God’s Family – The Family Favorite

Pastor Mike explores the concept of God’s family by tracing the biblical lineage from Genesis to the life of Joseph. He emphasizes that while sin and disobedience caused systemic dysfunction beginning with Adam and Eve, God established a covenant of restoration through figures like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A central focus is placed on Joseph, whose steadfast obedience and integrity allowed him to experience divine favor despite being sold into slavery and wrongly imprisoned. Listeners are challenged to move past spiritual immaturity and carnal behaviors to become imitators of Christ in their daily lives. Ultimately, he serves a call for believers to surrender fully to God, suggesting that true success and divine inheritance are found through persistent faithfulness and moral purity.

Transcript

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And we're going to be continuing our our discussion, our sermon, our series on the kingdom of God of God's family. And today is called the Fay the Family Favorite. The family favorite. And we've been making our way through this series called God's Family. And as we go through this series, we see that God has created and He has designed the family unit. We are learning that our assignment in the present day is for families to work together, individually and in a church, using, like we were saying, using their gifts and talents to encourage one another, to lift one each other up, lift each other up, to help one another, and to work together to reach the loss. So as individuals with our own families, this is what we should be doing. We should be reaching the lost. We should be investing in our kids' lives. If you don't have a family, said this before, we are your family here. Steve just said, you're part of our family. And together collectively, as our church family here, and even those that might be going to other churches, we are the body of Christ. We are working together for one goal. It's not we have our own goals. They have their own. No. We all have one goal. We all have one thing that God has given us to do, and that is to reach the loss. Yes, God is there. He wants to change us, he wants to take care of us, he wants to do those things, he wants to bless us, and we're going to be talking about those things today. But our main goal is to reach the loss, and that's what it's all about. So we see in Genesis that from the very beginning, family is formed as a way to fulfill the assignment given by God. And we read through the beginning of Genesis before when God created everything, everything was perfect. He created the family unit and it was perfect. Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, everything was perfect. He gave them one thing not to do, and they obeyed him for a little bit. Then we get to Genesis chapter 3, and that's where everything begins to fall apart. In chapter 3, you find that sin enters the world through Adam and Eve. And what was meant to be holy, what was meant to be perfect, and what was meant to be righteous is now thrown into chaos and confusion. All because of what? Because of disobedience. All because of disobedience. And now the whole world is affected, is infected with sin. Because of disobedience. And now we see because of sin, the first family living under the curse of sin, we get the story of Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve's two sons, and Cain is jealous of his brothers Abel's, his brother Abel's offering, and we see the family start to fall apart, and he murders his brother. All because of disobedience. And because of sin, we can see how dysfunction creeps into a family. How it can creep into your individual life. How it can creep into your family, how it can creep into a church if you allow sin to enter in. All it needs is a little crack and it'll weasel its way in. It creeps into this world, it disrupts, it causes chaos for generations, for generation upon generation upon generation. Read the word of God, and you'll see all through the generations of the Old Testament, even into the New Testament, even now, sin just creeps in. And now mankind has to deal with what? It has to deal with jealousy, has to deal with anger, has to deal with murder, unforgiveness, bitterness, all these things. And the list goes on. And it's something that God has that never that never intended to happen. That's not why he created the world. It wasn't for, oh, I'm gonna create the world and I'm gonna let them have sin. No. That's not what he had intended for us. But because of disobedience, it was flipped upside down. But thank the Lord, through thank the Lord, even though life seemed like it seemed over, God still had a plan, amen? And it was a plan was for his son to come and be that redemption for us. Praise the Lord. Isaiah says, I have wiped out your transgressions, I have redeemed you. Ephesians says, in him we have redemption through what? Through his blood that he shed on the cross, the forgiveness of sins. You can have forgiveness of sins in your life if you surrender your life to him and ask for forgiveness and repent for the things that you have done. Then we fast forward over to Genesis chapter 6, and sin is still prevalent in the lives of the world of then, and we find the story of Noah. And in verse 5, it says that every intent of the thoughts of mankind, they were only evil continually. So only in that time, only one man out of the whole world, out of all the population, God only found one man that was righteous. One man who still listened to the voice of the Lord, one man who still still wanted to follow the things that God had for him, who was obedient to the things of the Lord, and that was Noah. And because of Noah's righteousness, it was that remnant that saved mankind. But again, what happens? Sin. Sin enters in again. And it didn't take long for dysfunction to creep back into the world. And then we get to Genesis chapter 11. We get to the Tower of Babel. And listen to what it says. It says, Come, let's build ourselves a city. And a tower whose top will reach into the heavens. And this is where they take God out of it. And it says, Let's make a name for ourselves. Let's do things on our own. Sounds