Have I Screwed Everything Up? · The Coat Pt.1 LIVE

0:27 all of a sudden there's a problem in your life and you get that optimistic, it's always sunny for these people. They're the ultimate optimist and they're always one of those people that almost like a jab in your side. Oh, come on, it'll work out. You ever wanna yell back, will it? It's not working out because that's how it feels sometimes. You know, it's the same kind of cliches we live with, like it is what it is.

0:57 profound. It is what it is. It certainly is. And thank you for that observation. But these little statements we make, and listen, I think people would probably, if you spend time with me, think I'm a pretty positive person. No one's ever identified me as an optimist, though. That's probably too much satire and sarcasm to claim a real office of an optimist. But I'm a relatively positive person. But have you ever been around those rainbows and sunshines and unicorns, these happy, clappy, wonderful people who are always like, oh my gosh, it'll work out. It's amazing. And their tone even grates, you know? And sometimes you wonder like, has life just been easy breezy for you? Life is hard. Life is difficult. Life is painful. Chelsea likes these television shows that are set in a hospital where people come in hemorrhaging. She enjoys this. This is how she relaxes and turns off. And, you know, people will come in. I forget the recent show she's been watching. It's, what's that? Say it again. The pit. Exactly. The pit. And in the pit, everybody comes in dying. And the reason these shows freak me out is because while I'm watching the show, it dawns on me, there are so many variables in my body. So many valves and car puzzles. That's not a word, but that could go wrong. You know what I mean? You ever watch these shows and they're like, well, it's actually the annular granular detail in the back of the brain.

2:27 It's actually, you know, it's hemorrhaging. We got to get them in right now. Get an EKG. Everybody get it. And then the pit, another guy comes in and he's been shot. And then it dawns on you. I could so easily be shot. Like, it's weird. I haven't been shot. I wonder if I'll ever be shot, you know? And then like, someone's like, oh, he's got heart problems. He smoked too much. And I'm thinking, I got a sacar problem, you know? And all of a sudden you're watching these shows and you're like, wait a minute, it's a miracle. I'm sitting here healthy right now. Like there's so many variables. I got into the Nadal documentary. Have you seen this on Netflix? Whoa, guys, you gotta get out more or stay in more. But this Nadal documentary, highly recommend, phenomenal. Rafa Nadal, he's a tennis player. Sorry, it's LA, sports don't resonate. But he's a pro tennis player who's won 14 French Opens, right? It's unbelievable. And so I love tennis, played tennis in high school, recruited to play college tennis, don't want to get into it right now. And I'm watching Nadal, and there's a lot of him that I see in myself, some of the ground strokes and such.

3:28 And so I'm watching this, and Nadal is describing, if you haven't watched it, he plays hurt his whole career. We didn't know this. Like, he's got a real problem with his foot. He's got a real problem with his back, and then his knee gives out, and it clicks over to the doctor. The doctor's like, well, systemic problem, obviously. Once the foot is, no time telling. The knee's going to go, then the back's going to go. And I'm laying there, and Nadal is retiring. This whole documentary is about his retirement. And he's like, well, he's too old. He's 38. I'm watching, thinking I'm 47. And I'm watching this, and I'm going, it's a miracle. I'm not in more pain. Like, do I have any knee problems? There's just so many things that can go awry in this life. so much so that I see myself as a relatively optimistic outlook kind of guy. God's good, and it'll work out. It'll work out. What if I told you that I categorically, fundamentally, psychologically, and theologically agree that it will work out is true for you and for me?

4:37 What if in the next few minutes I could show you from thousands of years ago why I believe God is conspiring for your good, that God is actually out to do you good. God is out to get you good, get you real good. God loves you. God made you. God designed you. What if I could tell you it'll work out and what if you could believe it? Now, hold on a second. Before we just kind of skim over that and move along and check our phones for the score, if you will, and let me know. But I mean, honestly, what if you believed it'll work out? What if tonight, when I say it'll work out, most of you thought of something and you know you did.

5:29 And you thought, no, he won't. No, she won't. Oh yeah, well, I just got let go. So it's going to work out. Is it occupational? Is it relational? Is it psychological? Is it mental? Is it physical? Is it emotional? What are you going through? What if you left tonight believing it'll work out? Now, now, now, now, I can't give you a time frame. If I could, I would. If I could, I would. It's going to work out in six days. I can't give you a time frame, but what if I told you it'll work out? What if you believe that you walked out of this theater around 830, 840, actually convinced whatever it is that has got you center of mind, whatever you're fearing, whatever you're worrying about, whatever you're worked up about, whatever you're anxious about, whatever you're unsettled about, what if you could leave this theater believing, like, you know, those guys, it'll work out. It'll work out. Are you like me? Do you ever watch other people's dispositions and wish you could have those? Like I love these. Thank you. I love these people who are just cool, calm, and collected. I admire them. I don't know how they function, what it is inside of them that keeps them so cool, calm, and collected, but I have never been identified as a cool, calm, and collected person. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. I watched an old tennis match from 1992. People you've never heard of. Andre Agassi versus John McEnroe.

