God's Purpose in the Process - Lessons from the Beach: Episode 5

Hello, Victorious Living family. My name is Christi Overton Johnson, and I am the host of More Victorious Living. I am excited because today we're going to learn more from God's Word, and I believe that the principles that we learn here will help us in life not only be successful, but to shine like bright lights in this dark world. You know, God has called us to shine, and He has called us to be fruitful in this world, and sometimes we find ourselves in places where we wonder, how can I be fruitful in this land? We find ourselves in places that maybe we made mistakes and we found ourselves there, or maybe it was the mistakes and the evil intentions of others that put us in this place, and we're wondering, what now? Well, from the story of Joseph, we're going to find that there's never a what now. It's more, well God, it's time for you to show off here. Because in every place that we find ourselves, God is able to shine through us, and it's in those dark places sometimes where we shine the brightest, and people can look at our lives, and they know without a doubt that God is with us. God is for us, and that even though we go through trials, that doesn't mean that we aren't going to be fruitful, that we aren't going to be successful. Actually, it's in those dark places where God wants to give us success so that He can be glorified, and so that people can know without a doubt that something different is about, there's something different about your life. So, let's start and let's dive in to another lesson from the beach. I'm still at the beach. Well, not still. I have been, I'm back and forth. I have the porch to myself this morning, and that's rare. Usually this place is bustling with activity and food and conversation, and today I had an opportunity just to sit and study, and I wanted to bring some of the things that I was reminded of this morning to you. So, let's dive in to the Word of God. I hope you've got your Bible, because when we come together, we need it, and that's a good thing, because the Bible is filled with truths that can bring life to us, and there are principles, not just principles, but there are principles in here that if we live our life by, we are guaranteed success, but it's not just the principles. It is having a heart, a motive behind the principles, and that is to honor God and to serve God and to know God and to make God known, and if that is our purpose in life, to know you God, I want to know you and I want to make you known, those two purposes will set our life's course on a good track, one that will be marked with success. I'm not a prosperity messenger, but I do believe that God has called us to prosper, and prosper

doesn't necessarily mean that you live in some mansion somewhere or have a beach home. What it means is that you're going to be successful. It means that you're going to be fruitful. It means that you're going to have peace and joy and wisdom and contentment, and those things make you prosper. When you have contentment and you have peace and you have joy, you're not having to run around and try to build something to make you happy or seek after something to make you be full of joy, because joy comes from in here, not from things out here. Happiness comes from things out here. Today, we're going to learn, one, how to have contentment wherever you are. It comes from trusting God, and we're going to learn how to be successful and fruitful wherever we are, even if that's in the darkest place of the world, even if that's in prison, even if that's in jail, even if that's in you're laying in a hospital bed or you're in this dark situation at work or in your relationships. God has called us to be fruitful, and he will cause us to be fruitful and successful for his glory. And so again, you're gonna need the Word of God. I hope that you'll grab one. Genesis 29 is where you see the story of Joseph begin. And it begins with the meeting of his father, Jacob, and his mother, Rachel. And it's a crazy story. And we're not going to take time to dive into that, but basically Jacob, who later becomes called Israel, Jacob meets this beautiful woman in Genesis 29, and her name is Rachel. And her father-in-law agrees to Jacob that, hey, you can marry my daughter. But then he pulls a fast one on Jacob. He goes, but before you can marry this one, you got to marry my older daughter, because my younger can't be married first. And he does this little trick, and Jacob wakes up on his morning of his, after he's consummated his marriage, and he was not, had not slept with his wife, who he thought was gonna be his wife, Rachel. He had slept with Leah, the other sister. And it is, if y'all don't think the Bible's interesting, then you haven't read the Bible. It is filled with all sorts of things that will make your, make your head hurt a little bit, and go, what in the world? And that's what happened here. And Rachel was the love of Jacob's life, but he also had to marry Leah, be with Leah first, and then he got Rachel, and he had to work all these years. I think it was 14 years for his wife, Rachel. And that's love, y'all. That is a love story if I've never heard one. And Rachel had a problem having children,

