WEBVTT - Get To The Good Part 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.520 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.560 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:17.239 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message, 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:30.360 and now to the Word of God. Amen. Genesis chapter fifty, 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.519 What are you doing with that organ trying to provoke me? 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:51.800 Genesis chapter fifty, verse nineteen. But Joseph said to them, 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.040 don't be afraid, am I in the place of God. 0:00:56.400 --> 0:01:03.120 You intended to harm me, but God intended it to 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:09.880 accomplish what is now being died, the saving of many lives. 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:14.959 So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.960 and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:27.520 to them. God minute for good. The life of Joseph 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.039 is almost like an entire movie. I could even say 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:35.200 it's like a like a show with seven seasons. It 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:39.399 spans about fourteen chapters in the Book of Genesis. Holly 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:43.119 said one time that she doesn't like sermons about Joseph 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:47.160 because they try to do too much and trying to 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.280 spand that much content there's a lot you have to 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.680 track through with Joseph, all the betrayal, the hurt, the 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:53.840 promise God made him, the process that he went through. 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:57.360 But you're gonna like this one. And the reason that 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:01.360 you didn't like sermons about Joseph before is because they 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.280 didn't tell you the best stuff. So that's what I'm 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.120 gonna I'm not gonna skim it today. I'm gonna say 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:12.360 something that it's really going to reach you. Holly. And So, 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:16.120 someone was saying to me about a TV show that 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:19.880 I would really like a while back, and they said 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.480 it's really good. I said, I watched it. I didn't 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:24.560 like it. They said, how many episodes did you watch? 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:29.360 I said, like three or four? It was boring. And 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:33.640 they said, well, if you can push past the first 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:42.320 two seasons, this is like a military career. I'm not 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:46.200 trying to push through something trying to relax. They're not 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.560 paying me to watch this. I'm paying Netflix to watch this. 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:52.600 Am I'm pushing through. If you can really push through 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.120 the first two seasons, you get to the good part. 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:58.280 I want to talk to you today about get to 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:02.920 the good part. Get to the good part. And I 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.280 want to pray for you, because this is a prophetic 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.040 word for somebody, and I don't know who. So I 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.240 pray Father, in the name of Jesus, that this word 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:16.559 would reach from eternity right into Sunday morning or Tuesday 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:22.360 afternoon or four am on Thursday. I pray that it'll 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:26.240 go right here from South Charlotte, North Carolina, on this 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:31.680 plastic pulpit and penetrate the hearts of those who need 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:36.000 to get to the good part, those who are holding on, 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:41.040 those who are pushing through. I declare today they're going 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:46.680 to get to the good part. In Jesus' name. Amen, 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:53.920 you may be seated. Yeah, because I was kind of like, 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:58.480 if you have to watch two seasons for the show 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:02.960 to get interesting, is it really good? At that point? 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.640 You violate my definition of a good show if it 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:10.880 took two seasons. If I have to invest twenty hours 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:12.960 of my life, you know how many songs I can 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.599 write in twenty hours while I'm pushing through to like 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:21.400 your stupid show just kind of tick me on made 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.800 me mad while we're at it. Not only do I 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.160 not like thumbs up emojis, I prefer fist bump. And 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:29.720 not only do I not want to push through a 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:31.479 show that I'm supposed to be enjoying. Not only do 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.600 I want to not want to endure something that's supposed 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.000 to be meant for my entertainment I'm paying a subscription for. 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:42.400 I don't even really like the word good because it's 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:50.520 kind of common. Like I played a song for somebody 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:54.000 one time that I had just written, and I came 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:56.760 out of a songwriting season. I'm still in a songwriting 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:58.640 season right now, so just put up with me if 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:00.680 I use analogies that are relevant to my life. I 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:05.200 played them a song, they said, that's good. I'm like, 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:10.279 I don't want good. I want goosebumps, like I want 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.320 you to make noises and stuff that aren't even worse, 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:16.800 like oh yeah, oh, I just I don't want that's good. 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:19.760 In fact, I don't I don't even I don't even 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.800 want you to use that word at all, Like, oh man, 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.200 that that sermon was? That was? That was good. One 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:29.240 time somebody was preaching back to me while I was 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.960 preaching and I said something. They said that's good, and 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.440 I was like, no, it's life changing because I had 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:37.279 studied it so much. It was like in my bones, 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:39.080 not that I was so smart, just to me the 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:41.040 way I saw it in the Bible, it was so amazing, 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.000 and like, that's that's a word. I like amazing. Everybody 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.719 say amazing. Put it in the chat with all caps 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:50.679 and seventeen exclamation points. Amazing. Put all the exclamation points 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.240 after it. That's amazing. You know, That's what I want 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.000 Holly to tell me when I give her a gift. 