familiar, correct? Right? It sounds the same thing. Like the devil did the same thing. I want to be worshipped. I want to make a name for myself. So you see how the devil's working? He's tempting people to do the same thing that he did. I'm my own God. I don't need God. I'm my own God. I can do what I want. I don't need God to tell me what I'm going to do. And the Lord says, no, it doesn't work that way. So he confuses the language, he spreads the people out again. And there was an intentional turning away from God's instruction. So God has confused their language, which causes people to disperse and begin to settle throughout the earth. And then we get to Abraham. We talked about Abraham, who was a man of God who was called out, and a lot of symbolism there being called out, who would become the foundation of what God's family would be built upon. And so Abraham would now be dependent upon God, just like we are supposed to be called out and be dependent on God. And look what he says in Genesis chapter 15. He says, Do not fear Abraham. I am your shield. I am the shield to you. Your reward shall be very great. And the Lord is telling us this morning that he is our shield. Do you hear that this morning? He is your shield. America is not your shield. A politician is not your shield. A pastor is not your shield. Your money, whatever you might have, is not your shield. God is your shield. Because when you surrender to him and you ask him to be your shield, it says this, your reward shall be very great. And our reward is going to be very great someday. Amen? So God gives Abraham the promise of descendants, as many as the stars in the sky. And God makes a new covenant with Abraham. And Abraham was 99 years old before he found out, or I think I believe he was 100 years old before his son Isaac was born. So he had to wait a little bit while for that reward. He also tells Abraham that he and his descendants must be, listen to this, set apart. Did you hear that this morning? Just like we need to be set apart. Do you understand that? The symbolism there. Abraham was set apart. We need to be set apart. Abraham didn't follow his earthly father anymore. He followed his heavenly father, just like we should be following our heavenly father. So he is called to be set apart just like we are called to be set apart. He is consecrated to God just like we should be. He is different than the rest of the world, just like we should be different than the rest of the world. See, Abraham follows, listen, Abraham follows the voice of the Lord and enjoys the abundance of God's goodness. Just like we should be following the voice of the Lord and enjoying the abundance of God's goodness. See, Abraham passes this inheritance on, like we were talking about, on to his kids. Like we should be passing our inheritance on to our kids. A spiritual inheritance. He passes it on to his son Isaac, who was blessed even more than his father, and he has established his house under the covering of the Almighty. Then Isaac, what does Isaac do? He passes it on to Jacob, whom we've been talking about the last couple weeks. And although Jacob was uh the deceiver, a trickster, he tricked his brother Esau into his birthright and to getting and he stole his brother's blessing. We see it's Jacob's passion, desire, and willingness to risk his life for his inheritance. He wanted that inheritance. He wanted the blessings of the Lord. So, like his father received, Isaac passed it down to him. And as you continue to read about this family, you begin to see there's something special that's going on with this family as God is establishing this family. See, there's inheritance so valuable that one would put their lives on the line to become a beneficiary of it. So Jacob, we find Jacob, he's forced, he escapes his brother Esau, because his brother Esau wants to beat him up because he stole his blessing. He escapes his brother Esau and he goes to his mom's hometown to his uncle Laban and he's there, and he's there almost 20 years working for his uncle Laban. And finally Jacob says, Alright, I need to go off on my own. And in Genesis chapter 28, verse 15, I think I gave you that verse, Michael, if you want to put that up. Genesis 28, 15, it says, Behold, I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. So we see the same type of covenant that God gave to Abraham, to Isaac, he's now giving to Jacob. So Jacob was under the covering of God's family and was able to walk under his inheritance victoriously. So even when he returned to his brother Esau, because they met up again, there was forgiveness there. It says that they embraced each other and that they that there was um there was reconciliation there. So God's favor was covered upon Jacob. And if you read that story, Jacob's actually very nervous to go back. He actually sends, he kind of splits up the group just in case something does happen. But they were that uh Esau had forgiven them because God had blessed Esau as well. And then Genesis 32, Genesis 32, verses 27 to 28, it says, So he said to him, What is your name? So this is when Jacob was wrestling the angel of the Lord, and he said, and Jacob said, My name is Jacob, and he said, Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but it shall be Israel. For you have contended with God and with men and have prevailed. So here we find the establishment of the Israelite nation. Jacob's Jacob will no longer be a deceiver. Another symbolism of what happens to us. We are no longer a sinner. We're no longer the one that's holding on to the heel of sin and corruption. But his name would be changed to Israel, and Jacob, now Israel, was given what? A new identity. Just like we are given a new identity in Christ when we come to know who he is. So as God's family gets ready to take on this new form, we are given a new identity, identity, just like Jacob was given a new identity. So before Jacob returns to the land for his father, of his father and grandfather, he has 11 sons with him. Now he has to set now. Not Joseph, Benjamin. Joseph was already born, Benjamin. So if you look at the inheritance flow here, you find Abraham passed inheritance onto one son, Isaac passed it on to one son, but when you get to Jacob, what does Jacob have to do? He has to