and Leah did not. And there became this race, and Rachel became very jealous of Leah, because she was being blessed with all these children, and Rachel was barren. And so Rachel starts giving her handmaidens to her husband, and it becomes this whole competition of who can have the most kids. Well, Leah's having children, and Leah starts giving her handmaidens to her husband. Y'all, they are trading out, competing on who's gonna get to sleep with their husband. And Leah at one point even comes to Jacob and says, you gotta sleep with me, because I bought you tonight. It's crazy. It's crazy. But Joseph is the child of Rachel. That's why I'm sharing all of this, because Rachel was the love of Jacob's life, and Rachel was barren. And God, at the end, opens up Rachel's womb, and she has Joseph, and then later she has Benjamin, and she actually dies when she has Benjamin. And so those two sons are the love of Jacob's life. He has 12 sons in total, with Joseph and Benjamin being the sons that were actually birthed by Rachel. And so we're gonna pick it up with the story of Joseph. Now Joseph was, at this time, the favorite of Jacob. And the other brothers, those ten other brothers that were older than him, they knew it. And they knew it because the father favored him. And the father gave Joseph this beautiful coat, and it's called Joseph's Coat of Many Colors. And he would sport that coat, and what that coat meant was, I'm the favorite. And Joseph, he has these dreams. Like, they, he would go to his brothers, and he would tell them his dreams. And in his dreams, the brothers are bowing down to Jacob. And that even made them more mad. He even took a dream to his father and said, Dad, listen to this dream. And his dad's like, Son, you just gave me a dream where me and your mother are gonna bow down to you. And all your brothers, like, what are you doing? And that was not helping Joseph's case with his brothers. They hated him even the more, because now they called him the dreamer. And who do you think you are saying that we're gonna bow down to you? And Joseph, he just wasn't thinking that out. He's just declaring what he saw. And that caused the brothers to hate him even more, and they plot to kill him. So, Joseph's, this whole scenario is, you're gonna find it in Genesis 37. And that's when he tells them the dream. And then this is where

the brothers start to plot to kill him. So Joseph's brothers in 37 verse 18 of Genesis says when Joseph's brothers saw him coming they recognized him in the distance and they made plans to kill him. Here comes that dreamer they said. Come on let's kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns. We'll tell our father, that's Jacob, that a wild animal has killed him. So they're plotting and they're scheming and then the oldest brother, Reuben, he's like oh this isn't good. So he tells the brothers why do we want blood on our hands? Let's just throw him in the cistern. That's a well. Let's throw him deep down in there and just let him die. That way we're not actually killing him. Now I would beg to differ. If if you threw me in a well with the intent of me dying there that is no your hands may not have killed me but you you still killed me. But Reuben actually wasn't planning to kill his brother. He was secretly planning to come back that night. Well evidently that's Reuben's plan. He must see Jacob throw excuse me Joseph thrown into the well and Reuben evidently leaves because well in his absence the brothers sit down to eat. Can you imagine you sit down to eat while your brother has been thrown into this deep well and they've not just thrown him to the well they've stripped him of his coat, thrown him down there to this this dark well and here comes in the distance a caravan. These are traders. They're bringing goods from one place to another and they're headed to Egypt and so they see this and they're like you know what we're gonna sell our brothers. Why kill them? Let's just sell them into slavery and so this was Judah's idea in verse 26 of Genesis 37 we see what will we gain by killing our brothers? We'd have to cover up the crime. Instead of hurting him let's sell him to the traders but you know what they're still gonna have to cover up. They're still gonna be lying. These brothers have no integrity whatsoever so they they end up selling their brothers and we find out later in Genesis and I don't want to be a spoiler alert but wonderful things despite the horrible things that Joseph is getting ready to go through God has wonderful things in store for him and the brothers at the end of the story end up bowing before him as does the father

and so sometimes we don't know the end of all the time we don't know the end of the story but God does and I just want to encourage you right now because maybe you're at the beginning of this horrible story in your own life. If you are a child of God no matter how you ended up in the cistern in the well in that situation whether it was because of jealous people that scheme to hurt you I want you to know that God sees you and God has an end to your story that is for your good and Joseph recognizes that at the end of his story he's he tells his brothers who are who are like not only bowing down but they're scared to death of their life and Joseph is able to forgive his brothers and say what you intended for harm God intended for good that God used what you meant to harm me for his purposes and let that be an encouragement to you that right now you might have found yourself in a place that wasn't you're doing maybe you were serving God and you found yourself in a worse predicament don't get angry at God don't get angry at people Joseph will see has a whole so many opportunities in his life to just be angry to be resentful and had he had done that hey had he bit Satan's bait he would have been snagged and his life would have been ruined but instead every place that you find Joseph you'll find forgiveness and you'll find him not saying why me but God what do you want me to do now not what now but okay God what now what do you want me to do while I'm here how can I make the best of this situation and we're gonna find that every place Joseph steps his foot he is blessed why Because he chooses to be thankful. He chooses to serve God. He chooses. He's a man of choice. He chooses not to be bitter. Not to be one that sits back and says, I want to do nothing. I'm just going to let my time be served. No, he's at work every place that you see him serving others and serving God. And I could stop right there and let you know that if you would make that choice today, that no matter how you got to where you are, if you will make the choice to forgive, to not give up, to not become bitter, but instead to praise God and to serve God. And how do we serve God? We do it by serving people, by making a place better wherever we are. That's one thing that my dad has always taught me. Leave a place better than you found it. And that's what we'll find Joseph doing. When he's at

