.046 [SPEAKER_00]: Where someone had ended up taking food, not locking the doors, not showing up to shifts. 20:00.666 --> 20:03.168 [SPEAKER_00]: And the manager didn't know who it was. 20:04.693 --> 20:08.098 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the finger was pointed and the blame was put on to me. 20:08.959 --> 20:14.326 [SPEAKER_00]: In spite of doing nothing wrong, the manager said to me, hey, those next shifts you got coming up, don't worry about them. 20:14.747 --> 20:15.267 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't come. 20:15.948 --> 20:19.453 [SPEAKER_00]: If we need you, we'll, you know, but this is kind of it for you. 20:20.542 --> 20:23.464 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I remember receiving that news and just being so shocked. 20:23.504 --> 20:25.505 [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, what, what was it, what did I do wrong? 20:25.545 --> 20:29.408 [SPEAKER_00]: Is it because I didn't have enough availability to work? 20:29.448 --> 20:30.969 [SPEAKER_00]: Was it something I said? 20:31.349 --> 20:33.030 [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know what had happened. 20:33.670 --> 20:36.192 [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, oh, why is this happening to me? 20:36.312 --> 20:37.993 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like you called me to be. 20:38.113 --> 20:40.535 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I meant to be at this college. 20:40.635 --> 20:41.956 [SPEAKER_00]: I meant to be serving your house. 20:42.056 --> 20:45.318 [SPEAKER_00]: But now I don't have a way to even afford rent next week. 20:45.718 --> 20:48.560 [SPEAKER_00]: Once my last paycheck hits, that's it, that's all I've got. 20:48.840 --> 20:51.322 [SPEAKER_00]: Am I going to have to pack my bags, and am I going to have to go home? 20:52.662 --> 20:56.425 [SPEAKER_00]: But that week while I was dealing with these questions, and I was stressed, and I was anxious. 20:57.445 --> 21:02.088 [SPEAKER_00]: I rocked up to church on Sunday, and I was chatting with a college mate. 21:02.969 --> 21:06.311 [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know him too well, and he didn't know any of the circumstances I was facing. 21:06.331 --> 21:07.752 [SPEAKER_00]: He didn't know what was going on in my world. 21:08.626 --> 21:12.188 [SPEAKER_00]: But he said, hey, Matt, you know, there's just something about your character. 21:12.208 --> 21:18.072 [SPEAKER_00]: There's something about how you post yourself that I don't ever do this. 21:18.853 --> 21:22.055 [SPEAKER_00]: But man, like, I work, where I work, they're looking for a new employee. 21:22.075 --> 21:24.076 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think you would be the perfect person for the job. 21:24.716 --> 21:26.157 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you like a job? 21:26.718 --> 21:27.358 [SPEAKER_00]: I hope I broke down. 21:27.378 --> 21:28.639 [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, man, I need a job. 21:28.739 --> 21:29.459 [SPEAKER_00]: I thank you. 21:30.720 --> 21:33.162 [SPEAKER_00]: But within a week, I was interviewed. 21:33.282 --> 21:34.823 [SPEAKER_00]: I was trialed, and I was working. 21:35.210 --> 21:39.231 [SPEAKER_00]: And I've been a job where I was getting paid twice as much as I was before. 21:40.371 --> 21:44.452 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just look at that story and I go, man, I could have given up on God. 21:44.492 --> 21:48.373 [SPEAKER_00]: I could have been like, man, you left me high and dry, but no, God was faithful. 21:49.114 --> 21:53.475 [SPEAKER_00]: And so if you're in here this morning, you're feeling like, man, I need God to sharpen my life. 21:54.035 --> 21:55.495 [SPEAKER_00]: I need to tell you, he is faithful. 21:55.855 --> 21:56.995 [SPEAKER_00]: He knows what you're facing. 21:57.136 --> 21:58.316 [SPEAKER_00]: He knows what you're going through. 