God Meant it for Good

Probably one of my favorite musicals is that Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. That's it many, many times my children have done it, a number of times, it's always always fun if you haven't seen it. It's basically a retelling of Joseph story. It was originally, originally did it for his children for their entertainment, it turned into a school cantata about 50 minutes long and then just continue to grow and grow, and grow until finally. After the success Superstar, they decided to produce it and it's got all different kinds of music and its, and that's part of the Lord, as well. There's a song in it. We're after the boys have come back from their mistreatment of Joseph. And Joseph is now, you know, Sol off and headed for the land of Egypt. The song starts father. We something to tell you the story of our time that this is a country western song in case you're wondering tragic. But inspiring tale of manhood from, you know, you had a dozen Sons. Well, now that's not quite true but feeling those sorrow do not grieve. He would not want you to there's one more angel in heaven. One more stars in the sky. Joseph will never forget you, it's tough. But we're going to get buy to goes on for beer and just gets better and better better. In terms of equality. Joseph stories, and arrogant, teenage, son of the brothers were going to get rid of them. Go to kill him. And finally, they went up selling him instead and he goes down to Egypt and Joseph, although he has some difficult times whines up as the vice payroll of Egypt because of the ability to dream be able to interpret dreams. God is directly responsible for taking him for making that happen and then ultimately the brothers wind up in Egypt on the bus and food from the chances of round bit but he ultimately provide soup for them reveals who he is and the whole family 70 Souls. I believe is what it is travel and live now in Egypt. But as you read that story carefully, you know, that throughout the whole lives of these brothers there, always a bit on edge. Because number one, they mistreated Joseph is Joseph, has fixed everything and it can all be taken away at the snap of his fingers. So they are dancing on very thin ice walking on eggshells this entire period of time. It's a rather long. Of time and I'll share with you how long it is at the end of the lesson. But after Jacob dies after they've gone to bury him, Joseph, in an interaction, with the m delivers, one of the most powerful powerful verses in the Bible. In Genesis 50:20. He says, to the brothers, You intended to harm me? But God intended it for good to accomplish. What is now be done the saving of many lives. Now, there are number of versions that say you meant it for evil. But God meant it for good. Is it amazing philosophy? It is an amazing of Courage that this young man, this man shows that particular point in time, but all of us probably. Will you look at that? Passage want to think.

You know, the reason so many people who've tried to harm me, there's been so many things of this life that have been so negative. There's been so many destructive forces that I've had to deal with. I just get to the place where I don't feel like I can hang on any further I can do anymore and it's somebody says God meant it for good. And that's sometimes difficult for us to really get a handle on especially in moments of real emotional times are really difficult times. It's hard for us to reach out and grasp that I'd like to look at three things this morning. As we talked about this, the first is that the reality of evil evil is out there. It seems like there are people who are literally given over to evil. They seem to live it, they seem to Relish in it. They seem to want to do nothing more than have opportunities to be evil. And then scripture there plenty of examples of those kinds of individuals Delilah. Haman Jezebel, King Herod. Jesus, the time, pharaoh of Moses. Time. Rodeo stand on them. Run you go.

And you look around in your world, you probably think other people's lives. And then, there are also those plain ordinary typos that have their evil moma's. Went out of weakness router pressure out of frustration out of any number of motivations. They wind up hurting and hurt the people around us. Around them rather infrequently. They wind up hurting us as well. Now, we know that evil is real. Because we fall into his grass. maybe we are guilty of hurting others, maybe we're guilty of bringing that evil into somebody else's live, not that we intended to we wanted to or perhaps we were a little bit out of control, but in those weak moments, We wind up. Do that very thing. You don't have to hunt for evil. Evil will find you. Satan is very, very efficient at making sure that we have exposure to all of the evil. That existed, this world. And so this world becomes an evil place. You don't one of them.

Most difficult explain passages that come from the Gospel of John, is it three times in that gospel? Jesus refers to Satan as the prince of this world. And sometimes it's kind of hard for us to really get a handle on it and I admit that is confused me for a long time. This is God's world. This is at Satan's world. But after thinking about it and studying about it in and really sitting a lot of time with it, I think what Jesus is telling us there is Satan has commandeered this world. He's taking it over. He's messed it up. He's done all of his evil. Tragic things to the point that this world is just a reflection of him. More perhaps than even a reflection of God. And I think the thing that makes that encouraged me to Moe's in terms of going in that direction is what's going to happen to this physical world. To be destroyed. Satan has wrecked it so much that it's not repairable in some ways and God brings us to a new place. Where Satan hasn't had his evil influence.

