LASAGNA LESSONS

0:03 It was definitely an unusual meal when Lisa served the lasagna. Everything was going great. The meal was like awesome. When suddenly the unexpected happened. You know what I'm talking about? In life, everything seems to be hunky-dory. You're just skipping down the primrose path. You're hitting on all cylinders and all of a sudden something unexpected happens. Well, that's what happened to us. There was glass in the lasagna. I don't want to get into the whole details of the story, all the details, but basically Lisa was pulling some frozen lasagna out of the freezer. She dropped the Pyrex bowl just a little bit, and for some unknown reason, there were shards of glass all in the lasagna. So we began to eat, and crunch, crunch.

0:55 Lisa goes, stop eating. Thankfully, no one bled out. But it was a serious issue. Think about your life for a second. Just for a second. Think about you're eating the meal. You're feeding yourself. Everything is great. You're doing all of the right stuff when suddenly you bite down on the glass, the glass maybe of betrayal. Out of nowhere. I mean, you're doing everything right, and suddenly you look around, and everything seems to be going wrong. Everything is like, what? And then you're wondering, why? You ask this question, which is natural. Why, God, is this happening to me?

1:52 God, I don't deserve this. Betrayal. It happens in marriages, in record numbers. Betrayal. It happens in business relationships all the time. Betrayal. It happens in families. Betrayal. It happens with friends who turn on you. Betrayal. It happens with gossip. Betrayal. It happens with sexual abuse. Betrayal. Betrayal is when I trust someone and the person takes that trust and turns it and hurts me.

2:38 I mean, again, what do you do when you're living right? When you're walking with the Lord and all of a sudden the bottom drops out. All of a sudden you bite down on the glass of betrayal because some of you right now are biting the glass. Some of you right now are bleeding. Some of you right now can go, Ed, I've got scars of betrayal. You have no idea. And you're right. I don't. This has been a very emotional series. Just for us to think about these things brings up a host of negative emotions. I know they do in my life. Well, today we're gonna learn from Joseph. We've been studying his life. Joseph is one of the great men of God in Scripture. And we're going to see how his life over the next several weeks parallels the life of Jesus. But before I get into that next week, let me give you a little bit of his story.

3:40 I want to zoom out a little bit, just for a second. And then after a while, we're going to zoom in and really concentrate. We're going to really dial in to his life. Joseph was the favored child of a very, very dysfunctional family. If you think your family's dysfunctional, no, it's not. Just look at Joseph's family. His dad had multiple wives. There was rivalry. His brothers felt betrayed by their father. And then the brothers turned on Joseph because Joseph was the favored child. And his dad bought him this beautiful robe. and Joseph, and here's where Joseph made a mistake. I mean, this was just immaturity. Joseph shared his dreams with his brothers. He was like, I had this dream where you're gonna bow down to me and others will bow down to me.

4:39 Well, the dream was from God, but that's just not a dream you go around sharing with people because people are not gonna dig that. They're gonna go like, what are you smoking? What's your problem, man? You're on this ego trip. So they betrayed Joseph, threw him in a pit. They were gonna kill him. Threw him in a pit, a little bit of an overreaction, I'd say. Sold him into Egyptian slavery. He's 17 years old. And you know the brothers thought, well, he's dead, he's gone. No more Jojo, right?

5:12 Joseph ends up being purchased by a man named Potiphar. If you research the Egyptian culture, the Egyptian culture was interesting. You either had people who were uber wealthy, I mean ridiculously stupid money, you had people like that, or you had people who were living in pathetic poverty. There was no middle class. It was just you're either rolling, you're a high roller, or you're not. You can't even roll anything. Well, Potiphar buys Joseph, and that quick, Joseph works as his slave in his estate, because Potiphar was a high roller. He began to rise up in the ranks, and he ran the whole compound. and throughout his life and throughout this 10-year span, you see that people recognized that God was with him.

6:21 Not only was God with him, he was with God. So again, I'm just setting it up. What do you do when everything's going right, like Joseph? You're kicked in a pit. What do you do when everything's going right, When you're living the life and you find yourself a slave working for Potiphar, what do you do? Well, Joseph, again, as I said, rose through the ranks. He began to run Potiphar's household. And the Bible says the only thing Potiphar worried about was the food he had to eat. His wife, I began to research her name, Potiphar's wife. And it took me a while in the Hebrew, but his wife's name is Karen. So she was not the most positive woman around.

