Set Apart for Breakthrough

Introduction

As Christians - one thing to note is that we are not Set Apart FROM brokenness.

Brokenness is just a constant in life - whether we’re bringing it on ourselves through sin, or whether we’re actually just a victim to our circumstances.

But - we can definitely be Set Apart in the way that we RESPOND to brokenness.

Joseph is a man who is familiar with brokenness - some of you may already know the story of Joseph. In the book of Genesis chapter 35-50 his life is detailed.

He was the favourite son of Jacob - who loved him deeply.

God revealed powerful truths to him through dreams. Dreams where the sun and stars were bowing down to him, and his brothers were too.

But after that life pretty much goes straight downhill -

He’s betrayed by his brothers, and dumped into a well and left to die.

They relent and instead sell him to a slave merchant

He works as a slave to an influential man in Egypt - where he is falsely accused of rape and thrown in prison

He is in prison for years - and forgotten about by people who promised to remember him.

The picture I’m trying to paint for you is this man’s life was characterised by quite frankly, multiple instances of crippling brokenness.

and yet somehow he found the strength to stay Set Apart through the brokenness, and not only that but God exalts him to the position of governor over all of Egypt - and the dreams that he had symbolically ended up coming to pass.

Segment 1: The Lord was WITH Joseph

This dark season in Joseph’s life lasted 13 YEARS. He was a slave and then in prison for a season of 13 years. But you know during this time - one phrase comes up multiple times: The Lord was with Joseph.

Genesis 39:2 “2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.”

Genesis 39:3 “3 His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.”

Genesis 39:21 “21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”

Genesis 39:23 “23 The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.”

And I want to use this as an encouragement for some people in this room who are walking through brokenness today.

You can be in chains AND in God’s will at the same time.

While Joseph was in the WORST season of his life - betrayed by his brothers, thought dead by his father, working as a slave in a foreign, hostile land - it looks like everything was going wrong for Joseph and yet scripture tells us in no uncertain terms that THE LORD WAS WITH Joseph.

Like Joseph - you could be in a terrible situation right now. Something you never saw coming, something that has really knocked you down. It seems like the kind of place that God wouldn’t be, it feels like God isn’t near - that maybe He’s abandoned you as well.

Hey - I’m here to tell you my friends that your chains don’t cancel your calling.

That God is not just IN the broken places in our lives - but that He desires to be ESPECIALLY present in the broken places in our lives.

Psalm 34:18 “18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

God is NOT in the business of avoiding brokenness - He is not repelled by it, He moves TOWARDS it.

You can be in a bad situation, and EXACTLY where God wants you to be - all at once.

Segment 2: The Slave

Which is evidenced in the first of Joseph’s very broken seasons: His time as a slave in Potiphar’s house. He actually made it to the head slave of the house before something terrible happened which we read here.

Genesis 39:7–9 “7 And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?””

You know so often in our brokenness, in the difficult seasons, in the valley seasons of our life we will be faced with a choice: Do we do what is right - or what is easy?

Do we choose to act in surrender and walk through the brokenness as God instructs us to - or do we compromise and run away from where we know God is calling us to?

In this season of brokenness - see how Joseph’s mind was always on the Lord, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

To be honest - Joseph probably had every reason to compromise - he was betrayed, was pretty much at rock bottom, there was nobody watching, there was pleasure on offer - he could have quite easily taken the easy way out. But he chose not to - because His focus was always on the Lord

And I want to highlight this because I think it teaches us an important point: That the way we act IN our brokenness determines what it produces.

Because I know that we talk alot about brokenness in church - and sometimes there’s just this sort of miraculous expectation that brokenness of any sort, dealt with in any way will produce something good because God can use brokenness can’t it? He uses all brokenness.

Well - no that’s simply not true. It says that the Lord is NEAR the brokenhearted and the contrite in spirit - meaning that His heart is FOR the broken, He has compassion on those who are broken. But brokenness that is not surrendered unto the Lord, brokenness that is not SET APART to the Lord cannot be used by Him.

Two people can walk through the same brokenness - one will come out bitter, and the other comes out better. Why? How is that possible if God uses all brokenness?

It’s not pain that determines the outcome of brokenness: it’s posture.

