We've been entering a study on the life of Joseph. There's two purposes of this study. The first is I want to balance sovereignty and duty. I don't know if you ever noticed on the business card that I do have and pass out from time to time, there's a scale on the front of the business card. In one dish we have sovereignty, in the other dish we have duty. There is a balance. Sometimes we get out of whack. It's possible where we put everything in God's hands, and we lay back and just see him take care of everything which is wrong. And sometimes we blame sin on him, which is wrong. And there's other times where we think everything depends on us, and that's equally wrong. Getting that balancing act is a fine tightrope, and I hope that we can understand that balancing act through the life of Joseph. But we also want to look at Joseph from a standpoint of just very practical. Today will be probably one of the most practical lessons you can probably get, and it's how we work. I want to make no bones about it. There's some in here that I'll say, well, thank God Brother Dowell's preaching on that because I'm retired and that doesn't apply to me. And the answer is wrong, because if you're young, your job could be a student. If you are in the workforce, this will be very much prevalent to you. If you're a part-time worker, that's fine. If you're a substitute teacher, you still have a job. a duty to do. If you are retired, you have a job to do in the church. God says that when Jesus was on the cross, he said it is finished talking about a sacrifice. But in the New Testament, he never said it is finished in the building of the church. So we've got some work to do. And this applies to us as church members. So with that being said, we got a bigger picture to look at. And ultimately, this lesson will point to the church. And one day, Lord willing, I hope we get there. Okay. So with that being said, of the big picture of the message or the series, let's take a couple minutes and talk about last Sunday. Last Sunday, we looked at Joseph's life from the beginning, and we noticed that he came from a very dysfunctional family. We looked at him from about age zero to age 10, and we noticed all the craziness that went on. His dad had four wives, there was a lot of politics, there was a lot of bickering, there was a lot of fussing going on, there was a lot of negotiation, there was a lot of favoritism. I mean, you name it, Hollywood wrote a movie on it, it probably wouldn't believe it, it was that bad. and we looked at his dysfunctional family, and then what happened is at age 10, somewhere around there, it could have been nine or 11, I'm guessing it's about age 10. At age 10, Joseph's mother died, Rachel died in childbirth as she was giving birth to Benjamin. So we have these four dysfunctional families, when I say that, by four different wives, and we got Jacob that's not exactly exuding the best paternal instincts or discipline, And all of a sudden, the one house loses its mother, and that's Joseph. So age 10 to age 17, Joseph is raised without a mother. The nanny has been... disgraced, I guess is the best way to put it. So that made there was a problem there, and there's still all the emotional and drama still going on. And then we start, and this is what we're gonna pick up today when Joseph is 17. And last week I made the point that if anyone ever had the right to play the victim card, it would have been Joseph. But we never see him play that card. So we're gonna see him in two jobs that he's gonna get. Okay, and in these two jobs He is going to be terribly mistreated Yet we're gonna focus on his work ethic and he is going to be the most incredible employee or the most incredible servant that you've ever seen and if he had a right to mope and to grope about his circumstances. Man, I can't believe they gave that promotion to that guy. I should have got it. I'm going to show them. And you get mad and have a little attitude on the job. Or I can't believe that was my great idea, and this guy over here got credit for it. And I can't believe they gave him the raise and not me. And I'm going to show him. I'm going to mope and grope. OK? These are minor compared to what happened to Joseph and Joseph's life. And even still, he's gonna continue to show an incredible work ethic where he just continues to do it. You're thinking, how can he possibly do that? Well, there's only one way you can do it. As you just think, no matter how big of a knucklehead my boss is, if you just say my ultimate boss is God, then you can do it. I am going to work this job as if God is my boss, and I'm gonna work this job as if he is my master, and I'm going to continue to serve him, even though the guy he's got in the place in between he and I is giving me a hard time, okay? So with that being said, let's dive into scripture. We're gonna start reading here at Genesis 37, and we're gonna see the first dastardly deed that's gonna be put on Joseph, okay? These are stories that are, should be pretty familiar to you. I think most people have heard of this account. I'm not going to spend a lot of time in the details of the account, but I want to talk and try to really These are just not stories. These are true records of people that lived a couple thousand years ago, but at the same time, I