spread the inheritance throughout the twelve sons. So who would later be, those twelve sons would later be the names and the twelve tribes of Israel, with each of them receiving their own blessing. So while each son has his own story this morning, we're gonna we're gonna focus on Jacob's favorite son, Joseph. His favorite son Joseph. And Joseph was so special to his father that his father gave him a coat of many colors. Many even know this story. And Joseph, um, Jacob loved Joseph very much. His brothers did not, because they were jealous of that love that Jacob had for him. It didn't help that Joseph had dreams from the Lord, and that he would go up to his brother and tell his brothers his dreams. And he goes up to them, and I'm just paraphrasing, but he goes, I had a dream the other night, and guess what? You guys were all bowing down to me. Doesn't that make you happy? And even at this point, Jacob was like, Don't, you know, you don't need to go rub it in their faces. So his brothers did not like him. And in my family, we have a family favorite in my family. And it's not even really someone part of our family. Many of you might know this, but the family favorite in our family is a guy by the name of EBS. And if you don't know who EB is, that's the nickname for Pastor Steven. Pastor Steven is the family favorite of my family. And it's not because he's this great guy, which he is, he's a great guy, it's just because he likes to eat everything. When we were younger, him and my brother David, they're they're close friends now, but they were they were best friends then. They were either David was over the favor house or Steven was over the Susie house, and they would always, you know, they were always together. So when Stephen would come to our house, no matter what my mom made, and my mom was a great cook, but sometimes, you know, we were like, Ma, this is gross, and Stephen's like, I love this. And even when he got older, he did the same thing. After college, he came moved back home and he lived in my parents' house for a little while, and my mom would make things, and my dad's like, Your mom made something rough less than that's for sure. And Stephen's like, I thought it was great. So we just tease and we say he's our family. It's only because he eats everything. That's the only reason why. But just like Stephen, Jacob was, I'm sorry, Joseph was the family favorite for Jacob. So this hate we see, this jealousy, pushed his brothers to do the unthinkable. They really hated Joseph. If you read the story, we're gonna we're gonna read through this a little bit. And while Jacob's older sons were pasturing a flock, Jacob sent his son Joseph to check on them. So he sends Joseph out there to go spy on his brothers to make sure that they're doing. That's really good. That was a good fathering tip there. His brothers already hate him, so they so Jacob's like, go spy on your brothers, make sure they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. Come back and tell me what they're not, what they're not, what they're doing, um, what they're not supposed to be doing. If they're make sure they're doing their job right. So he goes and he's making sure. Alright, Reuben, all right, oh, Simeon's sleeping. He's supposed to be watching that. His sheep are walking away. Great. So we're gonna pick up in Genesis chapter 37. Genesis chapter 37, we're gonna read verses 18 through 20. It says, When they saw him from a distance, his brother saw him from a distance coming, and before he came close to them, they plotted against him, and they wanted to put him to death. And they said to one another, Here comes that dreamer. Now then, come, let's kill him. Well, it's pretty rough. Let's kill him, and then not only kill him, let's throw him into one of the pits, and we'll say a vicious animal devoured him, and then we will see what will become of that will become of his dreams. So the the unforgiveness and hatred was just festering inside of them. So instead of killing him, one of the brothers said, Let's not just kill him, let's just throw him into the pit. So they threw him into a pit, and some Ishmaelites were passing by, and they sold their brother Joseph to them into slavery for twenty shekels of silver. And it's funny to me, this is a little history lesson, the Ishmaelites were actually their cousins, because Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. So that means Isaac and Ishmael were they were technically half-brothers, so that means um Isaac and Ishmael's sons were first cousins. So these they were they're they're all cousins, so they knew who each other were. So they sell um Joseph to them. And when they returned to their father Jacob, they brought the coat of colors to them and they covered it in blood and told their father that Joseph had been devoured by an animal, and there were there. And there we go again with family destruction because of sin and disobedience and because of jealousy. So you take just you read that part of the story, and you're like, what is going on with God's family? How is God gonna work through this? And you have to think their grandfather was Isaac, the son of Abraham. There was so much favor, there was so much inheritance because of their family's obedience to God, and now God's family would seem is falling apart. And this isn't the first time Jacob's sons did the unthinkable. You can read through the story for a few chapters in Genesis, and you find them making some really bad choices in life. Disobedience, it's kind of like they were, it's like they were trying to do their own thing. And it's all stemmed from disobedience and it's stemmed from unforgiveness of their brother Joseph. And we need to realize during this time in history, God is revealing himself to humanity in the Old Testament in a new way. God is showing us who he is and who his beneficiary is of his blessings, his protection, of his favor. So now Joseph is sold into slavery, and you find him going through a variety of situations that would make you wonder, where is God in all this? And we're going to read through some of these stories. But if you know God and have a relationship with him through Jesus Christ, you know that he is able to take even the worst situations in Joseph's life and in