7:03 And I watched John McEnroe, the ancient legend tennis player, fall on the ground and outburst. And I thought, now that's what I'm talking about. That's my guy. I want to fall on the ground and scream over the littlest of things. I love these cool, calm, and collected people. I love these optimistic people. I love these people whose disposition seems to be given to this idea of, no problem. It's not a problem. It'll work out. Now, I can't grant you a disposition I don't have, but I can tell you this. I think it's possible tonight by way of power of perspective and attitude in absorbing an ancient text tonight, perhaps, just perhaps, you could leave this theater being one of those guys, being one of those gals who actually started to believe it'll work out it'll work out what if that became a thing for you it'll work out it'll work out I remember I hit somebody one time driving it's not the only time and it might not be the last I will say I was in a little race car competition recently with about 35 people we went to the f1 k1 raceway go-kart my trophy is this big off the ground fastest time. It is what it is, but I'm not the most focused driver that's ever existed because I like to connect with people, sue me. But never forget, I rear-ended this sweet lady years ago when I was a much younger, unsure driver. And she got out of the car and said, oh, you can imagine what it's like when I rear-end, when I bump into you, when I hit you, I jump out of the car.

8:52 I'm like, oh my God, oh my God, I'm so sorry. You know, you can imagine I'm like 17, 18 years old. I'm just an absolute jumble, bumble of emotion. I'm so sorry, I've never done this before. And she's like, hey, sweetie, sweetie, it's okay. Give me your insurance and I'll take all your money. No, she didn't say that, but remember how soothing she was, how calm she was. What if you could be the friend in your social circle? You know, that friend, the friend that we all go to when we're in a jam, in a bind. Who says jam and bind anymore? But anyways, you know, you call that one friend and that friend goes, hey, it's gonna work out. You're all right. God's good. I believe in you. It's okay. Let it go. We're gonna keep moving. What if you became that person? Wouldn't that be crazy? Well, tonight, not only do I wanna dedicate this sermon to Stephen Norfleet, but I want, on his 22nd birthday, But I want to dedicate this message to anybody in here who has ever said, how did I get here?

9:58 What, what, why do they get to have, if you've ever struggled with the results of your life? Chelsea and I just went on a trip and I left my phone at home. So I was three weeks essentially with no phone. It was amazing. I didn't miss you at all. and I did some reflection. I really did, Stephen. I did some reflection. And there's a thing at my age, and you can imagine being as old as me. It's very old. Every single one of you look about 19 going on 20, but you get to my age, and you ask yourself deep probing questions like, is this where I wanted to be? Have I screwed everything up? how do you like how do you deal with like the fear of of the unknown you know what i mean how do you because because that's what we're talking about when people say it'll work out you're like are you god oh so you know the future so you know this is gonna work out it'll work out how do you deal with not only the decisions you've made that's a whole barrel of laughs in and of itself, the dumb, stupid things you've done. But then you forecast into the future and you ask yourself, am I up for the task? Will I be able to make all the right decisions? And I want to unlock a dirty little secret that nobody will tell you because I'm 47 enough to tell you.

11:27 These people who make their way into some semblance of success and turn around and write a book and tell you that they know the steps to do it. Can I tell you what they are? Liars. With good intentions. But you might as well get a get a rope and lasso the moon talking about, you know, the steps to success. Ladies and gentlemen, your life could be over in an afternoon. Nobody's in charge. Nobody's entitled to any of this. I wrote books. Buy them, please read them. But just know to cover all the books I've ever written. The cover is I'm not God and the truth is I don't know. But I'm believing for you that it will work out. What if there's a source and what if there is somebody so grand and big that's in control that could lead you to believe that whether it is your past or your present or your future, you start to actually absorb and accept that it is going to work out.

12:30 I tell my kids all the time, especially one particular kid, because I felt like when they were born, God told me, you tell your son, he'll stand out and it will work out for the rest of his life. But I wish I could tell you today, I believe you stand out and it will work out for you. Now that takes us thousands of years ago to a character named Joseph. Now, very interesting about Joseph. The reason we're going to take time on Joseph is because Joseph, of all characters in all the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, he is given probably more chapters than any other character. It is actually unusual and in some cases unprecedented how much time and attention the story of Joseph gets. Now, I'll let you know a little secret when it comes to hermeneutics, which is the art of interpreting the Bible. The reason we believe Joseph is given so much text and so much room in the book is because, in fact, he might be the most clear type of Jesus in the Old Testament, which is to say, when you read about him, you see similar parallels to the life and ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

13:41 Now, I'll give you one other little tool. Anytime you're reading this ancient, mystical, magical book, you ask yourself, not where's Waldo, but where's Jesus? If you want to understand this extraordinary book that has no peer, you've got to ask yourself, where is Jesus? So even if you go back in time to the beginning and the book, the name Genesis, the first book of the Bible literally means beginning. When you look for Jesus, the book will come alive to you. So as we approach the life of Joseph, we're going to catch up with him at 17 years old. I want you to keep into the back of your mind as we try together to uncover the proof for which you can believe that it will work out. I want you to keep in the back of your mind Jesus. And every time I say Joseph, you might as well say Jesus because he is a forecast. He is a type. He is a shadow. He is an inkling that there will come someone even greater than Joseph. Joseph has an extraordinary life.