7:17 Joseph was handsome, the Bible says, and she lusted after him. She tried to seduce him day after day. He said, no, no, no. One day she grabbed his robe and literally ripped his robe off of him. He ran away. I love what Joseph said during sexual temptation He didn't say well I don't want to do this because Karen I would be sinning against you He didn't say that He didn't say well I'd be sinning against myself He didn't say that He didn't say I'd be sinning against Potiphar No no He said if I did this if I went to bed with you I would be sinning against God Sexual temptation is unique It's very very strong and many times the best way to deal with it is to do what Joseph did, to run. Potiphar comes home and Karen makes up this crazy story.

8:19 Oh, this Hebrew tried to seduce me. This Hebrew slave tried to come on to me. And you know Potiphar was like, man, I don't want to deal with the drama anymore. You know, you know, I'm just reading here between the lines here. But he's like, honey, Karen, if this will help you, I'll just throw him in jail. And that's what happened. He was thrown in jail. Falsely accused for a crime he didn't commit. Have you ever been there before? I didn't do it. I don't deserve this. Wait a minute. Let me explain the situation here. But no, no, no. You're in a pit. You're in a prison. Literally, if you look at the Hebrew, they threw Joseph in a dungeon which was below the jail.

9:11 And he was with, you know, other cellmates and other people that Pharaoh had tossed into prison. You thought I'd never get there, but here I am. Here we are. What do you do when you have glass and your lasagna? Four principles. Four principles. Glass and your lasagna. What do you do when you're in the pit? Because pit happens. What do you do? What do you do? Number one, don't bite into the pain of the unexplained. When you're in a pit, when things are going wrong and you're doing everything right, don't bite into the pain of the unexplained.

9:58 I'm sure Joseph said, God, why? I don't understand this. God, if you would explain it to me, then I would be obedient. Oftentimes, we don't get a full explanation. We don't. We don't. I've asked that question about the death of our daughter five years ago. She, of course, now is in heaven, but I want answers, God. Why God? What's the situation? And we're all that way when things don't go right. God, if you'd only explain it to me. So here's what happened to Joseph. Let me let the Bible unpack it.

10:51 Genesis 39, 20 through 21. Joseph's master, that's Potiphar, took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. There were a couple of guys we're gonna talk about called the cup bearer and the baker. The cup bearer was the food and wine taster, very, very important position in Pharaoh's court. In other words, Pharaoh would watch him eat his food before he ate it. If he dropped dead, he wouldn't eat it. Or if he threw up a bunch of times, he wouldn't eat it. Do you understand that? Now, the baker just pretty much baked bagels, you know, and I don't know what happened. Maybe he threw him in prison because he was tired of carbs or something. Sourdough bread didn't make sense, I don't know. He threw him in prison, and then, for some reason, the cupbearer was in prison. And who knows why? Back in the day, you could just do all sorts of crazy things. So it says, while Joseph was there in prison, the Lord was with him.

11:48 The Lord was with him. In Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6, this is a text that is our life verse. and I know it's many people's verse that you hold on to. When you're in a pit, when you're going through layer after layer of lasagna and you bite down on the glass of betrayal, trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding. in all your ways, even in the pit,

12:28 acknowledge and submit to him and he will keep your paths straight. Now that's easier said than done, isn't it? That's what Joseph did. I've only experienced quicksand one time in my life. years ago several of us from the church went to one of the most remote spots in the Yucatan Peninsula it was in the literal jungle I'm talking about I'm talking about super poisonous snakes salt water crocodiles army ants quicksand it was a pretty wild situation a couple of Mayans they were little guys were our guides, and they spoke broken English. And before we would go into the jungle, they would say through their broken English, Follow me.

13:24 What? Follow me. They were saying, follow me. So I learned very quickly, I would put my size 12 on their little footprint. And we would walk through places in the jungle. I would think, I would never walk there. That seems to be like a great path. and we would get to our destination. I didn't ask them to explain why we were walking in certain areas. I just trusted them. One of our friends, though, did hit some quicksand and he began to sink. And they rescued him. And amazingly, he left us there in this little shack in the Yucatan Peninsula. He's like, I'm out. I mean, quicksand? No, Ed, you're crazy. I'm out.

14:17 So we flew back to civilization. Here's some pointers, kids. If you ever find yourself in quicksand, don't panic. Don't start moving around going crazy because you'll sink. If you're in quicksand, you just say to yourself, oh, I'm in quicksand. do that navy seal breathing right you inhale count a four hold your breath for seven seconds. That's what Navy SEALs say. And then exhale for eight. See what you learned today in church? So you lie back and you can literally float on the quicksand because the danger is if you get caught in the quicksand and let's say you're near a saltwater area and the tide rises, well, you can die.