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:56.520 I don't want her to be like, oh, this is good. 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:02.360 I want it to be terrific. Yeah. I wrote down 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:04.039 actually a list of words I didn't even look at 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:13.799 the source that are better than good, great, awesome, terrific, wonderful, incredible, stupendous. 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:19.480 Somebody say stupendous, yeah, I'll think stupendous, mind blowing hyphenated 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:23.360 words still a word. Ridiculous. You could tell me that's ridiculous. 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:27.839 Oh that was ridiculous. That song was ridiculous. But good, 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.200 I don't like good. You can say it was sick. 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.400 You can say it was glorious. You can say it 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.280 was excellent, you can say it was outstanding. You can 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.080 say that was crazy, you can say that was insane. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:45.080 In fact, I would rather don't even use an adjective, 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:51.320 use a superlative. That was the best ever since time began. 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.080 There's never been a better one, and there never will be, 0:06:55.720 --> 0:07:00.720 you know what I'm saying. I was kind of mad 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:05.600 because Joseph gets kind of toward the end of this 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.880 little journey full of so many twist and turns, ups 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:13.360 and downs, and he says to his brothers, God minute 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:19.800 for good, after all he went through, and just to 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.560 use such a twenty five cent word on such an 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:28.040 expensive experience it cost him is freedom. That cost him 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.080 the better part of his life. And then the only 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:31.520 thing he can think to say about it at the 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:37.400 end is it was good. It was good. Take you 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:41.040 on a big vacation. How'd you like it? It It was good? Good. 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.080 Now I want to see you freak out if I 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.880 really do something that I put my heart into, or 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:49.960 I just might not do it again. You know, it 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.280 was just good. It pretty good. I guess it depens 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.440 on how you say it. You know, Ah, it's good, 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.000 it's good, It's good. I guess it's all in the end, 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.559 and you're like, why are you taking so much time 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:05.440 to waste? We feel kind of like the show you 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.520 were talking about where you hurry up and get to 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:12.440 the good part. I am at the good part because 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:16.640 the very last thing that we really hear Joseph say 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.640 is one of the very first things that we see 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:26.720 God think. Can I show you somebody say, this is good, 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:28.840 this is good, this is getting good. It's getting good. 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:30.520 I wasn't so sure when he started, but it's getting 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.679 good now. Now go to Genesis chapter one. And this 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.760 is why you didn't like stories about Joseph, because they 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.760 started in Genesis thirty seven when we started reading about Joseph. 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:44.360 But Joseph's story didn't start in Genesis thirty seven. It 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.000 started in Genesis one. And can I tell you that 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.800 your story didn't start. Everybody shout your birth year outlaw, 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:51.199 what's your birth year? What's your birth year? Put it 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:52.840 in the chat. Put it in the chat. Put it 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.240 in the chat. So we all are lying God forgive them. 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.240 It didn't start then it started in Genesis one. Read 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.800 this in the again. And God created the heavens and 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:06.480 the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, and 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:08.600 darkness was over the surface of the deep and the 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.319 Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.319 let there be light. And there was light. And God 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:18.760 saw that the light was, and he separated the light 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:22.920 from the darkness. God saw that the light was good. 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:29.760 Joseph is standing in a moment that he never really 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:35.080 could have anticipated. He just found out that his father died. 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.920 He's weeping over the loss of Jacob after burying him. 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.839 His brothers are very concerned that now Joseph is going 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:48.839 to pay them back. They didn't need to be. After 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.560 the process that Joseph had gone through. Joseph wasn't so 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:57.800 concerned about what his brothers thought or what his brothers did. Remember, 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:02.559 he had this understanding that God meant it for good. 