the prison, he's making the place better. And every place that we find him, that's what he does. And because he's working hard and he's working with integrity and he's honoring God wherever he is, he is blessed. And people see the blessings of God. We'll see many times the word saying, and it was obvious that God was with him. So the warden put him in charge. So Potiphar put him in charge of all his house. The warden puts him in charge of all the prison. And then Pharaoh puts him in charge of all the nation. Why? Because every place that he was, he was working unto the Lord, serving man, making the place better than he found it, refusing to get bitter. Every place that Joseph finds himself, it wasn't his fault. He was a man who loved his dad. He was a man that God's hand was on. He was a man that loved the Lord and served God. He was a man that had integrity in hard places, in places of temptation. But even when he stood the test of temptation, we'll find he ends up in prison anyway. Now some people could say, well, what's the use of doing right? I'm just going to end up in a bad place anyway. And it could look like God wasn't honoring, but God was using every place. He was using the cistern to get them on the caravan, to get them to the land of Egypt so that God could use him to save his family. Maybe you're in a place right now where God's going to use you to save a, save your family. Maybe he's going to use you to save those that are around you. And I am sure if you were in prison today and you're watching this, there are people around you that are working there. There's people around you that are living there and serving their time who God can use you to save. God can use you to shine and make that place better. And as you do that, you're going to see that people will notice. People will notice. So let's pick up here where he is taken in the caravan. And, um, Reuben didn't know this was going to happen. Remember Reuben was the brother says, let's not kill him. Let's throw him in the cistern. And he wanted to come back and get them. But when Reuben returned, he found out that the boy is gone. And he says in verse 30 of 37, the chapter 37, he goes, the boy is gone. What will I do now? So the brothers killed a young goat, dipped Joseph's robe. Remember the coat of many colors in the blood. They sent the beautiful robe to their father and said, look at what we found. Doesn't this robe belong to your son? These guys are liars. They're liars. The father recognized the robe. Yes, it's my son's robe. And then he goes into this period of mourning. He can't be comforted. The father is brokenhearted. Think about the integrity of these men. They

don't care that they've hurt their father. They don't care that they've hurt their, their son, their, excuse me, their brother. All they care about is themselves and covering up their crime. And I know that, um, if you're living in that place of prison, you're around people today that, um, that's all they care about. There's no integrity in them. I just want to encourage you to be different, to be a person of integrity. Listen, their father says, I will go to my grave mourning for my son, and then he would just weep and weep and weep and weep. This man is broken. Meanwhile, so you got the father just grieving over here. Well, in verse 36 of chapter 37, Meanwhile, the Midianite traders arrived in Egypt where they sold Joseph to Potiphar. Potiphar is an officer of Pharaoh, and Pharaoh's the king of Egypt. Potiphar was the captain of the palace guard. So, you know, I realized this morning that Potiphar, well I knew this, but Potiphar's in charge of the house of Pharaoh. Pharaoh's in charge of the nation of Egypt. So this first place of that Joseph finds himself is in the house. He's in the house, and he is a slave in the house of Pharaoh. It's the palace, but Potiphar is the one in charge, and Potiphar is going to recognize that God is with this Hebrew boy, Joseph, because everything that Joseph does is blessed. It's successful. And so we'll pick up the story in Genesis 39. So Genesis kind of takes a side journey about some of Jacob's other children, but then it picks up in 39 with Joseph. And so let's let's stop this video right here, and I just want to pray for you, and I want to kind of recap what we've already learned, because we've learned a lot already. And this story is so packed with truth, and I just I just want you to realize right now that you might be in a place or headed in this place. You're on this journey, and maybe you're on your first stop, just like Joseph. Joseph is in his first stop. He's been in the well, and he was just going about his life, wearing his coat, being favored by the Father. Things are good, and all of a sudden, he finds himself in a pit, in a cistern, thrown in there by people who should have loved him, people who should have cared for him. His own family betrayed him. Maybe that's where you are today. Maybe your own family betrayed you. Maybe it was your actual blood relatives. Maybe it was someone in