would like to try to put it in a perspective that even Josiah, when he's told to clean up his room, can say, am I doing this to God's glory? When you are in your second grade class and the teacher tells you to do something, can I do this in a way that glorifies God? Okay, so that's what we're at. Genesis 37. So Genesis 37, there's 10 boys. Joseph is number 11. He's about 17 years old. He's got son number 12, seventh, who's about seven years old. 12th son, seven years old. So there's probably not a lot of competition here yet, but this 17-year-old is just enough to irritate these 10 older brothers. And his brethren, this is Joseph's older brethren, went to feed their father's flock and check him. This is Genesis 37, starting at verse 13 now. And Israel, that's Jacob, said unto Joseph, Do not thy brother feed the flock and shechem? Come, and I will send thee unto him. And he said, Here am I. And he said to him, this is Jacob saying to Joseph, go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. And a certain man found him, that's Joseph, and behold, Joseph was wandering in the field, and the man said to him, What seekest thou? Evidently, this 17-year-old boy was wandering around and this stranger looked and says, that 17-year-old boy looks like he's lost. And he says, what are you looking for, boy? Verse 16, and Joseph said, I seek my brethren. Tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. And this is the man, the stranger, said, they are departed hence. They were here a little while ago, a few days ago, but they've taken off. For I heard them say, let's go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. The stranger was pretty nice to Joseph, okay? So verse 18, and when they saw him afar off, this is the 10 brethren looking off and they're seeing him on the horizon. This is kind of like the prodigal son's father. He's on the porch and on the horizon he sees his son coming back. Well this is a whole different scenario. Here's the 10 boys and they look up and they says, oh no, here's that 17 year old punk brother of ours with that crazy coat on. Here he comes. Here comes the tattletale, right? That's what we found out. Even before they came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. Wow. Again, this is the life of Joseph. We're gonna look at a 17 year old boy that's gonna have some terrible things done to him. and he's gonna work, and he's gonna work tremendously with tremendous faithfulness to God, with a tremendous integrity, with tremendous work ethic, and just try to be halfway in this position of how royal he got a bad deal. 10 older brethren see you coming, and they say, we wanna kill you. It was those 10 enemies, but these aren't, well, they are enemies, but they're his blood enemies. They're brothers. Verse 19, and they said one to another, behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, let us slay him and cast him in some pit, and we will say some evil beast hath devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams. And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and he said, let us not kill him. And it came to pass when Joseph was come to his brethren that they stripped Joseph out, Joseph out of his coat and his coat of many colors that was upon him. And they took him and cast him in a pit and the pit was empty and there was no water in it. Get the scene a little bit. So here comes Joseph and they wanted to kill him. And the oldest brother, Reuben, says, no, don't kill him. Don't kill him. He says, I know, just throw him in this pit for a while and when my nine little brothers are not looking anymore, I'll sneak him out and I'll get him back to dad. And somehow he talked his younger brothers into not killing him, but they chunked him in the pit anyway. So here he is, stuck in a pit, thrown there by his 10 brothers. Now try to be that 17 year old boy. Do you think you were crushed a little bit? Do you think you were angry a little bit? Is it just disbelief? I can't believe my brothers are throwing me down in this pit. I know, I'll get them back. You think that's what he was thinking? Maybe for a second, I don't know what he was thinking. Verse 25, this is the wildest thing. The 10 brothers just chunked their brother in a hole, and their little brother, the 11th brother, the 17 year old is down in the pit, And they said, you know what, I'm hungry, let's have a picnic. And I don't know if they're sitting there and their feet are dangling in the pit and they're looking down at the brothers, they're eating their sandwiches. I don't know, I try to figure out what's going on. But they have a meal. And they don't even toss down a chunk of bread to them. How cold must a situation be for brothers to do that to a brother, let alone a human to another human? But that's what they did. And Joseph's on the receiving end of this. Verse 25, and they sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked. And behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and mirth going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah, this is brother number four, said to his brethren, what profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother in our flesh. And his brethren were content. Oh, good old Judah, didn't he have a soft spot in his heart? He said, well, he is our brother after all, let's not kill him. I know, let's sell him into slavery. Hmm, let's sell them into slavery. And they're just at the top of the pit eating their lunch, looking down, Joseph's hearing all this. What must be going through Joseph, the bitterness that must be building up? But there was no bitterness. We're gonna look at him and we're gonna see him, well, let's keep on going with the account. Verse 27, come and let us sell them to the Ishmaelites, and they did, verse 28. Then they were passed by the Midianite merchant men, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph to Egypt. 