In other words WHO ARE YOU in the brokenness? Just like Joseph - Do you maintain your posture as someone who is SET APART? As someone who is desiring to be Holy unto God?

Or does the brokenness push you away from God completely, causing you to run from God toward the world the first chance you get? Maybe it even causes you to turn against God - blaming Him for your brokenness, blaming the church.

You know in my experience - brokenness doesn’t just produce something - it exposes something. In other words, brokenness reveals what’s already inside us.

Pressure often reveals what comfort conceals

ILLUSTRATION: The depression and what it revealed.

I shared with you guys yesterday that season that I went through when I was out of church - depressed, with nothing much to live for, in the middle of a faith crisis.

Man guys can I just say to you - depression sucks. That entire season sucks. Just feeling you have no hope, that there’s nothing left for you, that you’re living for nothing.

You know I hated God for that season? Especially when it started - I hated God so much for it. I was like God you stole my ministry, you stole my job, you stole my passion. I was doing good work, I was doing YOUR work, and I was loving it - and you stole it from me. Man I hated God so much especially in the early months of that season.

But do you know what happened when God took all that away from me? I realised that without my ministry - I had no faith. I realised that my entire identity in Christ was built on who I was as a minister. God SHOWED me that if He took away my ministry, then my identity would dissapear. He showed me - that I didn’t actually have a real relationship with Him outside of church.

It was BECAUSE of that season - that I could start to rebuild from scratch, and avoid what would have been a disaster in the making.

MAN it sucked - it was one of the hardest, most gruelling seasons I have ever had to walk through.

But do you know what else it was? It was necessary.

God showed me through this season that ministry was my identity. And He spoke to me specifically - You are my Son before you are a pastor. A lesson that I wouldn’t give up for the world.

Segment 3: The Prison

You know I look and envy Joseph - I have no idea how he stayed so Set Apart in his season of brokenness.

You know what’s crazy? - Joseph’s integrity in this particular case did not actually pay off. Take a look:

Genesis 39:16–20 “16 Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, 17 and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. 18 But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.” 19 As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. 20 And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.”

In this instance - doing the right thing and having integrity actually lands Joseph in PRISON.

But this speaks into a thought that we can sometimes have as Christians that I really want to address - the thought of “If I do the right thing, then things will always turn out well.”

Like if I do all the holy things, then the outcome will definitely get better.

Well - as we can see from this situation - no, that’s not always the case.

Do you know why? Because Holiness is not a STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS - it is a COMMITMENT TO GOD.

Because holiness and being Set Apart is not a bargaining chip before God - it’s like I spoke on the first night, “BUT EVEN IF NOT” But God EVEN IF things get worse for me, But God EVEN IF my holiness makes things more difficult for me, But EVEN IF I can’t see the end of this season - I refuse to bow to other gods or worship the idols of the world.

We aren’t Set Apart so that we can have a good, comfortable life - you are Set Apart unto God, that means SURRENDERING to wherever He may lead us.

TRULY surrendering brokenness to God means surrendering the outcome of that brokenness as well.

Joseph remained in that prison for years - unsure of his fate, not knowing whether he would ever be set free, or whether he would be executed. For Joseph the greatest struggle here was that he was forgotten. This looked like the end of the line for him.

He even begged the chief cupbearer for Pharoah who was finally released from prison - to remember him to Pharoah.

Genesis 40:14–15 “14 Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. 15 For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.””

Genesis 40:23 “23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.”

This is a season that we can so often find ourselves in - this season of waiting. We’re sitting in the brokenness, wondering if we will ever be delivered from it. God are you going to come through? Or have you forgotten about me - are you still even there God?

You know one of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned about brokenness in my life? Don’t mistake preparation for punishment.

That season of brokenness you’re walking through, that valley that seems like it’s never going to end - that’s God PREPARING you for your next season.

Joseph may have thought it was a set back - but he was actually being POSITIONED by God. It wasn’t a SET BACK - it was a SET UP.

And this is what I want to say to anyone who may feel stuck or even abandoned in this season of brokenness that you’re walking through - Don’t ask God to remove what He’s trying to use!

Sometimes we’re so desperate to get out of our brokenness - we’re so desperate to get out of the valley, we’re so tired of feeling forgotten and abandoned that we try to rush through the season - we try to force ourselves through the season.