your life and make them work for your benefit. Hallelujah. So Joseph, we find he is sold from he is sold, the Ishmaelites sell him to Potiphar, who was an Egyptian officer for Pharaoh. But even as a servant, the favor of the Lord is on Joseph. And you have to remember that as we go through this, that the favor of God is on Joseph. Not because God just decided to make him his favorite. No, it's because he knows Joseph's heart. He knows that Joseph was a man after his own heart, like David was a man after his own heart. He was obedient to the things of God. And we're going to see what happens when Joseph continues to believe in God, even when he becomes into these crazy circumstances. So in Genesis chapter 39, we're going to read verses 2 through 6. It says, And the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now look at this in verse 3. It says, Now his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that Joseph did prosper in his hand. So everything that Joseph was doing was prospering. Whatever Joseph did, it was a success. So Joseph found favor in Potifir's sight and became his personal servant. And he made him overseer of his house, and he put him in charge of everything that he owned. And it came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he owned, look what it says, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house on account of Joseph. So the Lord's blessing was upon all that he owned in the house and in the field. So Potiphar is just being blessed and blessed and blessed because the anointing was upon Joseph. And everything that Joseph did was a success. And look what a verse, I love this, verse 6. It says, So he left Joseph in charge of everything. He left Joseph in charge of everything that he owned. And with him, there he did not concern himself with anything. It says that he the only thing that he concerned himself is what he was going to eat. I find that extraordinary. That everything that Joseph did was so was so successful that Potiphar didn't have to worry about anything. All he was wondering, what am I going to eat today? What a yeah, right, tough life. All because Joseph was obedient to the things of the Lord. So while his brothers are making reckless, selfish, ungodly decisions, Joseph, although in a strange and unpredictable circumstance, is experiencing, listen to this, is experiencing the favor of God not only over himself, but over everything he was given charge over. Because he was obedient to the voice of the Lord. So if you follow Joseph's story, you find him facing another difficult situation. And we find that Potiphar's wife had eyes for Joseph. And she she tried to put the moves on him, trying to be PG, because I know there's some younger people here. Well, what does Joseph do? Does he give in to temptation? No. He flees from the trap. And the Bible says he flees out of her sight. He runs away. And I want you to remember that word flee, because we're going to talk about that a little bit later, about fleeing. So Potiphar's wife, she's, I guess maybe she's embarrassed, and she falsely accuses Joseph of making the moves on her, and she lies to her husband, the master of the house. So he didn't do anything wrong at all. In fact, he gets away from her, but he his wife, Potiphar's wife, lies, and now Joseph is thrown into prison. But watch what happens, because the favor of God is still on his life. Genesis chapter 39, verses 21 through 23. It says, But the Lord was with Joseph again and extended kindness to him and gave him favor. Look at this, in the sight of the warden of the prison. And the warden of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in prison. So now Joseph, a prisoner, is in charge of all the prisoners. Does that make sense? No. But with God it does. So Joseph is in charge of the prison. So same thing happened. So whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. And look what happens in 23. The warden of the prison, same thing, did not supervise anything under Joseph's authority, because the Lord was with him, and he recognized that the Lord was with him, and the Lord made whatever he did prosper. Because of the favor that was on Joseph's life. Again, because of the obedience. You get where we're getting going here, the obedience of God and the trust that he had in God. See, he wouldn't be, it wouldn't be long before God's plan would begin to reveal himself to Joseph. Joseph is in prison, and there's two gentlemen that are thrown to prison with him, and he befriends them, and they have these dreams, and Joseph interprets their dreams. One was the baker, one was the cupbearer, and the baker, Joseph interprets his dream and says, Sorry, baker, but uh you're a dead man walking. You're gonna die. And the same thing with the cupbearer. Um, Joseph interprets the cupbearer's dream, and he says, You're not gonna die, but you're gonna be restored back to your old position. And it happened. The baker was executed, the Bible says the baker was executed, the cupbearer was restored before the the cupbearer returned back to Pharaoh. Joseph goes, Please remember me before you go back up there. Maybe put in a good word with somebody so I can get out of here. Because he's still in prison, even though he's running the place, he's still in prison. So, what happens is the cupbearer doesn't remember Joseph. He forgets about him. And one day, Pharaoh has a dream, and it disturbed Pharaoh greatly. So he called all the priests of Egypt, and there were none who could interpret the dream for Pharaoh. Now you have to understand who Pharaoh is. You have to understand who Egypt is at this time. Egypt was a world power. In that area of the world, it was Egypt. They were they were the they were the world power that everyone, like the Roman Empire, it was at that time, in that place, it was Egypt. They were a very powerful nation. They had a huge army. Um they you can think this is a time where all the pyramids are being built, all that stuff is happening. Um and Pharaoh, not only was he just the emperor and the pharaoh, and the king of Egypt, he was looked at as a god. Just like many of uh emperors back then, they were looked at as God. But he was respected as God. People would worship him, they were they would worship the