20 pieces of silver, that's pretty nice, two pieces of each. Right, 10 older brothers, each older brother gets two pieces of silver. I don't know, do you think it was fun spending those two pieces of silver? Do you think if they went out and had a nice meal, do you think they enjoyed it? A bottle of wine, do you think they enjoyed the bottle of wine? That two pieces of silver? Do you think they saved it, and they put it under their pillow every time they looked at it, see those two pieces of silver? He says, boy, that's good, I'm gonna save that for a rainy day. What do you think's going through the 10 brothers? And then what do you think with Joseph's, when finally they threw him down a rope and they pulled him out, and he says, oh, finally my brothers are gonna pull me out. And he says, okay, here, and they sold him into slavery. Just what was going through Joseph's head? And then he looks, and he sees the exchange, and he says, okay, here's your brother. And they see the 20 pieces of silver going to the brother, and he's putting them in there. He says, here's two for you, and two for you, and two for you, and two for you. And then they start carrying them away. What must have been going through Joseph's mind as they were carrying them away? Just give me a chance to get even. No, that's not what he was saying. That's what I would say, because I got too much flesh in me. But Joseph said, I just, Joseph is incredible in this regard, okay? Verse 28, and then the Midianite merchant men, and they drew and lifted him out, and they gave him the 20 pieces of silver. Verse 29, and Reuben returned out of the pit unto the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit. and he rent his clothes, and he returned to his brother, and he said, the child is not. Oh, look at that word. The child is not. It's a 17-year-old boy. In our culture, we think 17-year-olds are grown up. Scripture's calling them a child. 17-year-old is a child. Where's the child? Where's the 17-year-old little boy? I mean, he isn't even shaven yet. He still has pimples, right? That's a young kid, where is he? What did you do with this child? Well, Reuben, here's your two pieces of silver. Do you think Reuben was jumping for joy? No, he wasn't. And he returned unto his brother, and the child is not, and he said, whither shall I go? Verse 31. And they took Joseph's coat, and killed the kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in blood. Here's the cover up. And they sent the coat of many clothers and they brought it to their father and said, this have we found, now know whether it be thy son's coat or not. Look at this scam, right? The 10 brothers take this coat off their brother. and they hit it and probably smudged a little dirt in it, and they killed an animal, and they put some blood on there, and then they took the coat back, and it's all dirty, and it's all grimy, and it's got some blood on it, and they go to their dad Jacob, and Jacob, we found this coat. Do you recognize it? What about lies upon lies upon lies? And Jacob takes one look at it, and he says he knew it, verse 33, and said, it is my son's coat. He didn't say it is your brother's coat. He said it is my son's coat. It's part of the problem. An evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent into pieces and Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many days. Look at verse 35. Here's some more lies upon lies. And all his sons and his daughters rose up to comfort him. Here's a man that's mourning because his son is dead. These sons know his son is not dead, and they're trying to comfort him nonetheless. Lies upon lies. How do you comfort a man that's believing a lie, and the lie is the one you told, and you know you could do it? If you really know Joseph is really not dead, we sold him into slavery. That would comfort him. Well, maybe it'd comfort him a little bit, but comfort him from the morning. To know he had 10 despicable sons, that wouldn't be much comfort at all, right? But this is all the stuff going on. But the thing is, this has been going on for 17 years in Joseph's life. He's been dealing with this mess all his life. This is just the culmination of it. So Joseph is gonna get picked up and he's gonna get transplanted, and he's gonna get resold. He's gonna put it on an auction block, and someone's gonna buy him, and someone's gonna make him a slave, and all this bad stuff has happened to him. And he's gonna be the model employee. Man, I just don't get it. But you know what, I need to try. Because I don't have nearly that bad. And whether I'm working for a school or a railroad or a bank, what excuse do I have of not doing my absolute best? I don't have any excuse, okay? And we're gonna find out why in just a second. And verse 36, and the minute I sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of pharaohs, the captain of the guard. So let's go, and we're gonna skip 38. 