14:35 So much so Broadway has even dedicated a show to him, The Coat of Many Colors. Joe is 17. He's 17 when we pick up the story in Genesis. And of all the kids, his dad, Jacob, loves Joseph. Now, there are reasons for this that are very simple. One of them is because Joseph is incredibly handsome, we can tell. But Joseph is from his favorite wife, if you will. Joseph has only one full other brother named Benjamin, and he just has a thing for Joseph. So much so, there's a lot of reasons we can kind of pontificate or consider or try, but he just loves this kid. Joseph is his guy. So much so, we see very quickly in the text that there is already an unsettling amongst his brothers. He is favored. He's so favored. Dad goes out of his way and gets him one of these real nice embroidered jackets. It's got a bunch of colors in it.

15:29 And antiquity and ancient time, the more colors is the more money, so it costs more. So it'd be easier for dad to get you just one green jacket. But if he gets you like a green, yellow, purple, red, that's just more money. So every time the other brothers looked at his jacket, they had a brown jacket or a green jacket or a red jacket or a yellow jacket. Joseph had all the colors in his jacket. So even his jacket was letting all the brothers know, Dad spent more money on me. Dad likes me better. Now, it kind of gets worse. At 17, we're introduced to Joseph. And if you know the story and you're familiar with the story and you like Joseph, then you're already predisposed to kind of think this guy is great. But to be honest with you, he's a little bit of a, we're in church. He's a little bit, he's attached to himself early on. And what I mean by that is he has these dreams. This becomes a theme in Joseph's life. He's a dreamer, okay? He seems to be kind of a random, abstract artist guy like myself.

16:24 And Joseph has a lot of dreams. And in these dreams, he shares them openly. I don't recommend this, but Joseph just did. Joseph had that kind of confidence. He walked into the room. He'll talk about himself the whole afternoon. Joseph started telling his brothers about his dreams. He says, guys, this is crazy. I had a dream last night. In the dream, you guys were all standing there, and then you fell down before me and were worshiping me. Isn't that crazy?

16:50 The guys were like, nah, it's not actually. He's like, but crazy, right? He has another dream, and it's pretty much the same thing again, but this time it's not just his brothers bowing down to him. It's like the whole world bowing down to him. He's like, guys, what do you think? You can imagine how they thought. They had had enough. This kid's annoying. This kid's got it all. Later, we will find out this man is handsome. And if you say handsome like that, it means extra handsome. So the boys make a plot. They go out and they're taking care of Jacob's sheep. Jacob, who evidently keeps Joseph close by, which had to be insulting as well to the other brothers. He said, Joe, he said, come here. And he says, I want you to go find my other sons. You know, my other sons. Go find them and bring some stuff. And then come back and let me know how they are. And Joseph's like, just happy, clappy. You know, he said, everybody loves me.

17:42 He's like, yeah, dad, not a problem. So he goes looking. He can't really find his brothers. And they're in Dohan or Goshen or one of them names. And it doesn't really matter. And he asked the scout. And he's like, no, I think I saw him over there. And sure enough, he comes over the hill. And there is like his 11 brothers. And they're all hanging out. And he's like, hi. And the Bible says they could see him. They could see him. And they're like, oh, here he comes. Here comes that, you know, and it gets like rated R real quick. You know, here comes that. And real quick, this is a true story. Real quick, they make a plan. They say, well, he's going to take about 10 minutes to get here down that mountain. What do you say we do? Now, one of the brothers named Reuben, it should be noted, Reuben was a good guy. And Reuben was like, man, we can't do this. Because they were like, I'll tell you what we should do. we should throw him down one of these wells, one of these cisterns, one of these things that hold a bunch of water and just drop him down there. And by the way, I want the jacket. Let's keep the jacket for ourselves and let's throw this little kid down in the cistern and let's leave him and let one of the animals will get him or whatever. And all the other brothers were like, yeah, Ruben's like, nah, they're like, and let's kill him. Let's just kill him, bro. I'm thinking, let's kill him. Ruben's like, you can't kill him. If you kill him, dad will be gutted. Come on, man, you can't kill him. They're like, fine, Reuben. We won't kill him, but we're going to put him in a cistern and we're going to leave him. Reuben's like, fine, because Reuben says to himself, I'm going to come back, circle around at the nighttime. I'm going to get him out and take him back to dad.

19:03 It'll be fine. So sure enough, he gets down there like, what's up, bro? Bam. They jump on him, take his jacket, throw him down in the cistern. He's like, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys. Hey, hey, hey, hey. And Reuben's probably like, bro, I'll be back. I'll be back. You know, The guys are like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So now they insult to injury. They're like, well, let's sit down and have lunch. So now they're eating next to the wells. You can imagine how agonizing that was. The guys, the joke's okay. It's over. It's really funny, guys. Give me my jacket back. You know, they're like, yeah, exactly. And that's why he's down. They're looking at Ruben like, exactly, bro. Leave him down there. You guys are supposed to be bowing to me. You're not bowing. You know, whatever. So they see this caravan of merchants coming by. and one of the brothers is like, hey, hold on, we can make some money. They said, let's just sell them. Let's get them up out of the pit, and let's sell them.

19:57 And Reuben's like, no, no, you can't do that, because remember, Reuben's going to come. He said, no, you can't. He said, man, shut up. We're going to do this, bro. And so sure enough, they get him out of the well. The merchants come by. I mean, he's a young, handsome guy. The merchant's like, yeah, he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they sell him for some silver. Now Reuben's devastated. Now Reuben's like, now what are you guys going to do? They're like, we got to find a goat. We'll kill a goat. We'll spill the blood, put it on the really expensive jacket, and we'll come back to dad, Jacob, and we're going to say, it's terrible news. We found only this. Joseph's dead. And sure enough, that's exactly what they do. It's a movie. They bring him back, and they're like, dad, we're so sorry. I mean, it's deviant. It's sinister. It's evil. It's bad. And Jacob is devastated. That's my boy. They're like, really sorry, dad. It really sucks. So that's where we're at in the story.