What is evil do to us?

You know, sometimes you see athletes to get to the place where you can tell that it's not their physical ability, is their mental ability, that's gotten them down. That's what terrorism is all about. We got to knock down the World Trade Center, The Two Towers. They knew they couldn't defeat our nation in a head-on War. But what they wanted to do, was bring to the lives of the people. They wanted you to think but what could happen to me or when did this happen in my hometown? Things like the other one was a bombing. Remind us that this can't happen. Very close to home and we live with fear. We live in Terror because we live in this world that now belongs to the prince of the world and he is destructive. In all of his ways. 2nd Timothy 1:7. Spirit. God gave us does not make us timid but gives us power, love and self-discipline. That's what God wants us to feel. That's what God wants us to know. That's how God wants us to live. That we are powerful. We are loved and through that, we can manifest self-discipline and through the benefits of self-discipline, we fight. Evil, that's out there.

So, how does that all have? Well.

Critical explanation is God has the power to reverse things. Back in medieval times The Alchemist wanted to take base metals and turn them into gold. Is that possible? Wasn't then. Seemed like a good idea but they didn't have the power to make that happen. But God has infinite power and he actually has the ability and the willingness to take the negative things that happened in our lives and tournament Hills. If nothing else. What you experience put you in the position to walk with somebody else, who's going through a similar kind of experience. We're giving good. I'll get all of these negative things. Satan does a great job of reversing things in this world, Romans 1:25 as they exchanged the truth about God, for a lie, And worshiped and served creative things rather than the Creator who is forever. Praise

used to be that people who wanted to steal things from the grocery store, but just take the sticker off one thing and trade it with such a prize. Now we don't date. We have those What are those things are? You know, what they are. I can't think of the name. So they have the name barcodes were plenty of people who did that. Is Satan's gotten to make that his really big thing. It's a straight to stickers. What's important in this world? Got this this and this and this and say, the same unfortunate things.

Johnny 4:44. You belong to your father, the devil and he wanted carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning not holding to the truth. For there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks his native language for. He is a liar and the father of Lies. You look at Joseph story. Saves working. Even in the father, Jacobs heart. Winnie and Tyson's is the gift. Joseph is code to this position of such privilege and arrogance. He's working in the brothers Hearts when they are so tired of this teenage boy, they can't stand to have him around anymore. He's working in the wife of Papa's friends in the heart of the wife of Paul for, as she tries, to entice Joseph and ruin his whole mission in Egypt, what he doesn't even know about yet.

Didn't break, Joseph. Satan didn't break though. So Joseph held on to the truth. Romans 19 verse. Romans, 12 verse 19 says, do not take revenge by dear friends, but leave room for God's Wrath for it is written. It is mine to avenge, I will repay such a lord

Your son's come to you are to me and say you know he hit me. Well why didn't you? Well it's because I took this from him, you know, and and here you're left with nothing but you have it is to disobedient children, neither of them does the right thing. So both of them has to be dealt with in a particular passion, and I think it's the same thing. You got to talkin about here. Stand back and let me view with it, okay? If you're telling me that the first inkling of problem, as a parent, I could have handled that but now both of you are wrong and I think it's the same thing that we do with God. We start trying to handle it, we start playing the payback, we start trying to get even, we start trying to settle it in our terms and God says, and I have to discipline both of you. Do we move back here in 1986? We moved it to her house and for the first few days of The Paperboy for The Daily Oklahoman. What? I'm really sick myself back now, and I would throw a paper into our yard and then about a week later, he was going to come by and try to sign the paper, will the first papers out there. I got to the mailbox to pick up the paper on the way back and I kind of fell into the top right corner of the front page of Daily Oklahoman is my childhood. Bully going into prison And it was so nice.

And I felt so badly about it. It was like, I shouldn't be happy, but I couldn't smile and I'm going Vengeance is mine? I will repay. And it wasn't just what he did to me. It was kind of person. He was and prove that through the rest of his experience and God dealt with that situation. It takes courage to step back and see. Got here to use, please. Please deal with it.