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.040 So now with all of his brothers surrounding him, falling 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:10.880 down at his feet and saying, don't hurt us, We'll 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.520 be your slaves. The last thing Dad said, this is 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:15.880 what he told them. The last thing Dad said is 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:20.120 be nice to your brothers. They're still lying. After all 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.560 their lives, they haven't stopped lying. They've come to Egypt 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.560 because well there's a famine where they're from. And God 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.000 positioned Joseph in Egypt so he could take care of 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:30.839 the very ones who betrayed him, which is why I 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:34.480 ended up there to begin with. Anyway, this is the 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.920 good part that we love to preach where it says 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:44.760 you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:50.439 So isn't it crazy that the last thing we see 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:56.360 in the last chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:01.280 is the same thing we saw in the first chapter 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:08.000 of the Book of Genesis. In the last chapter of Genesis, 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:14.360 Joseph says it was good. In the first chapter of Genesis, 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:20.960 God says it was good. And what's really beautiful about it, 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.880 if you want to study it, is that God's plan 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:31.160 all through the process, never stopped being good. It never 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.600 stopped being good. It never stopped out. I wonder, can 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.080 you just say that by faith it never stopped being good. 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.880 He never stopped being good. So when we get into 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:48.319 the concept of was it good, a lot of times 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.920 that depends on how last week I preached on what 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:55.600 you call small. Remember, please pretend like you remember that 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.480 made me really sad. If you didn't, Yeah, I said 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:00.400 what you call small. God often sees it big. And 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.680 what you see is big, like an impossible thing. God's like, 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.160 oh boop. The little devils that you stress about all 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:07.480 day long, and the things you can't get over. The 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.120 hypothetical hurdles that you make up in your mind because 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:10.360 you can't figure out how you're gonna get from here 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.600 to there. But God already knows. Boop. Come on, let's 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.400 make a sound effect. Praise right now. Boop. That's how 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:18.480 big it is to God. That's how big it is 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:20.520 to God. With a flick of his finger, with a 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.319 word from his mouth, with a breath from his nostril, 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.079 his hand is as short. Ya. Don't make me preach 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:33.960 us the introduction. But in the same way, we have 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:38.320 this tendency to get confused about what God calls small 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.560 we call big like our character that's big to God 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.800 as small to some of us. We'll compromise our character 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:49.040 to get clout. God says, I'll make your name great. 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:50.640 You don't have to take any of your clothes off. 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:59.040 On TikTok. Who am I preaching to? Like this? And 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:01.880 in the same way that we he can confuse what 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.120 God calls small with what we call big, and what 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:09.440 we call big and God calls small. The prophet Isaiah says, 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.000 we have this problem, and I want to give you 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:15.400 this verse. It's very powerful. In Isaiah five, verse twenty, 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.600 Let's call on the prophet he said, woe to those 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:27.120 who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:30.480 for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.360 sweet and sweet for bitter. What's he talking about here? 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:40.959 I think you know exactly what he's talking about. I 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:46.640 think you've experienced it, probably even in church, where people 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:53.520 can sometimes even use religion as a cover up for prejudice. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:01.040 That's what Isaiah's talking about. When you call evil good 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.360 and good evil. Christians can be some of the most 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:10.079 close minded, hateful people. And I love us. I have 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:14.760 no choice. I'm stuck with us. I decided to follow Jesus, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:16.960 no turning back. But I didn't know all these fools 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.280 were going to be doing it with me. And see 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:21.880 it's in my own heart. No no, no, no, no, no 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.360 no no. Before you start shouting about other people, I'm 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:28.040 really talking about you, because sometimes you use your relationship 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:30.440 with God as an excuse to be close minded and 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:36.040 not get another perspective. God said it, God, believe it. 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:43.000 That settles it. Is this stances awkward for you, it's 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:47.080 awkward for me. You know I'm standing on the word 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:53.920 of God. No you're not. You're stuck in tradition and 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.600 people will use the message of the Bible is an 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:01.000 excuse to be me corny joke. I didn't tell you 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:02.560 this one yet. This woman went to church. She hadn't 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:04.200 been in a long time. She didn't have any nice clothes, 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:05.960 so she was wearing clothes that was inappropriate to go 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:07.840 to church. So when she got there, the preacher talked 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:09.160 to her afterwards. He was like, hey, you need to 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:10.840 wear something different when you come to church next week. 