20:50 And that's the end of the story. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, man. Bro, does he always end like that? Yeah, that was a weird end. What do you think that meant? I don't know. It'll work out. So there's a little break where actually a story of a guy named Judah is told about he's one of the brothers. But anyways, we fast forward now and Joseph gets sold into slavery in Egypt. He ends up at this guy named Potiphar's house. They called him Pot. He goes to Potiphar's house. And if you read the text, it's actually, it's beautiful. It says, God was so with Joseph. Everything he did just worked out. In fact, it says the Egyptian man, Potiphar, he worked for Pharaoh. Now, if you know history, Pharaoh is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful person in the known world.

21:43 And Potiphar is right next working to Pharaoh. Potiphar notices very quickly, this Joe kid has just got it. Everything he does works out. He's handsome. He's talented. He's gifted. Eventually, Potiphar says, over a process of a year or so, says, hey, listen, everything I have is under your command. To be honest, I can kick it by the pool because I know you got it. Like, you got this thing taken care of. And Joseph's like, no problem, no problem, no problem. And so Joseph is just doing his thing. I mean, he's doing his thing. And he's good at it. And it's working out. and he's probably thinking like, man, it kind of sucks to be here, but this guy kind of likes me. This is kind of nice. There would have been advantages from being his right-hand man, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But all of a sudden, the story gets sexy.

22:29 It's in the book. The Bible says handsome Joseph is easy to look at, easy on the eyes. Potiphar's wife, she's lonely. Potiphar travels. And she sees old Joe by the pool. You ain't cleaning the pool. He got one of them deep v-necks, cleaning the pool. You're wearing mascara. Egyptian. Sexy. And he's cleaning the pool, and she's like, well, dang. And literally the text says this. She starts saying, hey, baby, come over here, talk to me. And he's like, oh, all right. You need anything? She's like, no, I don't need nothing. I need you. And he's like, whoa, no. no thanks. She's like, come on, baby. Like, he gone. He's always gone. I need you, something to keep me warm at night. And he's like, no, I really, man, with all due respect, like, I can't, I can't do that. Like, your guy, your husband, like, I love him. Like, he's my, he's been so good to me.

23:36 Like, I can't do that. But she keeps pressing him. This is in the text. She keeps pressing, pressing pressing now she's had it she wants what's hers and so it says Joseph is working somewhere and he's in one of them real tight sexy outfits like you don't know that and she comes by and she definitely in a sexy outfit the text doesn't say that but you and I both know that and the Bible says this time she grabs him. She says, come here. I want you, and I want you right now, and Joseph literally freaks out. This guy is. This is the guy you want your daughter to marry. He said, no. He said, no, and she ripped his jacket off. He said, no, no, no, no, no, no. Please, stop, stop, stop, stop. She said, come on, baby. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, And he says this, your husband has given me everything.

24:33 The one thing he said I can't have is you. And I'm not trying to mess this up because if I mess this up, I don't want to go back into a pit. I don't want to. I can't mess this up. And she said, oh, really? And now, boom, her mood changes. She says, oh, okay. Sure enough. Potiphar comes back from his trip. Old Joe is in the servant's quarters. he comes back and he can hear her crying in the house. He tried to rape me. This is a true story. It's in the text. She says he tried to rape me, Potiphar. Potiphar said, what? She said, in fact, I have his jacket because he started taking his clothes off in front of me. So I got his jacket. Potiphar said, what? He said he calls Joseph in front of the whole house. He says, are you serious?

25:26 Everything I've given you, are you serious? you're out. And they take him to a prison. Very specifically, the text says it's a prison in the palace where Pharaohs, those who have wronged Pharaoh and his government were housed. So it's the real, the ones that are really getting the raw end of the deal. You came against Pharaoh and his magistrate. You will be. And so now Joseph, wrongly accused, is now in the dungeon beneath the palace. And the story continues. You can't make this up. He's in the dungeon and it even says in the text that even in the dungeon, God was with him. Even in the dungeon, he kind of stood out. Even in the dungeon, people are like, you're still cool in a dungeon. And that's hard to do.

26:21 You still kind of got that thing about you. You kind of got a little swag in the dungeon. That's crazy. He makes friends with a couple of guys. As chance would have it, one of them was the cupbearer of Pharaoh. You know what a cupbearer is? Cupbearer is the guy who tastes the drink before Pharaoh drinks the drink because sometimes they would poison the drink to kill Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world. And so the cupbearer would drink the drink and you would know if the drink was poisoned because the cupbearer would drop dead. That was his job. So the cupbearer did something stupid to, I was going to say pissed, but we're in church, to tick Pharaoh off. And the cupbearer is now in the dungeon. Cupbearer becomes one of Joe's buddies. Other buddy is a baker. He was Pharaoh's head baker. He must have baked something real bad. And Pharaoh was like, nah, this ain't even gluten-free. He's out.

