WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:04.879 You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk 2 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:12.359 about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Welcome back to another episode 3 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:17.559 of the Bible Guys. I'm Jeff Forster and I have the unparalleled Wesley Woods 4 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:21.960 today as my guest. Co host. Chris is out of town this week, 5 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:26.039 and so the unparalleled. Yeah, it gets better every day, every 6 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:30.519 day, every day, it gets better and better and better. So we're 7 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:35.079 really excited about having you this week, and we're talking about mostly in this 8 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:38.799 whole time, the life of Joseph. So we're going to be reading today 9 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:43.679 in Genesis thirty nine and talking about Joseph and Potiphar's house. Yeah, but 10 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:46.759 first we got a good one. Yeah, what was that? I don't 11 00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:51.000 have a stump the pastor question? Oh, these are great, Lisa Ta, 12 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:54.240 Lisa T. Hello Lisa, So I'm gonna read this for you. 13 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:57.119 This is a tough one, pastor Jeff. It says, what is the 14 00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:03.880 Biblical stands on the existence of extra terrestrial life and how does it align with 15 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:08.280 our understanding of God's creation and plan for salvation. So Lisa just had a 16 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:14.840 simple, like question, just great, the Biblical stance yes, the Biblical 17 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:18.719 states stands on extra trustrial life, and then how does it relate to how 18 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:23.680 does it align with our understanding of God's creation and plan for salvation. So 19 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:30.200 she's trying to link those two big Yeah, well, okay, we only 20 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:32.159 have what twenty minutes, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Man, 21 00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:36.599 that's a tough one. So, in my opinion, the Bible doesn't have 22 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:42.519 a stance on extraterrestrial life. There's no statement about extraterrestrials. There are a 23 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:49.120 couple of places in the Bible where people looking for something would say, for 24 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:52.120 instance, we referenced I think was it in Genesis chapter six a couple weeks 25 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:56.519 ago, where it talks about how the sons of God slept with women and 26 00:01:56.519 --> 00:02:00.480 then there were nephto land. Some people would say that sons of God means 27 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:05.040 people from outer space or something. There's just no evidence, and it's certainly 28 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:07.879 not in the original language. The Hebrew doesn't seem to reference that at all. 29 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:14.240 Yeah, so the Bible doesn't really seem to reference aliens at all or 30 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:19.719 extraterrestrial life. Now in the context she's asking the question is really great because 31 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:27.840 the Bible really is human centric. It's very much God's desire for humans to 32 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:32.120 be able to have a relationship with him, then how humans broke that relationship, 33 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:38.120 and then the whole rest of the Bible is God solving this broken human 34 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:43.680 relationship, ultimately culminating in the person of Jesus Christ paying the price for our 35 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:49.759 sins and redeeming us. And then all of the elements with regard to judgment, 36 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:53.120 with regard to the afterlife or only reference in the context of humans. 37 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:59.719 So there's a couple things on Earth. Death came because of the humans Romans 38 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:02.960 chapter wherefore is by one man sin end of the world, and death came 39 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:07.120 by sin, So death passed upon all men because all have sinned. That 40 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:12.560 word all men is talking about mankind humanity, right, And then there's another 41 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:16.400 verse that says wherefore it's appointed unto man wants to die, and after this 42 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:21.439 the judgment. So it sure seems like there was no death in all of 43 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:30.240 God's creation until humans sinned, and then after that now we all humans have 44 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:34.479 one appointment, and then after that there's the judgment. So God's not referencing 45 00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:38.800 any other people groups. There isn't any other reference of a salvation process for 46 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:46.800 other you know, terrestrial extraterrestrial types, those kinds of things. So it 47 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:53.800 seems to me that the Bible is very human centric and exclusive of extraterrestrial life, 48 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:59.840 but it just doesn't reference it at all. What's your take on it? 49 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:03.639 So basically the same thing. So the Bible doesn't and I heard a 50 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:10.199 preacher say this a long time ago, the Bible doesn't explicitly talk about extraterrestrial 51 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:13.840 life. And the preacher said, where the Bible stops, I stop. 52 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:18.120 So that's kind of how I look at it. Everyone could have an opinion 53 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:23.439 on anything, but ultimately, what does the Bible say is what it all 54 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:27.040 comes down to. So if the Bible stops there, that's where I stop, 55 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:30.959 and I don't feel the need for more. Now, I would say 56 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:40.519 this, the obsession, the modern obsession with aliens, I think is going 57 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:44.279 to be very useful in the end times. So I don't think that it's 58 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:47.480 a sinful obsession, but I think it's going to be very useful. You 59 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:51.680 know, the Bible talks about how the last trumpet will sound and all the 60 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:55.600 Christians, those that are dead in Christ will rise first, and then those 61 00:04:55.639 --> 00:05:00.240 that remain will rise. So this rapture kind of a moment and how would 62 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:05.040 the governments of the world explain the disappearance of two billion people? Right, 63 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:09.560 the easiest way would be governments go, oh, it was the aliens. 