38 is not about Joseph, so we'll pick up with Joseph again in chapter 39. 39 in verse one, let's keep going. I gotta stay on time, because I wanna wrap this thing up. Genesis 39, verse one. And Joseph went down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, brought him into the hands of the Ishmaelites and had brought him down thither. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did prosper in his hands. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him and made him overseer of his house and all that he had put into his hands. And it came to pass that in time that he had made him overseer in the house and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake, and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. Joseph was a steward. He started off as a slave boy. In a few short years, he became The head man, the only one that was above him was Potiphar, but he was over everything. He was over all the people, he was over all the slaves, he was over all the assets, he was over all the livestock, he was over all the seed, he was over all the land, land management, everything he did. And he was a great employee. He was an entrusted employee. He was a model employee. He was a profitable employee. And God continued to bless him. That's why he said, balancing sovereignty and duty. Because in a little while, we're gonna compare the duty here, and we're gonna compare it to Jacob. God blesses what he does, amen? That's sovereignty, but he's a good worker. William blessed a slouch. The answer is no, there's too much scripture that says no. It's both, there's a balancing act. It takes both. Verse six, and he left all that he had in Joseph's hand and he knew not what he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. Man, oh man, can you imagine having an employee, a slave boy that in a couple years you trust so well that you give him everything and you don't even look at the books? You don't even check him out every once in a while? That's how good of an employee he was. Now, Joseph, in the American way of thinking, should have had the hugest chip on his shoulder. And he should have just struck back at everyone, but he didn't. He continued to work. and he's gonna get tempted, and we're gonna see the temptation here in just a second. Man, oh man, look at the words that come out of Joseph's mouth, okay? Genesis 39, let's keep on going, I'm skipping down to verse 13 now. And it came to pass, this is Potiphar's wife, when she saw, did I go too far? No, okay, when he saw that he left his garment in his hand, he was fled. In other words, what happened was, Joseph's the main man, he's in charge of everything. Chief accountant, chief steward, chief everything. And Potiphar's wife looked at him and said, wow, that's a good looking slave boy. I want him. And she tried to seduce him many times. And there's this one time where Joseph came in the house and she reached out and she went and grabbed his clothes and she says, I want you. And Joseph ran, Joseph ran. Verse 13, and when she saw that she had left his garment in her hand, she was fled forth, and she called all the men to her house, and she spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought an Egyptian to mock us, and he came in, and he went to lie with me, total lie, and I cried with a loud voice, and it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted my voice, and I cried, that he left his garment with me, and he fled, and he got him out, and she laid up his garment by her, and she said this, and she told her husband, when the husband came home, the husband said, what did this guy do? and he threw him in jail. Now stay with me. The only thing worse than being sold into slavery by your brothers is to be made a prisoner. At least as a slave you got a little bit of freedom, but here he's gonna be bound in jail. So he had this terrible misdeed done to him This terrible, he was lied, he was falsely accused. Terrible evidence was put forth. He was convicted, he was sentenced. He's in jail and he's bound in jail. Surely now if anyone ever had a chance to play a victim card, it would have been Joseph. But guess what Joseph does in jail? He becomes the model inmate. He becomes the worker that's entrusted everything within the jail. I'm gonna skip this, because I wanna get to the conclusion. You can read all this in Genesis 37 to 39, okay? Genesis 39 and verse 19. And it came to pass, when the master heard his wife's words and spake unto him, after what manner of the servant? And his wrath was kindled, this is Potiphar. And Joseph's master looked upon him and put him in prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound. So not only was he just thrown in prison, he was bound. And he was there in prison. Verse 21, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper, sovereignty and duty. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. And the keeper of the prison did not look to anything that was under his hand, because the Lord was with him, that which he did, the Lord made it prosper. So even in jail, he was a good employee. Now this is where it gets all wrapped up together. Maybe your company got downsized. Maybe it got bought out. Maybe it got fired. Maybe you got laid off because of a bad economy and you had to look for another job. Maybe you were a good worker and they hired you just because you had more seniority and they paid you more than the other guys that were younger that got better pay or lower pay but they were worse employees. We can go through all the scenarios of how we've been wronged. But Joseph was wronged worse than we can ever imagine. And in that getting wrong, he was still a great worker. He was still a fantastic worker. I can't believe mom's making me clean my room. I keep my room pretty clean. My brother's room is really sloppy. That's not fair. I know that's a silly example, but don't we think like that? We never look vertically, we're always looking horizontally at other people. That's not the way God would have us be. Okay? What I'd like to do now is take a step out of Joseph's life and go to the rest of scripture. I'm gonna jump to the New Testament. The New Testament has a lot to say about how we work, okay? Let me give you four verses here in the New Testament. How do we conduct ourselves as workers? And it doesn't matter if you're an employee. It doesn't matter if you are a slave. God is going to treat you the same. Look at the language. Look what it says here in Colossians 4, in verse 22 through 24. Servants. Obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men-pleasers, but in signalness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, not unto men, knowing that the Lord of the Lord you shall receive the reward of your inheritance. Ye serve the Lord Jesus Christ. So Joseph, when he was working for Potter, he was not working for Potiphar, he was working as if he was working for God. When Joseph was in jail, he was not working for the steward of the jail, the warden, he was working as if he was working for God. But he was put there unfairly, so what? He continued to glorify God with his work ethic, with his integrity and with his faithfulness. Man, that takes a lot of faith, and I say amen. But God blessed him incredibly, and God can do that to us too. But Brother Dolph, you do not know how big of a knucklehead my boss is. So what? Look past him to your ultimate boss, which is God Almighty, okay? You always have the right to quit. You always have the right to quit. Titus 2, 9 and 10. Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, to please them well in all things, not answering again. No sassing back. Oh, man. I had a fifth grader argue with me last Thursday. Fourth grader, no, fifth grader, fifth grader. No, Mr. Painter, that's not right. It hit me just wrong. I said, you are a graduate of the fourth grade, right? Her eyes got this big. Yes. She says, well, I got 12 years there and another eight of college, plus another 40 years of teaching. You really want to argue with me? No, Mr. Painter? The class got really scared, too. 20 years to four. You're gonna argue with me. I just had enough. You and God, right? Yeah, amen, right? Okay, I can take my 20 years and my 40 years of working How many times do I talk back to him? Oh man, isn't that terrible? Okay, there you go, that's it. I can tell by the look on your eyes you got the point, so I don't need to beat you up with it. Anyway, when we obey our masters, our employers, our bosses, when we obey them that way, we're adorning the doctrine of God. That's what scripture says. Ephesians 6, servants. I love the way the Bible uses the word servants. It could be a slave or it could be employed, doesn't matter. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ. Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ. Doing the will of God from the heart. What is the will of God? Serve your boss. Not talking back, not working hard when he's looking, working hard when he's not working, amen? With good will doing service as to the Lord. Man, I gotta work as to God? You just don't know my boss. God's his boss, you're working to him. knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. It doesn't matter if you're a slave or you're an employee, God is gonna bless you. Work hard, work honestly, as unto God. And then my fourth reference. I told you, if I can't get you with quality preaching, I'll get you with quantity. Here's my fourth reference. All New Testament, 1 Timothy 6, one and two. Servants, as they're under the oak, count their masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. Do you realize when you are a lousy employee, you are blaspheming God? Now wait a second, that's the golden calf in the backyard. No, that's the golden calf in your heart where you think you're too good to sweep the floors. Or whatever job you thought is too menial for you. How ought servants be found working? As if God were their boss? As if they were servants of Christ? As if they are adorning the doctrine of God? and they were not blaspheming the doctrine. That's what good workers do, okay? I'd like to compare this for a second. Tonight, we looked at the life of Jacob, okay? The life of Jacob. Now stay with me just a little while longer. It turns out, do you remember what happened with Jacob? In Jacob, Jacob was promised. the birthright. Even though he was the younger son, God said the older