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:12.640 That is inappropriate. So you know, you just might want 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:14.440 to put something different on. Ask God what he wants 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:15.760 you to wear next week. She came back next week 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:21.920 wearing the exact same thing. Said preacher said. She uh, so, 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:23.320 I've said hear me the first time he met her 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.400 at the door, he said, I thought, I told you 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:26.960 before you come back to sweet asked God what you 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:28.080 should wear the church, and I want you to go 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:29.560 home before you come back next week, ask what you 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:31.200 wear church. She comes back in the same thing. That's 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:35.760 all she had. She had a rough life. She she 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:38.040 didn't have she didn't know what to wear to church. 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:39.920 She hadn't been to church in a long time. She 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:41.880 came back to the third week wearing the same stuff. 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.920 The preacher was mad this time because the deacons were 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:46.560 mad at him, so he was mad at the lady. 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.160 It was a whole shine of condemnation that was going 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:53.360 on in this little fictitious church. And he looked at 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.160 her and said, I thought I told you to ask 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.840 God what to wear before you came back to this church. 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.360 She said, I did, he said, And what did God say? 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:06.360 He said? She said, he said he didn't know what 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:10.840 I should wear to this church because he never been here. 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.040 Have I ever told you that one? That's a classic, 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:21.880 That's a classic. How many of you knew the punchline 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.480 before I said it? And you're waiting for me to 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.840 get to the good part? Right? Tell him, pastor tell him, 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.560 tell him. We are not being you know, it's so 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:38.440 amazing church people. So what we do is we substitute 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:48.840 judgment and call it holiness. We call evil good, and 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:56.160 evil is only what others are doing. The decibel levels 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.680 are going down as I get more personal. Come on, 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.080 give to the good part. This is the good part. 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:04.560 This is a good part of a sermon where it 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:09.639 challenges your assumptions that are keeping you from accessing the 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:18.560 blessing of God. Let me tell you another thing. The 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.200 Pharisees in the Bible, they were the religious ruling party 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:22.800 of Jesus's day, and they would come up to him 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.520 to test him. So one time they came up to him, 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.120 and the man didn't have good motives. He said, Jesus, 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:32.679 he called him good teacher, good teacher, sucking up, you know. 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.719 But really he was trying to catch Jesus in a contradiction. 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.399 So it's a bad idea. But he didn't know yet 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.040 that Jesus was the word made flesh dwell among us. 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:44.000 He didn't know that. So I said, good teacher, jesaid, 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:45.600 why do you call me good? Only one is good. 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:51.280 That's God. That verse spoke to me this week. See, 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.120 I don't know if I can call myself a good man. 0:17:55.920 --> 0:18:01.560 I want to be. I try to be real, I 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:08.280 aspire to be. Holly says that I am. I got 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:14.480 some dark parts, though all I can see is your 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:19.240 halo right now. I can't tell if you're sympathetic, you're 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:32.800 judging me. Every good man has dark parts. There is 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:41.119 a part of every person that is really dark. Different 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:43.520 things bring it out of us in different times. Some 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:54.360 people's dark is more socially acceptable than others. And if 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.520 the people around you haven't seen your dark part. They 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:05.200 haven't got close enough yet. Even Joseph, who is held 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.840 up rightly as a hero kind of an example of 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:12.080 how to deal with life's disappointments, setbacks, and let's be honest, man, 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:16.560 he went through rape charges, he went through false imprisonment 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:20.280 because of those charges. He went with being forgotten by 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.159 the people that he helped, like all the things that 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.720 we deal with just times one hundred, we deal with 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:28.600 little versions of these overlooks and these offenses. Well he 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.720 dealt with them, you know, on the grandest, most epic scale, 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:37.760 and he was able to say something so powerful. God 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:44.760 intended it for good. And if you only read that, 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.359 and I think this is why that you don't like 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.280 the sermons about Joseph, because in our effort to just 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:53.320 skip to that and to make it all good, you know, 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.920 these little things it's all good. Romans eight twenty eight, 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.680 it's all good. Romans eight twenty eight. Doesn't say it's 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:01.679 all good. You remember when you were working on that sermon. 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:03.800 Tim Farrell was working on a sermon. One time. We're 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:05.440 in a meeting and he goes, I want to preach 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:07.800 a sermon at the rock Hill Campus called It's All 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:11.520 Good Romans eight twenty eight. All things work together for good. 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:14.520 I'm like Timmy, I love you. You can't preach that. 