64 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.480 I'm not saying it was the aliens. The aliens, right. And then 65 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.839 at the very end, as the Bible describes the Battle of Armageddon, all 66 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:21.759 the nations of the world come together to fight each other, and then Jesus 67 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:28.759 returns in the sky and they can visibly see him and his armies, and 68 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:31.800 the armies of the world turn to fight Jesus. Who do they think they're 69 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:35.680 fighting? If they thought they were fighting their creator, they wouldn't fighting, 70 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:41.000 right, And I think that there's this convincing Now, you know, seven 71 00:05:41.079 --> 00:05:46.839 years before a two billion people disappeared because aliens alien, and now, hey, 72 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:50.040 look there's the aliens coming back, and that would be I think maybe 73 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:56.959 the So it'll be a useful tool for the anti Christ perhaps in the end. 74 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:00.480 Not that it's sinful to play around and watch an alien movie, right, 75 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:02.560 but it'll be a useful tool at the end. Yeah, I'm glad 76 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:08.399 you said that, because I like Alien Versus Predator, all the cheesy ones, 77 00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:11.839 you know, super cheesy, low budget. Well, thank you, 78 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:14.959 Lisa team, and that was a great question. We're not afraid to dive 79 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:17.360 into the questions. We appreciate that. Well, what a good one. 80 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:19.720 Yeah, yeah, you know, it was interesting. I just had the 81 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:23.199 privilege of sitting down with our teenagers. I don't know, we had maybe 82 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:26.639 one hundred high school just last week. Yeah, last week. Yeah, 83 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:30.879 and it was just an open forum Q and A. Yeah, so the 84 00:06:31.319 --> 00:06:35.560 high schoolers could ask any question and the same question came up. So it 85 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:39.959 seems to be on the mind of a lot of people right now. I 86 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:43.120 would say this is probably the tenth or fifteenth time I've been asked this question 87 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:46.360 in the last year of Christians just asking so where do aliens fit in? 88 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.360 Yeah, you know, so, yeah, great question, that's great. 89 00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:54.160 It's a fun one to talk about and think about. Now, on the 90 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:59.279 other hand, do you think it's mathematically impossible that there's life out there? 91 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:08.399 Mathematically? So? Mathematically so now when you move into mathematically, now you 92 00:07:08.439 --> 00:07:13.560 move into like Einstein and you go into probability. Probability, So according to 93 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:18.199 probability, you would assume that it would be likely looking at it mathematically. 94 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:25.600 So it's interesting for evolutionists. Yeah, it's mathematic there is not enough molecules 95 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:29.519 in the in the universe, so have randomly created life, right, the 96 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:32.720 probabilities of it, So I think it's highly unlikely if you're an evolutionist. 97 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:39.399 But if you believe in creation and that God specially creates, then yeah, 98 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:41.680 the universe is big enough I think for it. So it's kind of a 99 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:46.079 weird thing. Anyways, that's a whole other conversation. I think you should 100 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:50.680 do a whole show now, I'm joking. Yeah, yeah, okay, 101 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:56.040 Well, hey, we're going to continue on with Joseph. And there's a 102 00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:01.879 pause in between the story of Joseph being sold into slavery and then now Joseph's 103 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:05.759 experience in Egypt. And during that time, Judah has an affair with one 104 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:11.000 of his father's wives or with his sister in law, isn't it wasn't it 105 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:13.920 his sister in law? Yeah, something like that, And it was a 106 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:22.720 pretty horrible story then, but ultimately she winds up in the the lineage of 107 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:26.240 Jesus, the family tree of Jesus. So God redeems the story, even 108 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:30.879 though which is a terrible story, which is an awesome aspect when you think 109 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.840 about it. The fact that it doesn't matter who you are, where you 110 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:37.639 come from, all roads can lead back to Jesus. Yeah, which is 111 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:43.879 awesome. So now we have Joseph in Genesis chapter thirty nine, and I'll 112 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:48.200 read just like twenty three verses. Here says when Joseph was taken to Egypt 113 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:52.200 by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar and Egyptian officer. Potiphar 114 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:56.360 was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The Lord 115 00:08:56.440 --> 00:09:00.240 was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in 116 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:03.519 the home of his Egyptian master. Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord 117 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:07.879 was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did. This pleased Potiphar, 118 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.519 so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge 119 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:16.480 of his entire household and everything he owned. From the day Joseph was put 120 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:20.200 in charge of his master's household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar's 121 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:24.600 household for Joseph's sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops 122 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:31.039 and livestock flourished. So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. 123 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:33.320 With Joseph there, he didn't worry about a thing except what kind of 124 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:37.720 food to eat. Joseph was a very handsome and well built young man, 125 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:41.000 and Potiphar's wife soon began to look at him lustfully. Come and sleep with 126 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:43.000 me, she demanded, but Joseph refused. Look, he told him, 127 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:46.559 my master trust me with everything his entire household. No one here has more 128 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:50.240 for authority than I do. He's held nothing back from me except you, 129 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:54.279 because you are his wife. How can I do such a wicked thing. 130 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:58.879 It would be a great sin against God. She kept putting pressure on Joseph 131 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.440 day after day, but refused to sleep with her, and he kept out 132 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:03.679 of her way as much as possible. One day, however, no one 133 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:07.279 else was around. When he went in to do his work, she came 134 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:11.919 and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, come and come on sleep with 135 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:15.559 me. Joseph tore himself away, but left his cloak in her hand as 136 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:18.840 he ran from the house. When she saw that she was holding his cloak 137 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:20.600 and he had fled, she called out to her servants, and soon all 138 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.440 the men came running. Look, she said, my husband has brought this 139 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:26.799 Hebrew slave here to make fools of us. He came into my room to 140 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:30.440 rape me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream, he ran 141 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:33.639 outside and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me. She 142 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:37.480 kept the cloak and with her until her husband came home. Then she told 143 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:41.360 him her story that Hebrew slave you brought into our house tried to come in 144 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:45.120 and fool around with me, she said, but when I screamed, he 145 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:48.799 ran outside, leaving his cloak with me. Potiphar was furious when he heard 146 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:52.960 his wife's story about how Joseph had treated her, and so he took Joseph 147 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:56.159 and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held, and there 148 00:10:56.200 --> 00:10:58.720 he remained. But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him 149 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:03.120 his face for love, and the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison 150 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:05.120 warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other 151 00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:09.080 prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The warden had no more 152 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:13.039 worries because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused 153 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:18.679 everything he did to succeed. Yeah, wow, it's kind of like the 154 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:24.039 major theme we see here is that the Lord was with Joseph. Like we 155 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:26.080 see that over and over, like, no matter where he was, that 156 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:31.320 the Lord was with him. And it reminds me of that verse where the 157 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:35.240 Bible says that he will never leave us or forsake us. You know, 158 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:37.399 God was with him every step of the way, and that we can take 159 00:11:37.399 --> 00:11:41.360 comfort in that that no matter what we're going through, it can be tough, 160 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:45.399 right, he went through some very difficult, tough situations, but God 161 00:11:45.559 --> 00:11:48.000 was with him in every single one of those instances. So that's right. 162 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:52.960 Yeah, it's kind of like an overarching theme. It's my favorite part about 163 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:56.919 the life of Joseph is that God was with him. God was with him. 164 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:00.679 God was with him. So, just to put this in perspective, 165 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:05.360 this is about nineteen hundred years before Christ. Just for people thinking, you 166 00:12:05.399 --> 00:12:09.919 know, here we are were two thousand years after Christ. This is almost 167 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:15.919 the same amount of time before Christ that this is happening. And Egypt was 168 00:12:15.960 --> 00:12:20.159 the most powerful nation in the world right at this point. So Potiphar, 169 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:26.039 being the head of the guard of Pharaoh, was one of the most powerful 170 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:30.679 people. Pharaoh being you know, the king of Egypt, the emperor whatever, 171 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:35.440 the ruler, and they viewed the Pharaohs as gods. So for Potiphar 172 00:12:35.559 --> 00:12:39.120 to be the protector of the gods, big deal. So here's the guy 173 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:43.559 that's pretty wealthy, very substantial. He has farms and wealth and all these 174 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:50.080 things, and the Bible says Joseph is sold into slavery to Potiphar. I 175 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:56.039 think it's interesting how the Bible talks about slavery often in this context, in 176 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:03.480 the context of people buying people. Sometimes there's good owners and bad owners. 