will serve the younger. And God promised them that. And it got down to a pinch where Esau was just starving. He was faint. He was ready to pass out. He was so weak. And Jacob blackmailed his brother. And he says, I will give you this stew if you give me your birthright. And you know what? He helped God keep God's promise. He blackmailed his brother, and he got the birthright. You know what the funny thing was? He never enjoyed it. Never enjoyed it a lick. See, Joseph was all about serving God, and God blessed him naturally, and Jacob was all about serving Jacob, and he suffered naturally, okay? And then another time came where God promised, or no, no, his father Isaac promised to bless his brother Esau. Isaac was old and blind at the time. So Jacob lied to his father to get the blessing. And you know what? The lie worked, he got the blessing, but he never enjoyed it. Isn't that interesting? And then he worked 20 years for two women and some livestock. And he got them. But he never enjoyed them. And then he got the desire, the love of his life. And two sons by the love of his life. But he never enjoyed them. But he got them. And then he wanted to return home. And he did. but he never enjoyed it, because his life was a soap opera. And then all he wanted to do was enjoy his family and manage the farm. And he got to spend time with his family, and he got to manage the farm, but he never enjoyed it. Isn't that something? And then we get near the end of his life in Genesis 47 and verse nine, and this is what he's saying, he's talking to Pharaoh. He finds out Joseph's alive, he gets called back, he's having this conversation with Pharaoh, and he says, my days were evil. 130 years old, my days are evil. But wait a second, you got your birthright. and you got the blessing, and you got the girl, and you got her children, and you got the ranch, and you got the home place. My days are evil. From a physical standpoint, we're thinking, he hit the jackpot. It doesn't work that way if your life is nothing but a soap opera. Amen? That's Jacob's life. Now here's Joseph, made a slave boy, And don't get me wrong, it wasn't all roses and fireworks the whole time being a slave, but he worked hard, and God blessed him. And then he was made a prisoner, and that was a smelly, stinky place, but he worked hard, and God blessed him. Ecclesiastes says some interesting things. Four more verses. We're getting near the end. Stay with me, okay? Ecclesiastes. I wanna read Ecclesiastes 2.24. There is nothing better for a man than he should eat and drink and that he should enjoy his soul, enjoy the good of his labor. You work a hard day. You eat, you drink, the food settles, and you just enjoy the meal of the day. You know, Solomon, after being the richest man in the history of the world, said, you know what, eating and drinking and enjoying the meal after a good hard day's work, he said, that's a blessing. Don't you know he had the most famous chefs bringing the most exotic foods from the different places, and all he had was indigestion for a good part of his life. Wow, just to eat a meal and enjoy it and have it be okay. That's a blessing. In 322, wherefore I perceive that there's nothing better that a man should rejoice in his own works. You work all day, maybe you're putting in fence posts on a farm. And after it's done, you're done, and you're looking at a field, and it's got four corners, and it's got all the lines, and the lines are straight, and you go, man, that's a good job. And you go to bed, and you can sleep, and enjoy the work of your hands. Now Solomon had slaves, and slaves, and slaves, would do all that stuff for him. But he never enjoyed it, because he was always wanting more. 512. Here's one. The sleep of a laboring man is sweet. What? To work and then to sleep well, that's a blessing. And here's the last one. Nine nine. Live joyfully with a wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life in vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun the days of thy vanity, for this is thy portion in thy life and in thy labor that thou takest under the sun. You work a hard day, you go home, you join your wife and your children and your family. That's a blessing, okay? Let's look at this list. How does God bless laborers? To eat and drink without indigestion, to sleep, to just take pleasure in your work, and to live joyfully with your wife. That's a blessed man. That was Joseph. He worked honestly. Was he put in bad situations? Absolutely. Was he cheated unjustly? Absolutely. Did he deserve what he get? No way. But he continued to work hard, with integrity, diligently, faithfully unto God, and God blessed him upon blessings upon blessings. And the whole time, you know what? He got to eat and drink, he got to rejoice at his work, he got to sleep, and he got to enjoy his children. That's one thing I noticed about Joseph. He married one woman. He looked at dad and he says, you know what, I'm not going through that mess. I lived it as a kid. I don't want nothing to do with that kind of stuff. And with two sons, he had blessings upon blessings. So when we look at scripture and we see this, Yes, we see God's hands, God's sovereignty in the life of Joseph. And he blessed him and he blessed his work and it was prosperous and people noticed that. But