pharaohs. So Pharaoh has this dream, and it disturbs him very much, and none of his advisors can interpret the dream. And then we read in verse 40, or and sorry, in chapter 41, uh, or verse 40, the cupbearer all of a sudden he remembers Joseph. And he tells Pharaoh, he says, I know someone who can interpret your dream. So Pharaoh calls for Joseph from prison, and Joseph gives Pharaoh the interpretation of the dream, and it says, Seven, you're gonna have seven years of great harvest, and then it's gonna be followed by seven years of famine, and it's gonna come upon this land, and it's gonna destroy everything. So, what you need to do is during that seven year of seven years of plenty, you need to grow and grow and grow and grow, and you need to store up and store up and store up. Because those seven years of plenty, if you don't do this, you're all gonna be wiped out. And not just Egypt, the whole surrounding area is gonna be wiped out. So, this is what you need to do. And Pharaoh was so thankful and like so and recognized that the anointing on Joseph's life, and he says, You, you are, you're you're a one cool dude. Thank you for this. And Joseph goes like this in chapter 41. He says, he acknowledges, he says, No, it is not me, it's nothing that I did. He says, All this wisdom, all this knowledge, all this favor is not for me, but it comes from God. See, he points the miracle, he points back to God. He reflects back to God. Symbolic of the same thing that we should be doing. Reflecting everything that we doing should be going back to God. How we live our life, how we glorify him, how we worship him. A lot of people think that worship is just on Sunday morning. No, worship is every day of your life. Worship is how you live your life for God. So if you want to be a true worshiper of God, you live your life to glorify God. Just like Joseph did. And everything that you do, when people say, How are you, how are you like this? How are you so happy? Your your your mom is sick, your this is this, this is happening in your life. Because God is in control. Everything that that I have is because of him. And that's how we should be living our lives. A reflection of who Christ is. And look what it says in Genesis chapter 41, verses 39 through 41. It says, So Pharaoh said to Joseph, look what happens again. Since God has informed you all of informed you of all of this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my house. Here we go again. Same thing. You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people shall be obedient to you. Now this is Pharaoh, someone who's looked at as a god. And Joseph, an outsider, is now placed second in command over all of Egypt. He only answers to Pharaoh, and he doesn't answer to anybody else now. He answers to Pharaoh in his job. He says, My house and all my people shall be obedient to you. Only regarding the throne will I be greater than you. And Pharaoh also said to Joseph, see, I have placed you over all the land of Egypt. Yes, Pharaoh placed him over the land of Egypt, but we know that God's hand upon Joseph's life is what placed him over the land of Egypt. Amen. God's anointing upon him, God's favor that he has for him, opened those doors for Joseph to walk through, because he was obedient to the things of God. See, Joseph was in his thirties when he stood in front of Pharaoh and now becoming second command of all of Egypt, this great empire. He is now in second command. Someone who was hated by his brothers. They wanted to kill him, throw him in a pit, he was sold into slavery, thrown into prison, and now finds himself second in command of this huge empire. Only God can do such a thing like that. So after the seven years of plenty, the land is ravaged by the famine, and guess who comes asking for food? Now we begin to see the plan unravel here. We see what's gonna happen. Joseph's brothers, the same ones who sold him for a couple hundred bucks, who threw him in a pit, now are coming to Egypt for the food, because Egypt at the time is the only place where you could get food because of what God did. So after playing a few games with their heads, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers. And we see this in Genesis chapter 45, verses 4 through 8. It says, Then Joseph said to his brothers, Keep please come closer to me. And they came closer, and he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold to Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to save your lives. For the famine has been in the land for these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be either plow no ploughing or harvesting. So God sent me ahead of you to ensure that you are the remnant on earth and to keep you alive by the great deliverance. Verse 8. And he has made me a father, which means he was a counselor to Pharaoh, and the Lord of all his household, the ruler of all the land of Egypt. So we find that Joseph reconciles with his brothers. There's forgiveness there. There was weeping. Joseph actually, when he first sees his brothers, he recognizes them, and he has to go off and he starts crying. Because he's like, I can't believe this is happening. Crying because maybe he saw his brothers and he doesn't understand what is going on, and then realizing what God has done. So he sends for his father Jacob and his whole family, and the whole family moves to Egypt, and their future would continue there. So the favor of the father who was thrown in a pit, who was sold, who was thrown into prison, and the favor of the Lord went before Joseph. God was able to make a make was able to take the jealousy of Jacob's sons and to turn it into a hero's story. And we see in Genesis chapter 50, verse 20, Joseph tells his brothers, what you might have meant for evil, God turned it for good. You hear that this morning. What the devil might mean for evil in your life, God can turn around and make it for good. Amen? You have to believe that this morning. What the devil meant for evil and bringing sin into this world and tricking Adam and Eve, God turned it around through his son Jesus Christ. And now we can have freedom in him. We can have love in him. We can be free to experience the love of Christ in our lives because of what God has done. We can live free and have