Carolyn, and her friends do so much stuff with fabric fabric. Maybe people have given up on or fabric to people who have passed by ferry to some people with cash. Since they know this anymore, they make these beautiful Clause to make these beautiful quills. And they become literally works of art. By putting together all these pieces and that's what God does, all our weaknesses. And he Fashions is into this beautiful ball and then he makes a larger cloth out of our families and out of our churches. And The closest, perfect. I may even have some stain marks on it, if places, but that's what the God's power is. And he shows it in Joseph and you leaves this powerful example for us. Now, one last point, there's a reason that God brings good. In Romans 12:21 it says do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. God has given us the role of responding to Evil by being good. Now I know you look out there, you see these massive problems problems, the size of a tsunami, and you think what can an individual single person do to really come back or to confront this wave of evil that keeps coming and we Truly find ourselves in places, where maybe we as individuals don't have a lot of chance against the wave. But there are all kinds of Corners at all. Kinds of places. They're all kinds of people who need to believe that there still is some good out there. And when you stand up for that, and when you represent that, when you live that in your life, you're fighting and damaging this powerful evil. Just don't let it over. Come you and fight back. With good. Is that silly story? You heard it many times before, a little boy, who's throwing starfish in the ocean and the guy comes to him, is his son. I know you're trying to save their lives but you'll look at all these Darvish. There's thousands of them on the beach. Going to help them at all. And that's really the way we looked at it. And that's what God has in mind for us. I mean, I'll be able to defeat all this evil is out there, but if one person takes some courage, if my own child, If I own family.

Are motivated to go with a positive direction and be good people. That's just winning in that fine. We can create. An oasis of good. We can create a place not that has no evil trying to attack it or no evil ever worms. Its way inside. We can create these Oasis where the things are good. We're trying to do that with our families and we're trying to do that with our churches. We're trying to create places where people can come and say okay for just a bit here. I can get away from all that ugly stuff and experience, something that's really good and we all have a responsibility to build and to maintain it. Did not destroy that, cuz it goes along.

I will losing an interview this week. It was about to Melinda French Gates and she was talking about her. Leadership style. And she said that when somebody does a job for her, That she needs assessment or refers them to the policy of. If you don't hear anything from you in 48 hours, this is good work. and there were several people that were saying,

It's so much more efficient, they do you.

Hold on to the good. Thanks for all the effort you put in there. Over and over and over. We need people doing that and you would think, you know, if I'm just doing that to my family.

Mass Effect. That's a powerful effect. When you keep reminding people, thank you for the good thing that you did. Thank you for holding that edge. Thank you for standing up. Thank you for, thank you for demonstrating. But good house power. In our lives. We need to hear your good thing. Not lies. Not platitudes, not artificial. True, good. Hippie manifest in the conversations. Any of the relationships we have with each other?

How long did this story take to play out?

Well, we have some numbers in the Bible that give us a pretty clear indication of this. At the time, Joseph says these words, best guess is, he's 56 years old. He was 17 when they sold them into slavery. All of the brothers, except for Benjamin are older than he is. So these men have been wrestling with this evil. For about 40 years. And in scripture, you see that they have guilt and they have complications and they have things are difficult in their lives because they can't get past this

And that Joseph comes all the way through the end of the track, and even after they buried dad, and they're moving on without dad's hand to influence anything, he can still. Look at those. Other guys are safe from harm. You did. God meant it for good. And as a student of the Old Testament, you know, that just the beginning of what happens to God's people. Because of how he intervenes that one time. Would you pray with me, please? Dear God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this busting father. We thank you for the stories from your word. We thank you for the characters who live in face. Father, we know that you are out all-powerful all-knowing. We also know that you promised to use what you bring to us for good and our lives. We know that that's not every single thing that happens to us. But we know that ultimately that is a gold. Also believe that his purpose ultimately becomes the promise of us to live Our Lives episode respond to others and you will be obedient to you in such a way that good can Triumph. We paid it to your precious son.

This morning as is our custom. We extend the invitation Jesus Christ. You need to respond to that invitation. We invite you to do that while we say, dancing the song together.