15:12 Don't. Here's the lesson here. Here's the point. don't freak out over this explanation over I've got to know because if you do, you're going to live in emotional quicksand. And I know too many people who try and who beg God for an explanation and many times we're just not going to get it. That's why Isaiah chapter 50 says this. And this is a really cool text. Who among you, who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God. Well, that's Joseph. He had no light. Maybe that's you right now. You have no light. It says, again, trust in God. But now, uh-oh, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, that means, you know, forget God, I'm going to be self-sufficient.

16:13 Go walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you've set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand. You will lie down in torment. So self-sufficiency, it says it right there, leads to torment. How many people do we know, we go, man, they're tormented, they're tormented. Well, no wonder. Their sufficiency is not in Christ. It's in their self. And whenever I put sufficiency in myself and in my way, then ultimately it's gonna lead to torment. And Jojo did not do that. He did not fall into the spiritual quicksand. So the first lesson we're gonna fly now, don't bite into the pain of the unexplained. But there's a second law of lasagna.

17:07 Don't chew on the shards of bitterness. I don't know about you, but when something happens to me that doesn't make sense, when I'm living right and I fall into a pit or I'm biting down on a chart of betrayal, I just kind of get bitter. I don't know about you, I just become that adder. You know, strike at people. And I want everyone to feel as bitter as I do. I'm sure Jojo experienced a little bit of that, but quickly he flourished in the prison. How do we know this? Well, the Bible tells us, but he reached out, this is so important, and helped people around him. I'm talking about the baker, the captain of the carbs, and also the cup bearer.

18:04 When you are going through a difficult situation, when you're going through a dark situation, when you've been kicked in the pit, look around because I guarantee you God will put people in your life who are going through the same thing you're going through. But don't just stand there, minister to them. See, what I'll do is I'll just stand there and think about myself. Oh, poor pitiful Ed. I can't believe they did that to me. They overlooked me. I should look at others and go, let me help you. Let me befriend you. Let me encourage you. Let me pray for you. Because these two cats, the cub bearer and the baker, they had these dreams. And they didn't know the deal about the dream.

18:59 And the Bible says in Genesis chapter 40, verse eight, we both had dreams, they answered. And this is a conversation with Jojo. But there's no one to interpret them. Then Joseph said to them, do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.

19:23 People all the time, I'm talking to Christians now. Ed, how do I witness? I mean, how do I share the Lord with people at work? There's the example. That's it. God gives Joseph an opportunity. He has the courage to step out and bring it back to God. So when you witness to your friends at school, when you witness to your coworkers, when you witness to your teammates, it's not always, hey, if you don't turn, you'll burn. bow the knee now, you're going to hell, you need heaven. Sometimes it can be that. But more often than not, it's just dropping those issues, those situations, those angles that God wants you to drop to point them to God. Isn't that great he did that?

20:17 I mean, this guy was witnessing in prison. verse 14 but when all goes well with you here's what jojo says because he interpreted the dream and he was like hey mr mr cupbearer when all goes well with you remember me and show me some love and then he goes into a quick elevator pitch about what his brothers did but he didn't mention his brother's names he didn't like dog them out or trash them he just kind of just said okay That's the deal. Well, you're not gonna believe what happened. Bad goes to worse. Let's talk about the third lasagna principle. I'm talking about when you are in a situation that doesn't make sense. When you've done everything right and everything around you is going wrong. Number three, don't choke on the silence of the wait. it's amazing how many times you see men and women of God in the Bible waiting on God.

21:17 This is not something that is passive, though. Waiting is something that is active. So remember the cupbearer. Oh, I got you, man. Joseph, I got you. When I get back to my position, which he did with Pharaoh, I am going to show you the love, my man. I mean, you're going to be out of this prison in a nanosecond. But the Bible says, this is brutal, that the cupbearer forgot Joseph.

21:50 Have you ever been forgotten? Man, I have. Have you ever been passed over? Have you ever been in a meeting and you come out of the meeting and someone that stole your idea gets the credit and they just forget about you? Or you do something to help in a situation and no one shows you any love?

22:19 That hurts. And with social media, it's even worse, isn't it? I used to think, well, now and then I'm forgotten, but now scroll through social media, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten. Joseph was forgotten. He's in prison. He interprets the dream. Boom! The cupbearer all of a sudden is promoted to this place with Pharaoh. And Jojo's going, what?