21:58.796 --> 21:59.616 [SPEAKER_00]: He cares about you. 22:00.016 --> 22:02.837 [SPEAKER_00]: He loves you and he is faithful. 22:04.812 --> 22:07.895 [SPEAKER_00]: So we see that the innocent is punished. 22:11.278 --> 22:12.379 [SPEAKER_00]: How did Joseph respond? 22:13.940 --> 22:14.821 [SPEAKER_00]: Did he question God? 22:15.382 --> 22:15.962 [SPEAKER_00]: Did he give up? 22:16.763 --> 22:17.844 [SPEAKER_00]: Did he die in that prison? 22:18.204 --> 22:18.445 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 22:19.305 --> 22:21.808 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, he saw his circumstances. 22:22.348 --> 22:24.250 [SPEAKER_00]: He knew that God was gonna be faithful to him. 22:24.931 --> 22:27.193 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he continues to serve. 22:28.161 --> 22:29.563 [SPEAKER_00]: He finds favor among the guards. 22:30.063 --> 22:32.646 [SPEAKER_00]: They look at him and they start going, oh, we really like this guy. 22:32.886 --> 22:36.730 [SPEAKER_00]: For some reason, he always cleans up the other prison cells, who's always friendly to us. 22:36.790 --> 22:39.634 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, there's something different about this guy, Joseph. 22:40.494 --> 22:47.782 [SPEAKER_00]: And so it actually, as the story continues, we see that there are some prisoners who have dreams, and they're trying to understand their dreams. 22:48.755 --> 22:53.757 [SPEAKER_00]: and Holy Spirit comes and helps Joseph be able to decipher what these dreams mean. 22:54.197 --> 22:58.199 [SPEAKER_00]: And one of those servants, one of those prisoners, becomes a servant to Pharaoh. 22:58.859 --> 23:01.900 [SPEAKER_00]: He gets taken out of prison and restored to his former position. 23:02.640 --> 23:05.761 [SPEAKER_00]: But he forgets about Joseph, and two years go by. 23:06.181 --> 23:08.842 [SPEAKER_00]: Two years of Joseph, he'd instale bread and prison. 23:09.203 --> 23:15.545 [SPEAKER_00]: Two years of Joseph struggling, but choosing to serve and choosing to know and believe that God is faithful. 23:18.134 --> 23:21.557 [SPEAKER_00]: I wonder how Joseph managed to live such a life. 23:22.639 --> 23:38.014 [SPEAKER_00]: I believe that Joseph despite circumstances lived with a conviction and a belief that God is faithful, that God is constantly wanting to speak to us, through dreams, through people, through sermons, through nature. 23:38.294 --> 23:41.497 [SPEAKER_00]: He's wanting to speak to you in your everyday life. 23:42.278 --> 23:47.722 [SPEAKER_00]: His wanting to help you, his wanting to serve you, his wanting to use you to bless others. 23:48.403 --> 23:55.729 [SPEAKER_00]: I believe that Joseph had this mindset where he refused to believe anything else, and he was constantly looking for God to speak. 23:56.750 --> 24:04.736 [SPEAKER_00]: I wonder what would look like for us if we lived like this, with this expectation that God's morning to do something in your life, this expectation that He has something for you. 24:06.700 --> 24:10.542 [SPEAKER_00]: And so two years past and Pharaoh has this dream himself. 24:11.142 --> 24:14.023 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's asking all of his advisors, what does this dream mean? 24:14.623 --> 24:20.926 [SPEAKER_00]: And none of them have answers, but then this servant goes, I remember a man in prison who told me my dream and it came true. 24:21.446 --> 24:25.127 [SPEAKER_00]: His name was Joseph, call him up, he will be able to tell you the answers. 24:25.808 --> 24:28.629 [SPEAKER_00]: So Joseph comes up and he disciples this dream. 24:29.389 --> 24:30.730 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, this dream you've had, 24:31.864 --> 24:38.468 [SPEAKER_00]: As God telling you, a warning, you're going to have seven years of prosperity and then seven years of famine. 24:39.529 --> 24:46.934 [SPEAKER_00]: We are going to have no food for seven years and if we don't use the food we have over the next seven years, we won't make it through that famine. 24:48.595 --> 24:52.116 [SPEAKER_00]: because of Joseph's faithfulness and his ability. 