27:14 So Cupbearer and the baker are in the dungeon. You can't make this stuff up, guys. And Joseph is like, wow, that's crazy. And this is how the story goes. Cupbearer and the baker start having dreams. Out of nowhere, here comes the dreams again. And the Cupbearer's running his mouth one day in the dungeon talking about, I had this weird dream. It's so weird. Joseph goes like, what? I kind of do dreams. I'm good with dreams. I have dreams. He's like, well, I saw this, this. And he's like, oh, man, like, cut bearer? Pharaoh's about to call you up in probably like three days. That's what your dream means. And it's going to be all good for you. The baker's like, well, hold on. I had a dream too. He said, okay, tell me your dream. Poor baker got it all excited. He said, well, in my dream, this, this, and this. And he's like, you're going to be dead in three days. And your head's going to be on a stake. As the story goes, cut bearer gets called up. He gets re-promoted.

28:08 And during the party, Pharaoh, to do a favor for somebody at the party, said, we want somebody's head on a stake. Because back then, that was sport. And before you know it, three days later, the baker's head is on a stake for everyone's viewing enjoyment. Joseph's dreams were true. Now, something weird happened because the cupbearer said, I'll never forget you, Joe. I'll never forget you. You're a dream. You're a dream whisperer. I'll never forget you. But the Bible says, as soon as he got up next to Pharaoh, he forgot all about Joseph. Two years go by. Joseph still has swag, but he's in the dungeon.

28:46 And Pharaoh has a strange dream. Calls all the sage and all the soothsayers and all of the magicians and all of the doctors and all of the court jesters. And he says, y'all need to help me with this dream. I had a dream. I had these big, big fat cows eat these little skinny cows, and they came out of the river and did it above it. And nobody can make sense of the dream. And Pharaoh knows. He's like, that's not what it means. That's definitely not what it means. How in the world could it mean that? And nobody could help Pharaoh. And the cupbearer's just standing there holding his cup.

29:21 And it dawns on him. And I took a lot of courage for the cupbearer to speak. He said, Pharaoh, sir, could I say something? Pharaoh's like, excuse me, cupbearer, your job is to drink, not speak. He's like, I met a guy. He said, what? Sir, with all due respect, I met a guy in the dungeon who's really good with dreams. What do you mean? Well, he predicted that you would like me again and that you would put the baker's head on a stake. It's exactly what he said. He said, for real. Yes, sir. I can promise you. And the Bible says you can't make this up. They go straight down to the dungeon. They find Joseph. They give him a clean shave. They give him a shower. They cut his hair. You can't make, it's all in there. And he gets, but you've watched the Prince of Egypt, right? So he, now he's up in the palace and he's standing in there. And you can imagine the trepidation.

30:15 And Pharaoh says, are you him? And Joe's like, I don't even know why I'm here. Your majesty, sir. What is it? I'm here. He said, well, listen, I had this dream. And I honestly believe this. And the text seems insinuate that as soon as he said dream, Joe was like, well, it is my thing. So this is going to go real well. He said, well, these big cows ate these skinny cows. And he said, he says, sir, I don't interpret dreams, but God does in me. This is what he does. And here's what's going to happen. There's going to be seven years of feast. There's going to be seven years of famine. We've got to store up all the grain we possibly can all over the world as fast as we can, because there's going to be a big famine for seven years. but we're going to have seven years of feast. And if we store up, it'll survive the other seven years and we could be the center of the universe. And so we need to do that. And Pharaoh says, well, we need to put the right guy in place. And Joe said, you really do, sir. Someone really wise, someone really sharp, someone really handsome, somebody really, you need to make sure you get somebody. And Pharaoh looked at him and said, well, look at you. And Joe goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He said, no, you, you are now second in command. He goes in one afternoon, he goes from a forgotten dungeon dweller to the second most powerful man in the known world, because he can interpret dreams.

31:27 And the Bible says it happens exactly as Joseph says. All of a sudden they have seven years of feast and the crops are bumper crops, as they say in agricultural circles, bumper crops. And everything goes according to plan. Joseph is living the life. It gets crazier. Pharaoh loves Joseph so much. He says, I want you to have my daughter, dog. I want you to have like vacation homes and gold and anything you want. and Joseph is so ironic. His dad thinks he's dead. His brothers and his one sister, Dina, are off in the distance and they don't even know that their brother has become the second most powerful man in the known world and he looks good in mascara. Real good. Real good.

32:18 So everything's going great. Seven years just like. Now fast forward another seven years. Now keep in mind, Joseph's age, for those who care, he's 30 when he gets the job. 30. So now he's 37, and famine hits just like he predicted. And Pharaoh's like, you are literally my guy. This is wild. And now it says, literally, record show, history shows, Egypt is the only place with bread. It's the only place with food. And people got to come from all over the world to beg Egypt. And you know who they meet with? Joe! Pharaoh is kicking it by him. Pharaoh is happy as can be. And Joe is meeting all the people like, okay, we're going to give you a little sum. We're going to give you a little sum. Give you a little sum. Well, meanwhile, back in Mudville, Jacob and his 11 sons and one daughter are running out of food.