22:52 I'm sure he said it in a high-pitched voice too. What? but again he was forgotten by man but remembered by God and at the end of the day it's about being remembered by God. It's trusting in God. It's not being self-sufficient. It's saying my sufficiency comes in Christ. And many times friends God will put you in a place or me in a place where we are forgotten to peel away our pride and to motivate us to go, you know, it's only about you, Lord. It's only about glorifying you because that's what Joseph was all about. It's like a waiting room. You go to the doctor or the dentist. You just sit there in the waiting room and then they call your name or whatever and then you go back there and they do the procedure or whatever.

23:50 I don't want to get too detailed, but you know what I'm talking about. So the waiting room is simply a step in the process. And God's waiting room is simply a step in the process. You might be waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. God has got your back. He's got your back. Because at the right time, remember God's preparing you for it. He's prepared for you. At the right time, your promotion is coming. Let's go to the last one. I hate that. It's almost over. But number four, don't spit out the dream God gave you. Now, do you have a dream? You should. I don't have a dream. Well, get one. God, ask God, start with God. God, what do you want me to do?

24:42 God will give you a dream. He'll give you a dream that only he can, can, oh this rhymes, scheme. I mean I'm a rapper. I'm a pastor and a vision caster, not a disaster.

25:03 So anyway, the... That was good. But the situation here is about the dream. Joseph pointed everyone, because there are many instances where he interpreted dreams, to God. Well, two years later, 24 months later, guess who has a dream? Pharaoh. And we've talked about this already, but it's messing him up. He can't sleep because of the dreams. He's calling in all of his experts. They're clueless. So, bing, bing, bing, the cupbearer goes, oh, yeah, hey, Pharaoh, there was this dude in prison, man, and this guy could interpret dreams. If he's still alive, why don't you call him?

26:01 Pharaoh goes, yes, I will. So that quick, Joseph is promoted from the dungeon to the palace. When God promotes you and me, it's like we're not ready for it many times. It's like, what? I'm going there? Or I have that opportunity? So Pharaoh gives him his dream. Joseph interprets it. And Pharaoh is blown away. and then that's where Joseph comes up with the first big, beautiful bill and he sets all these tariffs on stuff and Egypt makes the fortune. Seriously, this is true. Not the big, beautiful bill. I just said that for a cheap laugh, but he did do that. And Pharaoh was so, so happy, but here's where it gets funny. Now this is really, really funny. Genesis 41, 39 through 41.

26:54 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has made this known to you, I mean, he's like, oh yeah, This guy knows the Lord. There's no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace. This is Pharaoh talking. And all my people who are to submit to you, to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. Wow. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt. What happens when God flips the script? Because one day he's gonna flip the script for you and for me. He's going to. He will deliver us from the pit. He'll deliver us from biting down on the glass of betrayal. He will. God will. But here's some humor in the Bible. Are you ready for this?

27:47 Now I want you to think about this. Joseph is number two in Egypt. He's a prime minister. He's over everybody. Now let's go back to Potiphar. Can't you imagine Potiphar? that afternoon when Joseph gets his promotion, driving home in his Lamborghini chariot, getting out, walking up to Karen. Honey, what's for dinner? Well, I don't know what the servants are serving. So they're sitting down and Potiphar's talking to Karen and they're going back and forth. And Potiphar goes, honey, you won't believe what happened today at the office. She goes, really? And then Potiphar goes, yeah, before I get into this story, let me ask you a question. You remember that Hebrew slave that you said tried to mess around with you? Yes. Potiphar probably said, well, I hope you were telling the truth. Because guess what? She goes, what? He's my new boss. I love that.

28:45 That was just for me. So it wasn't Joseph's knowledge of dreams that helped him interpret, but his knowledge of God. Don't forget that. So those are lessons, lasagna lessons, of betrayal. This past week I read about an orchid that hails from Western Australia. And this orchid spends most of its life underground.

29:23 It literally nourishes itself from plants near it. One day though, out of nowhere, it blooms. God is preparing you for what he has prepared for you even though you might feel like Ed, I'm underground you continue to stay nourished and connected to the Lord Jesus and to other followers of Christ and I promise you in God's timing he will bloom and you will bloom and you'll discover his dynamic dream. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you again for your word that's so penetrating, that's so powerful.

30:21 And Father, it's only because of your power that we can even absorb things like this. Because on our own sufficiency, we cannot do it. But Lord, you give us the octane to do so. The power of your gospel.

30:41 By sending Jesus Christ to die and to rise again. To offer us salvation. To offer us the kind of power that only you can provide through these situations. So right now, Lord, I pray for every person, for every situation. I don't know what you're going through. but God does.

31:06 Lord, we give it to you in Christ's name. Amen.