24:52.496 --> 25:02.618 [SPEAKER_00]: God's able to use him at this exact moment to bring about and set in motion plans to save all the people in Asia, all of God's people, even Joseph's own family. 25:05.479 --> 25:13.501 [SPEAKER_00]: And see what's really remarkable is that when Pharaoh hears Joseph telling him this, this is what he says in Genesis 41, verse 38. 25:18.163 --> 25:20.666 [SPEAKER_00]: Can we find anyone else like this man? 25:21.127 --> 25:24.071 [SPEAKER_00]: So obviously filled with the Spirit of God. 25:25.572 --> 25:27.975 [SPEAKER_00]: This is remarkable. 25:28.596 --> 25:29.918 [SPEAKER_00]: And we get to our fourth point. 25:30.919 --> 25:32.842 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet God's Spirit is upon him. 25:34.157 --> 25:41.226 [SPEAKER_00]: What's really incredible about this mention, it's really easy for us to read a story like this and miss one verse within these 15 chapters. 25:41.246 --> 25:45.552 [SPEAKER_00]: But this verse is really powerful and I want us to hone in on it for a second. 25:46.113 --> 25:50.218 [SPEAKER_00]: Because within the book of Genesis, we have three mentions of the Holy Spirit. 25:50.839 --> 25:54.802 [SPEAKER_00]: The first mention of Holy Spirit is when Holy Spirit is present in creation. 25:55.343 --> 26:03.869 [SPEAKER_00]: We see that God's presence is dwelling upon the waters, is bringing with it life and peace and a blessing. 26:04.690 --> 26:18.020 [SPEAKER_00]: But what happens with that story is that humanity falls, and as we get to know her, we actually see this mention that that Holy Spirit, that presence of God, is brought up, and comes away from humanity. 26:18.879 --> 26:23.601 [SPEAKER_00]: because humanity has turned to murder and sin and wrongdoings. 26:24.041 --> 26:25.622 [SPEAKER_00]: So God's presence leaves. 26:26.102 --> 26:28.643 [SPEAKER_00]: It can't dwell in this space. 26:28.663 --> 26:33.365 [SPEAKER_00]: And all Genesis carries on where God's presence is missing this spirit, is missing. 26:34.565 --> 26:47.831 [SPEAKER_00]: But then we see now at the turning point in the story, that Joseph, this man who's been through all these things, God's spirit, Holy Spirit, comes alongside him. 26:49.001 --> 26:50.282 [SPEAKER_00]: This is remarkable. 26:51.302 --> 26:55.323 [SPEAKER_00]: With it comes clarity, comes vision, comes discernment. 26:55.864 --> 27:00.946 [SPEAKER_00]: This isn't the first time, oh, this isn't the last time we see God spirit within the Old Testament. 27:01.186 --> 27:06.948 [SPEAKER_00]: We see as well in Samson's story that the spirit stirs within him to bring freedom for God's people. 27:07.208 --> 27:17.472 [SPEAKER_00]: We see it in David's story that David at a young age has a Holy Spirit come alongside him and anoint him to be a leader to be able to restore God's people. 27:18.032 --> 27:24.254 [SPEAKER_00]: God's Spirit comes with power and restoration and peace, the unity and freedom. 27:24.934 --> 27:31.136 [SPEAKER_00]: There's something about Holy Spirit, the person of God in Holy Spirit that comes powerfully. 27:32.556 --> 27:36.217 [SPEAKER_00]: And that Spirit, the Bible describes as being available to us. 27:37.698 --> 27:42.259 [SPEAKER_00]: God gives us an invitation to be able to welcome Holy Spirit in. 27:43.561 --> 27:47.906 [SPEAKER_00]: Imagine what God is wanting to do in your story and with you. 27:48.847 --> 27:51.330 [SPEAKER_00]: With God's Spirit comes a turn of the tit. 27:51.791 --> 27:55.134 [SPEAKER_00]: Now it brings us to our fifth and our final point for today. 27:55.935 --> 27:58.018 [SPEAKER_00]: This fifth movement in the story. 27:59.399 --> 28:03.184 [SPEAKER_00]: Through which, through Joseph, salvation comes. 28:05.462 --> 28:20.611 [SPEAKER_00]: Joseph was raised up to be above all others and lead the Egyptians to be able to prepare and because of his actions, because of his efforts, because of his faithfulness, because of God's spirit using him. 28:21.252 --> 28:23.893 [SPEAKER_00]: He's able to prepare the people for this family. 