the favor of God in our lives because of what he did on the cross, because it all points to him. And because we surrendered ourselves, we repented, we're obedient to him, and the blessing of God can be upon our lives and upon our families' lives. See, if you notice every step of the way, listen to this. Joseph's trust was in who? It was in God. It wasn't in Potiphar, it wasn't in the prison or the warden of the prison. It wasn't in Pharaoh, it was in God. Joseph's trust was in God. We need to place our trust in God. Amen? See, he wasn't following the examples of his brothers. He wasn't allowing his circumstances to dictate or to change who he knew he was created to be. He wouldn't give into the temptation. He wouldn't step outside the commit his commitment to God. See, Joseph was part of God's family and he knew it, and through his obedience became the family favorite. And I want to be God's favorite. And I want you to be God's favorite. I want everybody here to be God's favorite. Why? Not because God plays favorites with people. No, because we're obedient to him. God, I want God to say, Timmy, you're my favorite. I love you because of what you've done, because you're obedient to me. Mike and Cheryl, you guys are my favorite. Craig and Mary, you guys are my favorite people because of what you've done. You guys are all my favorite people. That's what I want to hear from God in my life. I would just want to be a vessel used by God. I want him to be able to use me, but he's not going to be able to use me if I'm if I'm not in tune with him. If my relationship is broken because the sin is still in my life, because I'd rather listen to things of the world than be obedient to him. Listen, God's not going to be able to use you. He's not going to be able to use you like Joseph. Who knows who the next Joseph could be in this place? Who knows our next young people, young person could be the next Joseph, could be the next uh president of the United States, could be the next Billy Graham, could be the next Christian doctor, Christian lawyer. If your relationship is broken, God is not going to be able to use you in the way that He wants to be able to use you. Listen, God knows your heart. I'm not saying, you know, as long as you're striving after the things of Him, those are all good things. But you know if you're really trying or not. You understand that? You know if you're really trying. You might be able to fool some people, but you're not going to be able to fool God. You can't fool them. Just ask Jonah. You can't hide from them. You can't do what you want. Just ask Saul. Ask all those people who didn't do the things that they were supposed to do. Look how it turned out for them. You think God wanted it to turn out for them like that? No, but they chose to turn their back. I'm not turning my back on God. I'm not turning my back on the things of the Lord. I'm going to submerge my things, myself, into the things of God. I'm going to saturate myself with the things of the Lord. So we live in a world today where many people they call themselves believers, yet their actions will suggest otherwise. There's so many people who call themselves Christians or sons and daughters of God, members of God's family, yet their behavior will suggest something that's totally contrary. So many so-called Christians in the world, and maybe you're here today, listen, you need to grow up. And I say that with all love, but some of us need to grow up. You've been saved for two, three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty years coming to church, going to Bible studies, involved with this, involved with that. And you're still fighting, you're still struggling with the same worldly stuff, with the same nonsense. What are you doing in your life? You're weak and you're shallow. You're just dipping your toe in, pretending that you're submerged in him. You're not fooling anybody. The only person that you're fooling is yourself. So if that's you this morning, I want to encourage you to grow up. Stop being uh the same old person, stop doing the same stupid things over and over again. Stop complaining, stop being unforgiving, stop being bitter, stop being unloving, stop being overly sensitive, stop blaming, stop being the victim, stop just going through the motions of life. Just stop it and grow up. Repent, get filled with the Holy Spirit, surrender your life to Him and get changed and be the person God has called you to be. Be transformed in who you're supposed to be. See, you're supposed to be a new creation, but you're still acting like the same worldly person that you used to be. And it affects your spiritual life. It affects your marriage, it affects your family, it affects your job, and you wonder why your life is a mess. You have to stop it, and it's time to grow up. See, the writer of Hebrews tells us to grow up. Paul tells us in Corinthians to grow up. He tells them you're still just a bunch of babies. Says some of you have been saved for three, four, five years. You should be leaders. You should be teachers, you should be discipling people. But instead, you're just immature, you're just carnal Christians. And you still need your mama milk. What are you doing? It's time to quit being immature, baby Christians, and it's time to grow up. See, get into the word. You need to get into prayer, you need to grow in your relationship with God, into his presence daily. Get filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and grow up. There is no excuse for it. His whole word, his Bible, this all these pages, all these words here are there to transform your life. They're there to whoop you. Thank you. They're there to transform your life. They're there to help you grow up. All of us trying to get you to mature in a spiritual place, spiritual growth, so we don't look like the world anymore. And the more instead we begin to look like who Christ is. We look like the one who saved us. This is why he sent the Holy Spirit to clean you up. He sent the Holy Spirit, listen, to transform you into the image of Christ. And I'm not just making this up. Paul tells us in Ephesians, he says what? To be imitators of God. Be imitators of Christ. Do what Christ does. Do what Christ did. You got all the pages here. You got