Setback to Set Up

INTRO

1923, seems like a lifetime ago.

Eric Liddell was fast, he even said, God made me fast.

Had trained for the 440m race. Had the ability to win.

But during the race he was tripped by a Frenchmen and fell behind 20 meters.

It’s over at this point. For most.

He stood up and ran as fast and hard as he could.

He overtook each opponent one by one to come back and win the race.

His speed and style earned him the nickname “Flying Scotsman”

People who saw the moment described it as the greatest comeback and sport moment in history.

That’s exciting, it pumps me up.

it’s also why we often like the books, sports, and movies we do.

We love to see the one not expected, the underdog pull off the impossible.

Even when it’s not our team we mumble, ok that was pretty good...

I think it’s because a comeback story gives us hope.

We understand the first part of these stories.

Where the odds feel stacked against, the setbacks are real, it can feel there is no winning.

Over the next few weeks were going to look at a guy who truly has one of the greatest comeback stories of all times. (other than Jesus!)

Joseph.

he didn’t just experience bad days or a bad year, but decades.

one thought I want you to have today and carry through the entire series is this,

HOW IT LOOKS, ISN’T ALL THERE IS.

Genesis 37:2-4

“This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.”

Joseph, the favorite child.

His dad let everyone know about it.

This family puts the FUNC in dysfunctional.

Joseph has a couple dreams that he shares with his family.

we were gathering grain, my bundle of grain rose up and your grain bundles bowed down to mine.

I saw sun and moon and eleven stars (amount of brothers) was bowing down to me...

Scripture says the brothers hated him all the more!!

Maybe don’t share the dream....

Joseph is on top, the favorite, the loved.

has dreams he will reign.

Jacob, his dad, sends him to go and check on his brothers who are out tending the sheep.

Joseph finally finds them and here is what happens

Genesis 37:18-20

“When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!””

Genesis 37:23-24

“So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.”

Genesis 37:26-27

“Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime. Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed.”

IT’S A SETBACK

I think we can all agree on this.

This isn’t going according to his life plan.

Beat up, stripped off his prized jacket, dumped in a pit, overhears them talking about killing him and selling him.

We will learn through the weeks that this is just the beginnings to setbacks in Jospehs life, yet he kept coming back. Kept rising up.

And Ultimately his dreams come true.

but right now, this is a setback.

Sitting, injured in a pit with an unsure future.

one thing I know, they all look differently, but we all experience pits.

setbacks. knockouts even. feeling like life has stripped us, robbed us.

Knocked down, looking up and saying how did I get here and what now.

many of us today feel like we are in that pit.

If not you will experience it.

the pits in life make you question everything.

The pit will change your entire thoughts and views.

Some of us have been in pits long enough that it’s hard to see anything else, hope for anything, expect that anything could be any better or different.

We’re not told Joseph thoughts or words while in the pit.

But can you imagine??

It’s a Pit Perspective.

In a pit, there are only a couple different views.

looking around and down. (black screen)

Everything is dark.

Or, look up. (show picture)

You can see there is more.

Problem, I can see there is more, there is light, but I don’t know how to get from here to there.

perspective changes everything.

Went to a concert.

So excited about the seats!!

Can’t wait.

The person sits down in front of me and is kined to goliath!

Abnormally tall.

I knew there was music goin on, I could hear it, I knew it was great because people were smiling.

But I was seeing the back of a random persons head!

Sometimes life has you in a bad seat.

Perspective matters.

Perspective doesn’t change reality, but it does change how it’s experienced.

Doesn't change the fact that God is good, that God is for you. that God is working.

But it can change how you see.

There is more than one narrative going on.

There is ours. what we see and experience.

And then there is God’s, his work in the world, his work in and through us.

Our challenge is not just seeing through our eyes, but his.

Colossians 3:2

“Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”

2 Corinthians 4:18

“So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

““My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Romans 8:28

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

IT’S NOT JUST A SETBACK

Again we don’t now what Joseph was thinking while in the pit. But we do know who he was and he know what happened next.

He was a dreamer.

he had the ability to see more.