33:10 And Jacob is still heartbroken because he believes his favorite son is dead. And so he says to his kids, he says, have you heard about Egypt? not knowing it was his son who was doing it. He said, you know what's crazy? Egypt has food. Egypt has bread. We need to go over there and get some food or we're going to die. So he sends a caravan of his boys except Benjamin. Benjamin is his youngest. And he thinks to himself, I can't lose Joseph and Benjamin. So he keeps Benjamin. And the boys go. And right around, I think, is Genesis 42. As chance would have it, as God would have it, the brothers show up and they don't even know. they're looking in the eyes of Joseph because he's got mascara on and he's got a whole different look. This is real. I'm not making this up. And so they don't even know it's him. And Joseph, for a few of them, hear his voice and know he talks through an interpreter. So he really tricks him. And it says, they're like, yo, sorry, dad, we got a dad. And you know, what's crazy. What's ironic is in the story. They say to who they think is Pharaoh's right hand guy. They don't know it's Joseph. They're like, and you know, and we got, because Joseph starts asking questions on purpose. He's like, you got a dad? Is he alive? Any other brothers?

34:22 Are they all here? We have one other brother, Benjamin. Oh, you do really? And they thought it was strange that he was asking all these questions. And the Bible says for the very first time, now this is interesting. And we'll talk about this in a moment. For the very first time, it says Joseph had to excuse himself because he just had to cry. He just had to cry. He just couldn't handle it anymore. The providence of God would take him. In fact, if you look at his life, he has three very distinct chapters. In the first chapter, he goes up, favored by his dad with dreams, down in the pit. In the second chapter, he goes up, favored by Potiphar, and down with the accusation of rape and into the dungeon. And in the third chapter, he's resurrected from the dungeon into the palace, second in command. It's like three chapters. It's like three days. It's like the third day is resurrection. It's like Joseph is a portrait of Jesus. It's all in there, right?

35:14 We could go more and more and more and more, but we won't. He's sold for silver. Jesus is gambled about in his clothes and the coat of, you know, Jesus's coat and Joseph's coat, right? So anyways, there's a bunch in there. So it's all beautiful. Joseph slips away and he starts to cry. Now, what's about to happen is in the next eight chapters, Joseph will cry exactly seven times. Now, something very interesting starts to unfold in the text that I want to draw your attention to because it may be perhaps possibly per chance the reason it will work out for you.

35:46 Joseph is the most weeping person in the whole Bible. Did you know that? No one cries more than Joseph. No one cries more. Now, you could argue, of course, God does. Throughout the text, we will see indication of God's tender heart. But of all the other characters, minus the main one, God, Joseph cries the most. And here's an interesting observation that I think will be really, really helpful. We're only like 43 minutes in. I'll end on an hour. You watch. It'll be amazing, okay? But here's the deal. A lot of conjecture has come up over the years of forgiveness and restoration and the distinction between the two. And I wanna draw some separation between them because I think it's really important. Forgiveness is essential. Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. And he released forgiveness into the universe. Forgiveness and restoration as it comes to the dynamics of our personal interrelationship is very, very important.

36:40 And here's what I mean. Forgiveness is a releasing, if you will. But you'll notice what Joseph will do with his brothers. He has already forgiven them. That's clear. His weeping is forgiveness. Tears. He loves them. Now, what he's about to do is do a review. A lot has been made. If you know the text, you know the text. And I'll leave you with it. If you ever want to get into it, you can start in Genesis 42. But Joseph does some weird stuff. And it gets weird. I'm really serious. He's like, okay, go back. He's like, he tells the servants, put some money in there. Put some change in there. Put the cups from the dinner in there. And so they're like, they're like building a fire one night on their way back to their dad because they're like spending a night in the desert. You know, like think like Western movies, you know? And they're around the fire and they're like open up their bags and they're like, oh, I didn't steal the cup. Why is it in there? And Joseph like put it in there. So it gets like weird. And the brother's like, ah. And then Joseph like one time does it to him and he like sends his servants out. They're like, hey, hey, you stole money from Pharaoh.

37:34 They're like, no, we didn't. They're like, open the bags. They opened the bags. There's like money there. We didn't put it in there. We didn't put it in there. And much has been made like, what's Joseph doing? I'm going to tell you what I believe absolutely he's doing. He's trying to figure out. He's already forgiven them. But have my brothers changed at all? Because these are the same men who wanted to kill their brother and sold him into slavery. It is evident to me that Joseph has forgiven. but now he's wondering, can I bring them close and can I take care of them for the rest of their life or are they still connivers and deviants? And I need to know. Also, he's got a wife and she's gorgeous. She's Pharaoh's daughter, baby, okay? And he's like, I got kids, I got a real thing. Like, I'm not trying to bring these dudes. I forgive them, I forgive them, but I need to do a little recon here to see where they're at.

38:31 And if you follow the story, you'll ask yourself, this Joseph kind of feels like he's like being kind of weird. Is he OK? He's he's just trying. And I want to say this about relationship. There are many people who will tell you, if you forgive me, you've got to move me back into the house. No, that's that's not forgiveness. Now, restoration. Now, restoration can be a part of forgiveness. You understand what I mean? But when it comes to the restoring of proximity in your life, forgiveness does not necessarily include that at all. In fact, forgiveness sometimes is saying, I forgive you. And if I never see you, it won't be so bad. Yeah, baby. See you in heaven. Maybe. You know, like, I'm kidding. I'm being I'm being nasty. But so so Joseph is also going like, I'm the second dude in charge.