28:24.574 --> 28:34.300 [SPEAKER_00]: It means that not only was he brought out a prison and was he sent into a place that he could have never dreamt of achieving, but all of Egypt survived this family. 28:35.217 --> 28:46.068 [SPEAKER_00]: all of God's people survived this famine, even his brothers and his family survived the famine, because God is faithful to us. 28:48.231 --> 28:55.138 [SPEAKER_00]: And the reason that God was able to do this is because he found someone who could use, he found Joseph. 28:56.941 --> 29:03.647 [SPEAKER_00]: From this story, if we take a moment to have Heaven's perspective, we can see that God saw this trouble that was coming. 29:03.687 --> 29:04.849 [SPEAKER_00]: God saw, was ahead. 29:04.889 --> 29:06.770 [SPEAKER_00]: God saw, was about to take place. 29:07.471 --> 29:11.215 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he looked, he looked for someone that he was able to use. 29:11.815 --> 29:17.561 [SPEAKER_00]: Someone who he could raise up, despite circumstances who remain faithful to God. 29:18.842 --> 29:19.683 [SPEAKER_00]: He found Joseph. 29:21.419 --> 29:25.861 [SPEAKER_00]: So the story that we've just walked through, it goes in these five motions. 29:25.941 --> 29:28.362 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a story of an unlikely hero. 29:29.142 --> 29:30.903 [SPEAKER_00]: Someone raised among injustice. 29:31.904 --> 29:40.047 [SPEAKER_00]: The innocent punished, yet whom God spirit resides within and through which salvation comes. 29:41.288 --> 29:48.031 [SPEAKER_00]: This story is a story that actually its pattern repeats all throughout the Old Testament, all throughout the Bible. 29:48.071 --> 29:50.272 [SPEAKER_00]: We see these stories of these unlikely heroes. 29:51.025 --> 29:57.251 [SPEAKER_00]: We live in a world of sin, and yet God's able to use them to do something or a map, miraculous. 29:58.833 --> 30:07.201 [SPEAKER_00]: To see this story, what always happens is we see that God does something great, and then somewhere along the way we fall short again, we make him to stake his stuff out. 30:08.782 --> 30:15.289 [SPEAKER_00]: Humans were never enough to be able to breach that gap, but this story is the story that we see fulfilled in Jesus. 30:17.087 --> 30:23.368 [SPEAKER_00]: Not just a man, but God Himself, born to a virgin, a little town, called Bethlehem. 30:23.388 --> 30:28.550 [SPEAKER_00]: Raised among the sinful yet untainted by this sin, betrayed by those who we call brother. 30:29.430 --> 30:36.791 [SPEAKER_00]: Sold for silver, his blood been poured out, the innocent punished for the guilty. 30:37.572 --> 30:40.692 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet the power of God overcame death. 30:41.152 --> 30:43.973 [SPEAKER_00]: It was brought back to life and resurrected. 30:44.944 --> 30:47.104 [SPEAKER_00]: through him, salvation comes to all. 30:48.365 --> 31:05.748 [SPEAKER_00]: See this story of Joseph, isn't just a story for us to read and to observe, but it's a story for us to look at and realize that God was telling us something about his plans all along from way back then, he had plans to do something about the pain, the suffering and the trouble in this world. 31:07.009 --> 31:12.830 [SPEAKER_00]: His plans for us and he invites us to play a part in that story. 31:16.115 --> 31:21.476 [SPEAKER_00]: What we can do right now, we can stand in the banders about to lead us in a moment of worship. 31:21.536 --> 31:25.077 [SPEAKER_00]: So would you take your feet and stand? 31:25.537 --> 31:33.979 [SPEAKER_00]: And as you get an up and stand, I want you to, I want you to consider where are you at in your story? 31:35.300 --> 31:37.900 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're in here and you're feeling a bit like the unlikely hero. 31:38.701 --> 31:39.801 [SPEAKER_00]: You're feeling like madness. 