HOW IT LOOKS ISN’T ALL THERE IS.

It’s bad, but its not the end.

A pit isn’t the promise of God to your life.

but it may be the premise.

It be a moment, a season, the seat we need in order for God to get us to the next.

It may be exactly what God will use to get you where he needs you to be.

There is never too down and out for God.

But we do need to change how we see.

The right perspective can change everything.

Joseph had God dreams, so it may be bad, but it’s not the end!

We’ve experienced the setbacks, it’s time for the comeback.

It may begin with how we perceive the pit.

Let’s check our Pit perspective.

Because it may be a setback, but it can also be a set up for the comeback God is wanting for your life, if we’ll allow him.

Some tips for the pit.

1. SIT IN THE PIT

Anytime life gives us a setback, we want to try and jump back.

Fight, hid, etc. In a pit you just want out right???

but sometimes the best thing to do for a bit is just to sit for a bit.

David also had a pit experience and we do hear his thoughts.

Psalm 40:1-2

“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.”

Wait is active not passive.

Acknowledge the pain, recognize where you are.

You can never get past a pain you've never acknowledged.

Psalm 34:18

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”

The Lord is wanting to get close and we are keeping him at a distance.

The Lord is close! But realizing your brokenness is key to beginning to see God in the pit.

if life has hit you, don’t just move past.

Pain not dealt with kills your perspective to ever see past it. (a bone never set right)

2. LOOK TO GOD

God hasn’t left you. He is with you.

Look for God where you are.

Sometimes we scramble for a way out and forget he is the way.

Where are you looking in the pit?

He’s not just with you, he’s working in you.

Joseph had a great destiny, and in God’s sovereignty, the pit was part of getting him there.

Joseph wound’t have been where God needed him next if it weren’t for the pit.

The pit often represents so much that we think is opposite of how life is supposed to be.

It’s the worst parts of life.

God’s hope for you isn’t to make you happy, but to make you holy.

A gospel of happy isn’t what Jesus came for.

he didn’t come just for us to be happy but for us to become holy reflect his glory.

Holiness is becoming more like him.

Like gold purified.

We like winning gold, but it’s not fun what the gold goes through to become what it is.

1 Peter 1:6-7

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

The very thing we are wanting to avoid may be the thing God is wanting to use.

GOD NEVER ALLOWS PAIN WITHOUT PURPOSE.

God what are you wanting me to learn, how can I grow, God use this.

when we understand this, we go from saying God Why!

To saying God How can you use this for your good and glory.

It’s a moment God is wanting to grow and refine you to set up you for something even greater.

Turn to God not from him.

Trust him anyways, always. Look to him.

C. S. Lewis

“God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.”

3. REMEMBER THE PROMISE

Joseph had a dream. It was a promise from God.

So even though the pit was uncertain and hurt, remembering the promise he knew it wasn’t the end.

Today just remember God’s goodness and his promises.

sometimes i can’t see ahead, but I can remember who is is and what he’s said. and I cling to that.

Remember that a setback is just a setup.

The pit is just a pathway.

CONCLUSION

Joseph is in a pit but he doesn’t stay there, is the setup for an amazing comeback!

Remember Eric Liddell.

We went on to the 1924 olympics and won gold in the 400m, but refused to run in the 100m that he was expected to win because he wouldn’t run on the sabbath and wanted to honor God.

After the Olympics he went to China as a missionary. In 1939 Japan took control of Eastern China and Eric was placed in an Internment camp where he died of a brain tumor in 1945 at the age of 43, never seeing his wife or children again.

Sounds sad, died in the pit.

BUT He had a different pit perspective.

Stories from the camp spoke about the lasting impact he made on everyone in the camp. He spent time with the children bringing the light of Jesus and an infectious joy of God.

He became a father figure and lifeline to many in the camp. And God used him in greater ways then he ever realized in those lives.

His pinnacle wasn’t the race comeback, it wasn’t the gold metal.

It was what most would consider a pit, but he was a glimpse of what God was doing.

Romans 8:18

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”

Response

Baptisms