your house. Maybe it was someone in your gang who I know is your family. Maybe it's someone that you had, you know, I was reading David this morning in the Psalms, and he's crying out. He's like, my own brother, not physical brother, but a Christian brother. He goes, we used to go to the house of the Lord together, and we would serve God, and you betrayed me. And those type of betrayals hurt worse than anything. But I want to encourage you today to not let betrayal stop you on this God journey. Even if you have found yourself, because of that betrayal, in a very painful, difficult place where you've been stripped, you have been thrown, you have been sold, you have been bouncing now on this caravan of, you've been sold like a slave. And this is where Joseph's life is. He's bouncing around like going through a desert, going, how did I end up here? What just happened? All I did was go fulfill the message. He went on an errand for his father, Jacob, wearing his robe, going to check on his brothers, being obedient. And all of a sudden, he finds himself attacked. He finds himself sold, and he's bouncing in this caravan, back there as a slave. He's not like given front row seat. He's been sold as a slave. And he's bouncing in this wagon or camels or whatever they're doing. Maybe he had to walk. I don't know. Maybe he's chained. I don't know. But I know what I would be thinking is, how did I get here? What just happened? I was serving my father. I was serving and honoring God, I'd done nothing to my brothers, and they were going to kill me, but you know, they didn't kill them. God was with them in the pit, and that pit was a place of survival, it was a place where God saved them, because the original plan was to kill them. Then he finds himself on this camel or walking on this caravan where he's sold as a slave, and that could have been like, what's happening, God? This is awful. No, God was positioning him to be where he needed to be, to be used by God, because Joseph is going to be not king of the land, but second in charge of all of Egypt. You got to realize he's a Hebrew. He's not even an Egyptian, and he's going to be second in command, and Pharaoh says, you will run the land.

Basically Pharaoh's saying, I'm just going to sit back and let you do it, because I trust you. He was honored because Joseph honored God. So you can't look at your situation right now, maybe, like I said, you're in the cistern, or maybe you've moved from the cistern and you're like in this transition journey, maybe you've gone from jail, maybe you've gone from jail to now you're at a reception center in Florida or North Carolina or whatever state you're in, and you're getting ready to get positioned to the next place, to the final prison, or maybe you're in jail and now you've got to go to court, and you don't know what's getting ready to happen. Let me say this, if you are in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, he is for you, and I want to close with Romans 8, one of my favorites, y'all know that, because it's chocked full. Romans 8, 31, if God is for you, I'm going to change a little word, instead of us, for you, who can ever be against you? Since he did not spare even his own son that gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? God himself has given you right standing with himself. Listen to verse 35 of Romans 8, does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death? Does it mean that God no longer loves you if you were serving him and all of a sudden somebody betrayed you, maybe it was a Christian brother or maybe it was someone you trusted and should have had your back, does that mean that God has forsaken you? No. Sometimes we look at our life and we think, if good things are happening, then it's God is for me. No, this is saying, even when we find ourselves destitute, if we find ourselves in trouble, if we find ourselves in a cistern, if we find ourselves bouncing in a desert, in the possession of somebody else, they might possess our body, but they don't possess your spirit and God is with you in that place. Can any of these separate you from his love? Romans 8 guarantees no, they can't.

All these things. An overwhelming victory is yours through Christ Jesus who loves you. Verse 38, and I am convinced of this, Paul says, neither, nothing can ever separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today or our worries for tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. Nothing. So, wherever you are today, whatever situation you're finding yourself in, know this, God loves you, he's for you, he's with you, and no weapon formed against you shall prosper. I love you and I thank you for joining me today. Father, I pray for my brother and my sister, wherever they are today, I pray that you will guide and direct them, that you will remind them today, Lord, that you are for them. That even in the pit, you're with them. Even in the transition, you're with them. Even when it looks like all is lost, God, my neighbor's leaving right now, even as it looks like everything's against them and everybody's against them, God, that you are for them. And you are, if they're for you, God, then you are for them. more than for them, you are so for them, God. And you are with them, and you will never leave them or forsake them. Your word promises you don't leave us as an orphan. And God, I thank you that right now, as they're in transition, you're with them, and you're preparing a place for them. And sometimes that place is, it's the pit, but it's so that we can be positioned. It's so that we can see you and know you in a way that we never could. And it's so that we can glorify you in places that you would have never otherwise be glorified.

And it's so that people can be saved and rescued that would have died, but for us being in those places. And so God, help us to embrace the place today on the way to where we're going. And we do that, as we're gonna learn, God, by forgiving, refusing to get bitter, and by serving you, doing everything that we do unto the Lord, as we serve man, God, for your glory. We do it unto you, Lord, not doing it because we wanna be recognized by man. We do it because we wanna do it for you. So Lord, be with my brother and my sister today. Be with me, be with our team. Lord, help us today to glorify you and to shine like a bright light in this dark world so that people know who you are, so people are drawn to the light and they're saved. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister who needs encouragement? Write to us at Victorious Living Correspondents, P.O. Box 2751 Greenville, North Carolina, 27836. Or email us at hope at vlmag.org. To view Victorious Living Magazine in its entirety, please have your chaplain contact us at 352-478-2098, or email us through our website at vlmag.org. We are happy to provide our Victorious Living Magazine free of charge, in bulk, with or without staples.