39:30 These are going to have access to Pharaoh. Let me see how they are. And guess what? They've changed. They're broken men. And then you'll notice some of the crying that Joseph will do over that is. They're who I wanted them to be. My brothers have changed. and it would thrill him. It would excite him. It gets real complicated. One trip, there's like multiple trips back and forth if you know the story. One trip, he sets up a dinner and I love this scene. He sets up a dinner. Now, if you know the story, Joseph would have to eat in his own spot because Egyptians and Hebrews didn't eat together and he would have set up their own room. But at some point, Joseph comes in for like after dinner drinks, true story. And they're like hanging out and Joseph had sat them in their birth order. And Benjamin, the youngest brother, his plate was triple full, everybody else's plate.

40:28 And they were asking themselves, what's going on? What's going on? And then right around Genesis 43 or something, it happens. It's after dinner drinks, I think. They've had a little bit to drink. Everybody's a little loose. It's good, in a good sense, I think, hopefully. But Joseph says to all the servants, get out. Get out. And this happens in Genesis 45. Let me read it to you. Joseph could no longer contain his pent-up feelings. So he cried out aloud to his attendants, leave the room. So no one was there. When Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, he began to weep so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, even as far away as Pharaoh's house. Joseph, through his tears, says to his brothers in Hebrew, I'm Joseph. Is dad still alive? His brothers stood there stunned, scared, speechless.

41:22 Joseph said to his brothers, come close. And they're like, I don't know about that. He says, come inching forward. They came close to him and Joseph said, it's me, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. I'm him. I'm Joseph. Now watch this. He could see their faces. What was on their face? Terror. Fear. We're going to get it now. oh my God we sold our brother and now he's the most powerful man in the world second only to Pharaoh and he says this as soon as he sees their countenance of shame and pain and fear and terror he says don't be grieved listen to what he says now and ask yourself if you could be this kind of person he says don't blame yourselves because you sold me here it was God who sent me ahead of you in order to save lives. The famine is now endured for two years. The land will not bear fruit for five more years. God sent me ahead of you to ensure that you would live and have descendants. He has saved your lives through this marvelous act of deliverance. So it was God, not you, Joseph says, who sent me here. I want to stop the record for a minute. Well, Joe, technically God did not send you there.

42:43 These boys sold you into. But listen to them. So it was God. What? It was God who sent me here and God made me father to Pharaoh, the master of his entire household and the ruler of all Egypt. It was God. Now, if you're his brothers, that sounds all good and well, but you got to ask yourself, how does a man get to that point? Now, I want to draw your attention to something really interesting because this guy is 39 maybe that's what I'm guessing that's 39 Joseph talking does that sound like 17 year old Joseph remember the 17 year old Joseph hey guys I had a crazy dream last night the whole wide world was bowing down to me and they're like oh cool have some decorum some discretion dear God 39 year old Joseph, tender, soft, forgiving, warm. I know. I know life is a lot like Joseph's life.

43:56 I'm not mad at you for being young and optimistic, and we all think it's beautiful and wonderful, and you inspire us all. But life has a way of teaching you tenderness, teaching you to take your smarty pants off and put your humble ones on teaches you to take your know-it-all hat off and i don't know walk in the shoes of another for a while before you know it you become that tender person who's often sensitive and approachable and lovable somebody who listens and makes eye contacts and asks people how you doing so God has done a work in Joseph no doubt God has given Joseph to us as an incredible example we will fast forward in a moment and we'll discover that Jacob is on his deathbed Jacob will be taken from the land he's at he'll be brought to Egypt and we'll find evidence in the text where Pharaoh will say I want him to have anything he wants he says Joseph if this is your family your family is my family and the most powerful man in the world says if this is your daddy then he's my dad. And this is your kids. This is my kids. You can have whatever you want. He sends a big old caravan. He sends all the nice cars and all the big fleet and all the horses and all the donkeys.

45:11 And he comes in and the whole whole nation, by the way, grieves for some 70 days. When Jacob dies, Pharaoh himself sends out an edict. Everybody better be sad because Joseph's dad's died and I love him. Right. I mean, it was a whole thing. It was a, it was a big deal. And we'll discover again in a moment, another instance, very similar to this. And so we can say to ourselves as we sit here tonight. Wow, this some 6,000, 5,000, 4,000 year old story about this man named Joe sure is sweet. And I can say to you, man, God will teach you and God will train you. He'll take you to the pit and he'll take you through difficult times and you'll be misrepresented and you'll be lied upon and you'll be cheated on and you'll be let go of and you'll be betrayed and you'll lose identity and reputation. You know, be hard, but eventually you'll get old like me and you'll be all tender and sweet. And that's a fine sermon. And that's a fine message. And I'm not against it.

46:03 I just don't think it's true to the text. I don't think the message tonight is, Joe is us and us is Joe. We're going to be Joe. I think Joe is there more for the reader to think about Jesus. We like to do this with the Bible, and that's fine. We like to see ourselves in the main character. Not a problem. It happens and it can be incredibly productive and constructive, no doubt. But I don't think that's the point at all.

46:36 Joseph will weep, not cry, weep seven times in eight chapters. Now this gets real interesting to me as it pertains to Joseph being a type and shadow of Jesus. Joseph never weeps on record in the well or the pit. No record. No record. Did he? I don't know, but there's no record of it. He does not weep when he's thrown in the deep dungeon of the palace. He does not cry or weep when he's alleged to have raped a woman. He does not weep. Now, this is the part of the story where I start to say, this guy is not real. Joseph does not sound like any guy I know because he's not moaning and groaning and bemoaning all these things.