177 00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:09.480 But the reality is, here's Joseph as property of another human, and the 178 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:13.799 Bible says the Lord was with Joseph. And those feel like almost contradictory ideas, 179 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:16.639 don't They go? Yeah, yeah, But God was with them no 180 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:20.600 matter what. And I just think that's awesome when we think about it and 181 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:26.600 even apply it to our own personal lives. Maybe there's someone listening right now 182 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:31.279 going through a really tough situation and they are wondering, is God still with 183 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:35.799 me? Did God leave me? You know, I've been praying about this 184 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:39.120 thing for a month and it doesn't appear like anything has happened. Yet. 185 00:13:39.559 --> 00:13:43.279 Rest assured, God is still with you now here's the catch to that, 186 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:50.200 though, God doesn't always answer our prayers the way that we ask for them. 187 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:52.519 Yeah. So I can remember, just as a young kid, I 188 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:58.080 prayed about certain things and God answered the prayer, but not in the form 189 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:01.879 and fashion that I thought he was going to answer my kind of like I 190 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:05.240 shared this before with how I prayed to God that I wanted to go into 191 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:09.360 ministry full time. At the time, I was working at another job and 192 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:13.960 doing ministry like part time. And I can now that I think back on 193 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:16.919 it, it's kind of like God was saying, are you sure you want 194 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:20.639 this? Yeah, gotta, I want to go into ministry full time. 195 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.840 So the first thing that happened the company that I work for downsized and my 196 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:28.759 position was eliminated. I'm like, well, Lord, I didn't have it 197 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:33.039 like this. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of times our prayers really are 198 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:37.000 prescriptions for God. Yeah. It's like we're writing out here, this is 199 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:39.919 what I need you to do for you. That's a great way as opposed 200 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:41.600 to saying God, whatever you want to do? Yeah, right, And 201 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:46.320 which is the more scary aspect to us, even though He knows all, 202 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:52.799 but we still it seems scary to us. So so you know when I 203 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:56.720 read this, humanity hasn't changed much. Yeah, this is two thousand years 204 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:03.480 almost before dealing with the scene here, two thousand years after Christ injustices still 205 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:07.480 exist. Right. The Bible's not endorsing the slavery. Here's just acknowledging this 206 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:13.440 is the condition of humanity and that you know, Egypt was a pretty wicked 207 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:18.279 nation, and that that's what they did. But God was with Joseph even 208 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:22.080 in the bad conditions, even in the bad circumstances. And you know, 209 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:26.200 I think sometimes we are tempted when something doesn't turn out the way that we 210 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:30.440 wanted to, to play the victim, to say, well, I could 211 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:33.000 be a great person except this happen. I could have been, you know, 212 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:35.720 a man of character. I could have been successful, I could have 213 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:39.240 done a thing, but these circumstances happened, or these people held me back, 214 00:15:39.320 --> 00:15:43.279 or this thing happened in my life. But the thing was this, 215 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:46.720 Joseph wasn't leaning into what he felt like was fair for him. Joseph just 216 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:50.679 did the best he could where he was, and the Bible said the Lord 217 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:52.360 was with him over and over. You're going to see this as a theme. 218 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:54.919 So we read it two times in this one chapter. But this is 219 00:15:54.960 --> 00:16:00.399 a theme of Joseph's life. But the Lord was with him, and so 220 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:03.320 he just worked hard. He was faithful for Potiphar. And you know, 221 00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:11.360 sometimes the best answer is to in a bad situation, is to be the 222 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:14.399 very best you can be, and other people are gonna see it, and 223 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:18.320 you make a good thing out of a bad thing. One of the worst 224 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:22.000 bosses I ever had. I mean, I found myself sometimes just waking up 225 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:26.039 in the morning depressed that I woke up and I had to go to work 226 00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:27.679 today, you know what I mean. Horrible, But I decided, you 227 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:30.360 know, I'm gonna I'm gonna work really hard. I'm going to try to 228 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:37.000 and and you know, the more I worked hard, the more reward I 229 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.360 got, the better opportunity as opportunities I had, and I began to create 230 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:45.919 a little bit of peace for myself in the midst of this horrible storm that 231 00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:49.080 I hated because I was overachieving, I was, I was going beyond. 