We end up moving on from a season that God is still trying to work through, we end up forcing a result that God does not want just so that we can “move on” to the next season and leave this last one behind.

But in doing so we can end up undoing the work that God is trying to do in us.

We can be so desperate for clarity that we sacrifice our TRUST in God.

But that’s not what we’re called to do - because when we truly sarifice our brokenness - we are called to sacrifice the result to the Lord as well.

My friends - God is not as interested in your clarity as He is in your TRUST.

You may not know the future, you may not know what the plan is - but you DO know the PLANNER - and you can TRUST that He has Set You Apart for a purpose. You can TRUST that He has not abandoned you. That His plan for you still stands.

That’s what we’re called to do.

Segment 3: The Palace

And this is what Joseph does. And as a result - the Lord exalts Him. Pharoah is having dreams that nobody can interpret, and that cupbearer that once forgot him tells him about Joseph saying “This man can interpret dreams well”. And so Joseph is called to Pharoah and he interprets his dreams accurately - and as a result Joseph is made a governor over ALL of Egypt. Pretty much second in command to Pharoah.

After 13 YEARS from being betrayed by his brothers - to being made a slave - to being thrown in prison; after staying Set Apart for that entire season of brokenness; He reaches the palace.

The place of Purpose - the place that God had prepared Him for.

And then something he could never foresee happens. His brothers - the same ones who started this whole season of brokenness, the ones who threw him into a well - they end up in Egypt because of a famine in the land. The same brothers who betrayed him - end up BEGGING him to give them food.

This was it, ultimate karma - Joseph’s chance for revenge, Joseph’s chance to inflict the same amount of pain on them than they did on him. It was his moment - what does he do?

He forgives them. Not only that, he provides for his entire family and has them move into Egypt where they would be well looked after for the rest of their lives.

And they ask him WHY? Why would you forgive us - HOW are you able to forgive us after all these years? He answers them with this: Genesis 50:20 “20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.

Young person listen to me tonight - God isn’t just wanting to RESOLVE your brokenness - He wants to REDEEM it.

God doesn’t want to just take you OUT of your brokenness tonight - He wants to USE your brokenness for His purpose.

What you may see as brokenness in your life - God sees as PREPARATION for His PURPOSE

What you may see as a SET BACK - God is using as a SET UP

What the enemy has meant for evil in your life - God will redeem it for good!

Depression -> Use it to minister to the depressed Broken hearted -> Use it to minister to broken hearts Grieving -> Use it to love those who are grieving Loss -> Use it to love those who have lost Family Breakdown -> Use it to help families find breakTHROUGH

What the enemy has meant for evil - GOD will use for good.

Because TRUE breakthrough is not about escaping the prison - it’s about realising that there is PURPOSE in the PRISON.

ILLUSTRATION:

One of the worst moments of my life - was where I actually witnessed a suicide, right in front of me. I was the director for a real estate agency for a couple of years. And so one day I was showing a client an apartment.

Everything was normal, didn’t really pick anything different up. He seemed like a normal guy, and it was a normal showing. Right up until the point that I showed him the balcony. And he immediately climbed up on it - and before I could even react, he jumped. Right in front of me. 20th floor. He died on impact. I blamed myself for not reaching out for him, for freezing, for not reading the signs sooner, for not saying anything in the moment.

I pray nobody here would ever have to witness something like that. But if you ever do - you’ll know what I mean when I say that there’s just a darkness that consumes you, a darkness that clouds you that I really can’t explain, it’s just evil.

You know - I prayed to God; I don’t understand this or why this happened to me but God if you can redeem it then I give it to you.

Over the next 3 years - 3 of my friends would try to take their own lives. 2 Friends from uni, 1 from church. Each would for some reason randomly message me, either to say goodbye, or to ask me to pray for them. By the grace of God, I managed to talk every one of them out of it.

The last friend that I talked down - the church friend, made a comment. He said, of all the people I messaged goodbye to - you were the only one who picked up something was wrong and took me seriously. And if you didn’t - I probably wouldn’t be here. How come?

I said Because God prepared me for this.

Because what the enemy meant for evil - God redeems for His good.

Altar Call

General Breakthrough

FORGIVENESS SPECIFICALLY