31:40.901 --> 31:43.682 [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing that points towards God being able to use me. 31:44.746 --> 31:46.207 [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing that points towards God. 31:46.227 --> 31:48.248 [SPEAKER_00]: Be able to do something incredible with Naval. 31:48.948 --> 31:51.569 [SPEAKER_00]: He uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary my friend. 31:52.529 --> 31:54.590 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're in here and you're living in a world of pain. 31:54.610 --> 31:57.752 [SPEAKER_00]: You're living in a world of people doing wrong things. 31:58.632 --> 32:01.653 [SPEAKER_00]: People causing harm or hurt or making bad choices. 32:02.894 --> 32:06.355 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're in here and you feel like you're the innocent being punished. 32:07.556 --> 32:11.938 [SPEAKER_00]: You're fighting to be good and to do right. 32:13.015 --> 32:17.539 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're in here and you're facing a circumstance where you're needing discernment. 32:18.860 --> 32:23.343 [SPEAKER_00]: You feel like you're running out of options and ideas and you need guidance. 32:24.524 --> 32:30.348 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're in here and you're dealing with disunity, with division, or you're just so tired. 32:31.029 --> 32:33.971 [SPEAKER_00]: You just be battling the storm for so long you have so tired. 32:35.072 --> 32:41.057 [SPEAKER_00]: Or friend, what this story tells us is that God's Spirit, Holy Spirit. 32:42.330 --> 32:48.594 [SPEAKER_00]: He's available for us, always through the looks to us to partner with us. 32:50.375 --> 32:58.680 [SPEAKER_00]: He's looking for us to invite him in, and with him comes power, comes renewed strength, comes wisdom. 33:00.001 --> 33:05.305 [SPEAKER_00]: And so what we're going to do now is we're actually going to open up a space down at the front. 33:06.365 --> 33:10.028 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're in here and you're gone, man, I need God. 33:10.925 --> 33:12.406 [SPEAKER_00]: I need the power of this spirit. 33:13.267 --> 33:15.910 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to invite you, friend, to come down to the front. 33:16.270 --> 33:19.172 [SPEAKER_00]: We've got a team of pastors and team of prayer. 33:19.993 --> 33:22.115 [SPEAKER_00]: Legends that are going to actually pray for you. 33:22.876 --> 33:24.517 [SPEAKER_00]: They want to pray for you. 33:25.538 --> 33:26.979 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to encourage you, don't hesitate. 33:27.380 --> 33:29.642 [SPEAKER_00]: If this is the moment where you're going, I need prayer for something. 33:30.655 --> 33:34.136 [SPEAKER_00]: I need God, your spirit, your presence. 33:34.816 --> 33:36.536 [SPEAKER_00]: Then I want to invite you to take a step forward. 33:36.996 --> 33:38.856 [SPEAKER_00]: Come to the front, we'd love to pray for you. 33:39.456 --> 33:41.217 [SPEAKER_00]: The band's gonna sing over us. 33:41.257 --> 33:45.738 [SPEAKER_00]: They're gonna lead us in worship and if that's you, then friends, we're gonna pray with you. 33:46.698 --> 33:49.418 [SPEAKER_00]: So, Father, we open up this space now, I'm going. 33:50.278 --> 33:53.839 [SPEAKER_00]: We look to you, we look to heaven, we say, come have your way. 33:54.499 --> 33:55.479 [SPEAKER_00]: Come, Holy Spirit. 33:56.959 --> 33:58.940 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, we need you, would you come and fill us 34:01.388 --> 34:02.829 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you move in our life? 34:02.889 --> 34:05.511 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you help us, God? 34:08.092 --> 34:13.415 [SPEAKER_00]: We come to the front as a posture of saying, we're running to you, God. 34:13.895 --> 34:14.976 [SPEAKER_00]: We're turning to you, God. 34:15.817 --> 34:17.397 [SPEAKER_00]: So would you come, would you feel this room? 34:17.438 --> 34:18.338 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you feel our hearts? 34:19.018 --> 34:19.819 [SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus name?