232 00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:52.960 I think that's what you're seeing with Joseph is Joseph comes in as just a 233 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:57.080 lowly slave, and he could have been blaming his circumstances. But instead of 234 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.240 hey I'm gonna I'm gonna do the best I can with where I'm at, 235 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:04.599 and God bless him. And I think there's a point with that. In 236 00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:07.960 verse two, the Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he 237 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.759 did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. Sometimes in life 238 00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:18.720 you have to do what you don't necessarily want to do for a season to 239 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:22.599 get to the destination. And I think about that in my own personal life. 240 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:27.200 How one of the first jobs I had was working at ANW. And 241 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:32.680 one of the challenges of ANW well, but here's the challenge with ANNW. 242 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:37.240 They're very different from Burger King and McDonald's. At Burger King and McDonald's you 243 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:41.400 can make like five big max and leave them on the shelf. At ANW, 244 00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:45.200 at least when I worked there, everything was made fresh to order. 245 00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:49.920 Oh that's good, So there was no like I couldn't make ten I can't 246 00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:53.039 remember what their hamburgers were called, make ten of them and just put them 247 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:56.279 on a show. They didn't have a warming shelf. You literally made it 248 00:17:56.319 --> 00:18:00.119 and gave it to the customer. So that made it a very challenging during 249 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:06.160 busy times because everything is literally being made to order, and I remember working 250 00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:08.880 there thinking I don't really want to do this. I mean, I'm getting 251 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:14.960 burned by grease. One time that the huge grease traps on the side of 252 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.920 the stove. I spilt grease over myself and the entire kitchen ones and it 253 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:25.599 took us like two three hours to get that grease up. It was a 254 00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:30.599 disaster. But I was willing to do that because my goal was to get 255 00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:37.359 a car. So I was willing to endure this horrible working situation with people 256 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:40.759 that were crazy. And maybe you're listening, you work with a few crazy 257 00:18:40.759 --> 00:18:44.119 people. Let's be honest, we've got to tell the truth. You're going 258 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:48.200 through this all this stuff. But I knew this was only temporary. This 259 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:52.079 wasn't my permanent assignment, and this was going to get me to the next 260 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:55.599 level. So that's kind of how I look at it. With Joseph, 261 00:18:55.640 --> 00:19:00.279 he endured and he did well in his job. He endured it in this 262 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:04.160 short term season so he could get to another place. Yeah, so he 263 00:19:04.200 --> 00:19:07.680 did what he didn't want to do so that he could do what he wanted 264 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.599 to do eventually get there. It's same thing Dave Ramsey talks about that with 265 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:15.119 finances, right, sometimes you have to decide to live like nobody else is 266 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:18.319 willing to live, so that later on you can live like nobody else can 267 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:22.319 live. Right, So with regard to saving and not going into debt and 268 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:25.839 all those kinds of things. So I've heard sports players talk about that. 269 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:30.240 I heard like Michael Jordan and other players talk about while everyone else went home, 270 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:33.599 when everyone else went to the parties, they're in the gym shooting free 271 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:37.839 throws. They're in the gym practicing jump shots. You got to be willing 272 00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:41.039 to do what other people aren't willing to do. Yeah. So the key 273 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:42.240 here, I think is, you know, the Lord was with Joseph, 274 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:47.160 so he succeeded and everything he did as he served in the home of his 275 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:51.119 master, Egyptian master. So it wasn't that God was just with him and 276 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:55.119 so he succeeded everything he did. It was as he was doing what he 277 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.000 was supposed to be doing at the time, right, And God was like, 278 00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:00.240 Hey, I'm going to bless you there. That's a sermon, Jeff. 279 00:20:00.279 --> 00:20:03.119 There's a blessing in the doing. Yeah, there is. There is. 280 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.119 Most of God's blessings are if then propositions, if you do this, 281 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:11.039 then I'll do this. And so he was faithful in the situation. But 282 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:15.799 then you see this faithfulness goes beyond just being a hard worker to where Potiphar's 283 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:22.440 wife it wasn't uncommon in that culture for owners to sleep with their slaves, 284 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:27.160 and so she's coming on to Joseph, and Joseph keeps resisting and resisting, 285 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:33.160 