Joseph was still honoring God with hard work and with much integrity. And that's the way he would have us do. And it doesn't matter if you're driving a truck. It doesn't matter if you got a classroom of a dozen students. It doesn't matter if you're a homemaker and you've got two young babies at home. It doesn't matter if you're at home and you've got two homeschoolers. It doesn't matter if you're the service, whether you're a private or you're a colonel. It doesn't matter if you're a teacher or a substitute teacher. It doesn't matter if you're the CEO. It doesn't matter if you're the repairman. the Lord would have us glorify him with our work ethic, with the integrity of which we conduct our work. It's funny. I'm gonna tell a story on hope. See, we've got this thing going in our house, and I think I've shared this with you before. It's pretty much given that if something happened more than two years ago, I can tell the story and not get in trouble. That's pretty much it. If it's within the last six months to 24 months, I gotta get permission, okay? And then anything six months is under is pretty much off limits, okay? So this is an over a two year approach, okay? And Emma or Hope was probably, she was probably about 14 years old, so now she's 17. So I'm kind of on the borderline and she's wiggling her knee right now looking at me and says, what's dad gonna do? But I think she'll be okay with this one, okay? But I was telling a story about I've shared this with you before, that when my children were growing up, I was always looking at my children in different aspects, okay? Because I was always reckoning them, and I did all parts of their life. I did them academically, I did them socially, I did them work-wise, I did it financially, I did it spiritually, and I was looking at all parts of their life, and if I saw a weakness, I was looking for an experience to try to bolster that. And with Graham, he was shy, so I was trying to look for experiences that get him a little more extroverted in his personality. Now, Lincoln was right the opposite. He was extroverted, but he needed a little more bearing down and discipline in his concentration, which was the complete opposite. So I was looking for experiences to do that. And I was telling this story to Hope, and we were in the car, and we were driving down the road, and she said, after I was explaining all this, she said, well, Dad, what do I need? And it's funny, I said, you need to be a waitress. And she said, why? And I said, well, sometimes you let your moods control you, and you need a job where your income is 100% related to your mood. And she looked at me. And then she looked the other way out the mirror because she was smiling. Because I could see in the reflection, I didn't tell her this at the time. I could see in the reflection she was smiling like, man, dad hit the nail on the head that time, right? Because she knew it was pretty accurate, right? But I was doing it for all my sons and daughters. You look for strengths and weaknesses. But so last night, We're having this conversation. Oh, now I'm within the six months, so I can't go there. I'm sorry, I just said that. But we're having a conversation just about working, okay? And it doesn't matter who you're working for. What you're doing, when you're working, you're working as unto the Lord. And even in this crazy scenario, because Debra was sharing, I can tell about Debra now. Debra was sharing because she did a lot of waitressing over the years. And she looked at me and she says, Dalvi, she said, you could never be a waitress. And I said, or a waiter. I said, you're probably right. Because I would tell a customer off. I would. I'd tell a customer. I just would do it. But that doesn't mean I'm right. Amen? I'd be a pauper if I was a waiter, I would. And I'm not glorifying myself, I'm doing right the opposite. I need to treat that, because for that five minutes I'm serving them, or 15 minutes I'm serving, whatever it takes to eat their meal, if it's at a fast food place, or if it's a sit down meal and it's like 30 minutes, whatever it is, you know what, I gotta serve them as I'm serving God. Why? Because I'm glorifying God when I do that. May the Lord bless all of us to do that. Hey, again, take a step back. I know there's some people who hear this. Brother Dolph, I'm glad you're preaching to those young folks. They need that message. I'm retired and I don't need to do this anymore. You're still an employee. You're still a servant of the Lord in this local church. And eventually we'll get there. We're gonna take all this sovereignty and this duty and balance it, put it together, and apply it to the church. That's ultimately where we're going when we get done with Joseph's life. So I pray that you've been excited by these events. The key is to try to take these events in Genesis 37 to 39 and just think those are historical old stories that don't have any application to today, wrong. Just try to get in Joseph's shoes or his sandals, okay? And just try to pretend to be him and try to understand what he's going through and then try to marvel at how much integrity he worked, even in the rotten circumstances he was in. And if he could do that there, certainly we can do a little better job in today we live. May the Lord bless you, thank you.