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.560 That's not what Paul said. He didn't say all things 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:22.840 are good. Right. You got people out there who have 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:27.640 been molested. You want to preach us all good. You've 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:29.399 got people out there who can't pay their bills. You 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:31.800 want to preach us all good. And I wasn't mad 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:33.960 at him. We were just studying the text together. This 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.080 is how I show love. Get it, I get in there. Yeah, 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:39.480 this is how I show love. I said, it's not 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:42.399 all good. If you want to preach that passage, you 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:48.119 can preach it's going to be good. And this is 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.760 what I want to preach to you about today. I 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:56.280 want to preach to you about how to get to 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:02.320 the good part. But I want to warn you you 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.119 can't get to the good part if you're not willing 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:12.720 to go through the dark part. There is a dark 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:18.000 part in every person. Even Joseph, when confronted by his brothers, 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:22.160 was tempted. You hear me, This great hero was tempted 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:25.240 to make them pay. And nobody probably put that part 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:27.760 in the sermons that Holly heard about Joseph. Where Joseph 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:30.000 was tricking them and putting the cup in the bag 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:32.359 and hiding the cup in the bag and trying to accuse, 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:36.040 he still couldn't decide what he wanted to do. Like 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:38.560 you right now, you're trying to decide how do I 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:44.240 respond to this? How do I respond to something that 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:49.600 wasn't good? That God let in my life wasn't good. 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:53.480 How my dad died it wasn't good. How your dad 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:57.560 walked out. That wasn't good. So we can't preach it's 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:02.879 all good. Because before Joseph could get this is what 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.640 blew my mind to the good part, where he could say, 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:10.000 I will provide for your family. You see how selfless 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:15.080 that sounds, how responsible, how mature. I'll take care of you. 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.200 Don't worry about it. It's all good. But before he 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.200 could get to the good, he had to go through 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:26.719 the dark. And so do you, and so do I, 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:33.320 so do I. I have to realize that my first 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:40.199 reaction is not always coming from my realist self. I 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:45.080 am teaching better than they are shouting. Now, kid going, 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:48.320 I'll move you down to the front row. So people 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:50.960 will say this, they'll just go off right, they'll just 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:53.920 go off, cuss people out, flip people off, turn stuff over, 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:56.359 wreck their life, all this stuff, and say, I'm just 0:22:56.480 --> 0:23:03.520 keeping it real. No, that's just your reaction. That's just 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:09.560 you letting the dark part run the show. But greater 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:12.719 is he that is in you, that he that is 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:17.480 in the world that verses about Jesus. And he's in 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:20.920 me too. But in order to get to that part, 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:23.399 you know, the part of you that's wise and kind 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:25.840 and good and yeah, and I don't have to say 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:28.639 anything back, and I'm focused. I'm good the good part. 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:34.320 Sometimes to get to that good part, you got to 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:40.800 keep your mouth shut through the dark part. We don't 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:44.119 know what to do with the dark part, so we 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:46.400 never get to the good part. So I say, get 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:49.320 to the good part. You'll never get to the good 0:23:49.320 --> 0:23:50.679 part if you don't learn how to deal with the 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:57.439 dark part. So I guess they're right. You have to 0:23:57.440 --> 0:23:59.520 make it through a few seasons before it gets good. 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:01.960 I guess they're right. You got to get through a 0:24:01.960 --> 0:24:03.840 few seasons. You got to get through some confusion, you 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:05.960 got to get through some things. You gotta put it 0:24:05.960 --> 0:24:11.440 in perspective. After all, by the time Joseph said this verse, 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:13.360 and I promise you, so many of you are new 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:15.240 to church, and I want you to know, you will 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:19.000 hear this verse preached again. It is so popular, you 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:21.760 will hear this verse preached out of context. Like Joseph 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:24.359 just said it when he woke up one morning. Will 0:24:24.400 --> 0:24:29.720 you went freevile? Don't for good? Without the setup, that 0:24:29.760 --> 0:24:37.040 punchline is empty. It has been years since Joseph's brothers 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:40.359 came back. He's had years to look back on it. 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:43.480 He's had time to reflect on what it is that 0:24:43.520 --> 0:24:46.240 God was doing. And our problem is sometimes we just 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:50.800 want to spoon feed people these sugar coated answers. There's 0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:55.000 a reason for everything. That's not always your job to 0:24:55.080 --> 0:25:00.639 remind somebody of that. You know, I went off on 0:25:00.680 --> 0:25:02.560 somebody one time. There's a reason. Well tell me what 0:25:02.600 --> 0:25:11.240 it is. Since your God, what is it? Joseph said, 0:25:11.560 --> 0:25:15.800 I'm not in the place of God, But yet he 0:25:15.840 --> 0:25:22.280 acted like him because he saw what was good through 0:25:22.280 --> 0:25:29.400 what was dark. Isn't that what God did in Genesis? 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:43.199 I never realized that Genesis fifty twenty was just the 0:25:43.200 --> 0:25:50.119 continuation of Genesis four. Light was the first thing, you know, 0:25:50.160 --> 0:25:53.520 the seven Days of creation. God made the light, and 0:25:53.520 --> 0:25:55.440 then he made the atmosphere or the firmament, and i'd 0:25:55.480 --> 0:26:00.399 quote all seven, but we don't have time. I'll get 0:26:00.440 --> 0:26:02.879 him out of order. But there's all this stuff, you know, 0:26:02.920 --> 0:26:05.600 this is really good in the dry ground, in the plants, 0:26:05.640 --> 0:26:08.320 and then the sun. And he made the light before 0:26:08.400 --> 0:26:09.959 he made the sun, which I can't figure out other 0:26:10.000 --> 0:26:14.800