what he did here. Everything that you need in life is here in his word. You want your marriage to be successful? Get into his word. You want your life to be successful? Get into his word. You need a healing in your life, get into his word. You want your family life to be successful? Get into his word. You want your job to be successful? Get into his word. Submit to him. Put him first in your life. It's not a time to be messing around. This world is getting worse and worse and worse, and it seems like it's going faster and faster and faster down the wrong way. And we're not supposed to be following that way. We're supposed to be going the opposite direction of them. Because we've turned our back on the things of this world. We are supposed to be imitators of Christ. Look what it says in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18. It says, and we all with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory. Our what? Being what? What does it say there? Our being transformed into his image. Whose image? Donald Trump's image? No. Joe Biden's image? No. This politician, this person, this superstar, this person? No. We are transformed into God's image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. That's who we're supposed to be reflecting, Christ. We are supposed to be his image, his representatives here on earth. He tells us, Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 5, walk by the Spirit and be led by the Spirit. Sometimes we forget the Bible, the scriptures have power. These words aren't just words on a page, they're power, they're life. They're sharp as a two-edged sword. This isn't just a book. There is power in this book. It is the word. Listen, we hear the word of God. We think Bible. No, it is the actual words of God. And I know I'm over, but I don't care. I got more to go. I want to read something to you. Look at look at Galatians chapter 5, verses 19 through 21. And I want you to notice before we read, notice who he's talking to. He's not talking to the unbeliever in this verse, in this passage. He's not talking to the unsaved. He's not talking to the atheist. He's talking to you and me, all those who call themselves Christians. And look what he says in verses 19 through 21. The acts of the flesh are obvious. And look what it says right there. The first ver very first one. Sexual immorality. Sexual immorality. So prevalent in today. Everywhere you go, it's just blasted everywhere. The Bible says this. Flee from sexual. We talked about that earlier, how Joseph fled from sexual immorality. We don't sit there and absorb it. We don't do those things as men and women of God. If you're a married person, that your spouse is the one that you're with. You understand? If you're a single person and you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend and you're or you're engaged, you wait until you're married. Because that's what the Bible talks about. It says sexual immorality. Flee from it. So if something comes upon you, a thought or whatever it might be, some type of temptation, says what? Flee. So wherever you are, you might look like a crazy person. I want you to get up and run away. We might see some people running by this all over you. I don't know. We don't know what happens. We'll pray for them. But it says flee. Get away from it. Get into the word instead. Lord, those thoughts that are in my head, get them out. That little thing that might have popped up on my phone or whatever it is, get it out of here. That temptation this person might be having on me, get away from it. Flee from immorality. Flee from impurity and debauchery. It says it continues to say idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. It says, and the like, meaning, etc. Anything that doesn't glorify God. Just because it's not listed there doesn't mean it's not a sin. Things that don't glorify God, this is what he's talking about. He says, I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this, look what it says. This is powerful here. You have to understand this, you have to grasp this. They will not inherit the kingdom of God. So just because you said a prayer one time, it doesn't mean that you're gonna go to heaven. Because you need to act it out in life. You believe on Jesus, that is great, that is awesome. That is your first step, but you need to continue to move in Him. Does He have grace and mercy? And yes, all those things, yes. But you need to be careful that you're not just going through the motions. Why I appreciate the story of Joseph so much. Joseph recognized temptation. Joseph recognized evil and he stood up against it. His brothers did not. Joseph's brothers were all part of the same seed of Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. Yet their actions would suggest them being the seed of someone else. Jesus says in Matthew 7, verse 21, he says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. This is Jesus Christ, our Messiah, saying those things. Everyone that says, Lord, Lord will not enter the kingdom of God. But the one who does the what? The will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Jesus also says in Matthew 24, verse 13. It says, Those who endure to the end will be saved. Those who endure to the end, that means you have to persevere. Does that mean you're going to be perfect? Absolutely not. Does that mean you're going to have to go through things in life? Yes, because we're still under this flesh, this curse. Does that mean we have to persevere? Absolutely. We need to, when we get knocked down, we get up again. I know, I heard the song in my head. All those 90s babies know that song. But when you get knocked down, you do. You need to get up again and keep moving in Christ. Don't lay there and say, oh, oh, forget it. No. You run the race. You continue the race. You continue moving towards God. And you keep moving, you keep moving, and you keep moving, and you never give up. Don't ever give up. The one who endures to the end will be saved. See, there are some who position themselves to follow Christ, yet it's those who do the will of the Father that will enter into the kingdom of heaven. So before the death, before Jacob's death, Jacob blesses his all his sons. But to Joseph, he says this in Genesis chapter 