resisting. The one mistake I think I see, other than him bragging to 286 00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:36.039 his brothers earlier about hey, you're going to serve me someday, that was 287 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:40.640 a mistake I think in immaturity. In this one, there was a mistake 288 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:44.160 in that he allowed himself to be alone. He kept avoiding her, kept 289 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:48.480 avoiding her, but then he's alone with her, and you know, hey, 290 00:20:48.519 --> 00:20:51.319 when people are coming on to you, you need to create buffer zones 291 00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:53.160 and you need to have or when you're tempted by a person, you know, 292 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:56.440 you find somebody attractive, you need to make sure there's always people around 293 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:00.279 you. One of the things that we've set up at Heritage with our staff 294 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:04.839 is we have one of our values is live wisely, and we'll talk about 295 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:08.079 it sometimes. The idea of live wisely is, hey, we don't go 296 00:21:08.119 --> 00:21:11.440 in cars alone. We don't go to coffee shops alone with somebody the opposite 297 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:14.599 sex. And it's not that I think that you're going to fall in us 298 00:21:14.599 --> 00:21:19.359 in but the optics of it are such, or the opportunity to be such. 299 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:22.000 And so we just say, Hey, we're going to build into our 300 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.880 strategy. We're going to build into the way that we live some buffer zones 301 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:30.039 so that things like this couldn't happen, so that nobody could ever accuse us. 302 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:33.160 The reason why, because you're gonna find he goes to prison. Potiphar 303 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:40.000 throws Joseph because not because Joseph did something wrong, but because Joseph had no 304 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:45.799 witnesses. Right, Joseph's life could have been ruined if and in some ways 305 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:49.599 was ruined because of an accusation that wasn't true, but because he had nobody 306 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:53.119 else to back him up, he couldn't he couldn't get out of it. 307 00:21:53.759 --> 00:22:00.640 And so sometimes the best wisdom is to anticipate a potential and then headed off 308 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.640 before that problem ever happens. And so, hey, I'm always going to 309 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:08.039 have more than one person around whenever I travel internationally, we always travel in 310 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:11.039 groups. Hey, you went you went to Togo with me one time, 311 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:15.920 right, And we travel in groups, we don't travel alone all those kinds 312 00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:18.599 of things. And there's a reason for that, and it's that on my 313 00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:22.400 worst day, I don't want to be tempted. On my best day, 314 00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:25.400 I don't want to be accused of something I didn't do. And so having 315 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:29.279 people that are together, I think that there's something about that that we need 316 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:33.119 to be thinking about our reputations, not just what will happen, but what 317 00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:38.000 could happen and prevent that. Yeah, and don't be lulled into sin. 318 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:44.640 I think people have a misconception I think of the devil. I think they 319 00:22:44.680 --> 00:22:48.880 think the devil is like some huge creature, something that you saw in like 320 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:52.319 a horror movie. He's coming to get you with huge fans. If you 321 00:22:52.599 --> 00:22:57.200 saw that creature coming towards you, you would run the other direction. The 322 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:00.960 enemy doesn't want you to run the other direction. So he's going to come, 323 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:04.200 like I think the Bible refers to like an angel of light. He's 324 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:08.880 going to come in a form that's very pleasing and appealing to you. So 325 00:23:10.039 --> 00:23:15.839 don't get lolled into this situation, which the Bible doesn't say, but it 326 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:18.680 kind of seems like Joseph kind of got lolled into this. Well I could 327 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.880 still work around her. Well, I can still do that. No, 328 00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:26.240 stay far away, because it says he avoided her as much as possible. 329 00:23:26.359 --> 00:23:30.160 Yeah, earlier. Yeah, and then now here he is gonna oh yeah, 330 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:33.759 this is just how it is. It's like, no, keep your 331 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:36.319 guard up. But then he does do the right thing. He runs. 332 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:40.119 That is the right thing, man, when when you find yourself in a 333 00:23:40.119 --> 00:23:44.119 bad situation, run when run from it. As a matter of fact, 334 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:48.200 don't just run from a sinful thing. Here, Paul says in his writings, 335 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:53.640 flee even the appearance of evil, right right from the avoid every appearance 336 00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:59.599 of evil, he says, flee youthful lusts. And so that idea, 337 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:02.960 that's the right answer. When you find yourself in a tempting, tempting opportunity 338 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:06.599 or tempting situation, run, run is fast. Don't get in that situation. 339 00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:08.440 But if you do, run, run from it as fast as you 340 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:12.079 can so that intention comes your way. Run the other way. Well, 341 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:15.920 so he goes to prison, and then while he's in prison, God's with 342 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.640 him there too. So we're going to continue throughout the week with the story 343 00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:22.920 of Joseph, so we look forward to having you join us the next time