47:32 You mean he doesn't cry till when? When does he cry? He cries tears of empathy, tears of reconciliation, tears of restoration. Why? Because he's a picture and a portrait of who Jesus will be. and who Jesus is. Fast forward now, I'm almost done. Israel's standing courtside. We're about to do this thing. Genesis chapter 50, we've come to the end of our story, at least for tonight. Jacob is dead. All of Egypt is mourning because Joseph is so beloved by the Pharaoh. Joseph's brothers have now come back to Egypt with him, but this time they have embalmed and left Jacob, Jacob's body back in their homeland where Jacob had asked and God had foretold.

48:30 So the caravan comes back into Egypt and it dawns on the brothers, wait a minute, this is probably when it goes sideways. Now that dad's gone, he's gonna have his way with us. and so they make up a lie true story they make up a lie Jacob was never on record saying this and they send a note to Joseph's house a servant comes and says Joseph sir this is a note that delivered from your brothers he opens the note and it says hey um dad said right before he died that you got to forgive us for real bro like please don't hurt us at all he said in fact The last thing he said is, don't hurt my boys. And he died. Like, it's a bad, no, it's a bad lie. And the Bible says, Joseph reads the lie and cries. he reads the lie and cries if I read the lie I wouldn't cry if I read the lie I would be like I know my dad didn't say that go get them boys and bring them in here and we'll see who's crying but he cries because he thinks to himself my brothers are still afraid they don't know who I am they still don't believe that I forgive them and I love them and so he says this Israel do you want to come play on the piano so I sound better because I would love it by the way this man can play every instrument that God ever created just a just a couple of new york fans closing out a service at the theater joseph replied don't be afraid guys this is after he read the line do i act for god don't you see you planned evil against me but god used those same plans for my good as you see all around you right now

50:35 life for many people. Listen to this. He says, easy now. Easy now. You have nothing to fear. Listen, I'll take care of you and your children. He reassured them speaking with them heart to heart. now to prove to you that this is who god is not just who joseph is this is who jesus is listen now this is probably i'm getting ahead of myself because i'm so excited to read this scripture to you it's going to blow your mind in light of all the work we have done together tonight you're not going to believe what paul writes to jesus worshipers in ancient rome he writes this about God. Listen, listen. Romans 8. God, the searcher of the heart, knows fully our longings.

51:38 What's tomorrow hold? Is it going to work out? Am I going to be all right? What if some of the dumb stuff I've done comes back to bite me? So God, the searcher of the heart, he knows our longings. Tomorrow's a big day. I got a big interview. I've done three interviews before the interview, and I'm really nervous. What if I don't get the job? God fully knows our longings. He also understands the desire of the Spirit because the Holy Spirit passionately pleads before God for us. God prays to God for us in perfect harmony with God's plan, in perfect harmony with God's plan and our destiny.

52:29 So God is talking to God about your destiny. God in the forefront of his mind is the aches and longings of your mind and soul. You know, the fear of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The fear that the dumb things you've done will come back to haunt you again. the fear that all the plans you've made won't work out and you'll be a laughingstock and you'll be humiliated and you'll have to move back home to the town you came from and have to face all the naysayers again who told you you wouldn't amount to nothing anyways just like your fifth grade teacher told you.

53:13 He knows our longings. Going on in verse 28, so we are convinced, are we? Are we? And so we are convinced, Paul writes, thousands of years ago to seekers just like you and me. He says, so we are convinced though, right? That every detail of our lives are continually woven together for good. For we're his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose. For he knew all about us before we were born. and he destined us from the beginning to share the likeness of his son. This means the son is the oldest among a vast family of brothers and siblings.

54:04 Brothers and siblings. Joseph's brothers and siblings. So this means he's the oldest of a vast family who will become just like him. Joseph says, listen Pharaoh gonna take care of everything come on having determined our destiny ahead of time he called us to himself and transferred his perfect righteousness to everyone he called and those who possess his perfect righteousness he co-glorified with his son so what does this all mean I'm reading this from the book guys so what does this all mean you ready for this if God is determined to stand with us tell me then who can stand against us translation it'll work out translation it'll work out here's my whole message joseph more than anything else is a portrait of jesus who would come and live and guess what the message is for you and for me the most crying weeping man to ever be written about in the pages happens to also be the clearest type and shadow of jesus in the old testament Oh, my brothers and sisters, it tells you something about the character of God.

55:32 And the reason it will work out is because the one who pulls the strings has a heart so tender towards you. And so he does what Paul wrote to ancient Roman worshipers. He says he's a weaver. and his life unfolds, he weaves it. With what? Tenderness, empathy, compassion. And what is he doing? He's doing what Joseph said. you meant it for evil. But God, the whole time, I know you want to be dead, but God wouldn't let it happen. He was working it together for my good, for your good.

56:26 So you would ask me at the conclusion of this presentation, so what does this mean for you, Judah? It means that when I am mistreated, when I am misrepresented, when I am lied about and cheated on and hurt and broken, disappointed by others' decisions and mine, when I find myself regretting my past, terrified by my present and quite unsure of my future, I tell myself what has been true for thousands of years. It'll work out. it'll work out how do you know that because he cries over me because I'm his, I'm his family.