48. He says, Then Israel said to Joseph, remember his name was changed to Israel, and he says to Joseph, Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back into the land of our fathers. And I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorites. And look what it says in Genesis 49. The blessings of your father have surpassed surpassed the blessings of my ancestors up to the furthest boundary of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the top of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers. See, Joseph was distinguished among his brothers. Why? Because he was obedient. He was obedient to the things of God. He knew who his God was, and he surrendered his life to Christ, to God, to God. The same thing that we should be doing. So a double portion is given to Joseph and the blessings of the ancestors on the top of his head. Why? Because he took his walk with God seriously. Amen. We need to take our walk with God seriously. As we've been going through the series, we can see that Abraham stepped under the covering of God. Isaac stepped under the covering of God in obedience and was blessed. Jacob chased after the things of God and was blessed. And now we see Joseph chose to honor God despite what everybody else was doing. And because of this, because of his behavior, he was, he received the double portion. And I want to challenge you this morning. I just want to speak to you this morning. And I want to ask you, God knows what's truly in your heart. He knows what's really going on in there. Scripture says that God looks at the heart. And you may call yourself a child of God, but is your heart pointed on pleasing God? Or is your heart pointed on pleasing yourself? Are you following his instructions? Are you listening to what he's telling you to do? Or are you just doing your own thing? Because if you're doing your own thing, you're just going to begin to miss out on the best things of what God has for you. So if you're here this morning, I want to challenge you, no matter how long you've been coming to this church, or you've been going on whatever, whatever your walk is, wherever you are with him, I want to challenge you this morning. I want you to begin to look on the inside and ask the Lord, where I'm where am I with you? Am I where I'm supposed to be? I remember Pastor Fave or Pastor PT would say, we need to take an inventory of ourselves. An inventory check. Where am I? And it's so important to do this. Not just when we come to church on Sundays, but every day, Lord, where am I with you? Because if there's anything in my life that doesn't belong there, I don't want it. I know you don't want me to have it, so just remove it from my life. Whatever it is, if it's unforgiveness, if it's bitterness, if it's lust, if it's um your if it's just money, finances, whatever it is that's taking place of God, remove those things in my life. Begin to ask him. Think of something that's that's that's been troubling you that that God can work on you with. And ask him to remove it this morning. We surrender ourselves to you, Lord. Anything that's that's in our lives, Lord, we pray that that that they if it doesn't belong there, we pray that you would remove it right now, Father. Reveal those things to us. Convict us, Lord, transform our lives, Lord, so that we can be imitators of Christ, so that we could reflect your image, Lord. Help us to be willing to be vessels, to be used by you. Mold us and make us all those things, Lord. Fill us with your presence this morning. Anoint us this morning. Anoint us the way you anointed Joseph with the favor of God on our lives. Anoint us the way you you anointed David to go out and to do battle for you. Anoint us the way you you gave Samson uh Samson strength to give us strength, your strength to do those things that you want us to do. Anoint us the way Peter stood up in front of those people, those 3,000 people, and began to preach the gospel message that that day when the Holy Spirit came upon them. Anoint us the way you you sent out Paul to go preach the gospel throughout the world. Anoint us to be the men and women of God that when people see us, they see who you are, they see who Christ is, they see the love of God all over our lives, Lord. All over our families, Father. We pray for a breakthrough in our lives, Father. Move in this place this morning, bring revival into this place this morning. Help us to reach out to this community, help people to come into this place. Hallelujah. We worship you, Father. Worship, we worship you, Lord. Come on, praise him this morning. Lift your hands to him with your mouth this morning. Give him praise. Hallelujah. Thank him for what he's done in your life. Thank him for your spouse, thank him for your family. Thank him for your job. Thank him for what he's done in your life, how he provides for you. Lord, we pray for marriages to be restored this morning. We pray for moms and dads to come back together and keep you first in their marriage. We pray for healing again in this place. We pray for miracles in this place, Father. We pray for all our ministries here, Lord, that you would begin to move them in a new way, in a mighty way, that people will come into those ministries wanting to learn about you. If it's from with the kids all the way to the adults, our men's Bible studies, our women's Bible studies, our men's and women's ministries, our youth, Lord, our children's church, Royal Rangers, Girls Club, the Aging Grace Club, young adults, all those ministries, the prayer ministry, missions. Just be continue to bless us over and abundant, Lord. We pray for our brothers and sisters in Putnam right now, Lord, that you would send a revival over that way right now in the name of Jesus. That area needs a touch of God. There's so many hurting people in that place too. Lord, I pray that Putnam, that hope community, would be a beacon of life for people around in that area, Lord. In Killingley, in Danielson, Father, in Brooklyn, in Johnston, in Providence, and in Rhode Island, Lord, that we would be that we would be being able to reach those people, that we'd be willing to go out and preach your gospel, whether if it's just even at the store or at the gym or at the bank or wherever we are on the road.