All right, good evening. Welcome to the Wednesday evening service. If you would, if you can, let's stand. We're going to sing All Hail the Power. All hail the power of Jesus' name, let angels' prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all He chosen seed of Israel's race He ransomed from the fall ♪ Hail Him who saved you by His grace ♪ ♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪ ♪ Bring forth more oil ♪ ♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪ Now you see there I sang the wrong line and I did not die. So if you sing the wrong line, the wrong words, it's all right. Just sing it out. All right, so the last verse, here we go. ♪ O that with God the sacred throne ♪ We at His feet may fall ♪ We'll join the everlasting song ♪ And crown Him Lord of all will join the everlasting song and crown Him Lord of all. Good to see you tonight. Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer. Lord, we ask for your help and your blessing on the service. Ask for your power on the preaching. Lord, bless the rest of the singing and the special. Take care of our loved ones that are homesick and all of those still getting here. I pray, Lord, you'd help them get here safely. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. I'm going to tell them to read a thing. I had this Sunday, but I didn't want to take Brother Nichols' time, so I'll take a little bit of my time. Anyone in here from the Navy? I knew they had a couple of Navy folks. My son says he thinks this is actually true. I heard it the other day, and supposedly on October the 26th, 1997, the USS Abraham Lincoln detects a vessel. They're off the coast of Spain. There's another vessel approaching them. They see a light approaching them, both ships heading toward each other. The supercarrier got off a message on the radio, said, kindly change your course 15 degrees to the south. And the carrier heard a reply that said, no, you turn yourself 15 degrees north to avoid collision. And again, came back on the radio. This time the carrier captain said, change your course to 15 degrees north or south, whichever one it was. And the unknown ship replied, no, you have to change your course to 15 degrees south. The captain became serious and said, this is the captain of the USS Abraham Lincoln. We are the Atlantic fleet, second largest warship. Change your course to 15 degrees north. Otherwise, I will do anything to protect my ship. We're guarded by five destroyers, two missile cruisers, and two submarines. After a little pause, the unknown said, we won't move. We are a lighthouse. It's your call. So my son said that really was true. I don't know if it was or not. Yeah, the Marines would say that. Do you know if it's true or not? So I don't know. Good to see all of you tonight. We have a visitor down front. I'm not sure if we recognize him with the beard gone and his hair cut. Looks like a different guy. Good to see all the rest of you. All right, a flag to follow. I sought a flag to follow, a cause for which to stand. I sought a valiant leader, who could my love command. I sought a stirring challenge, some noble work to try. Give my life fulfillment, my dreams to satisfy. I found them all in Jesus, the life, the truth, the way. Beneath the flag I'll take my stand and follow Him today. I saw the ringing answer for all my doubts inside. A torch of truth uplifted my searching steps to guide. I saw the word of wisdom, a true authority. I sought to know my purpose, this of its mystery. I found them all in Jesus, the light, the truth, the way. Beneath His flag I'll take my stand and follow Him today. I sought for satisfaction, though yearning deep within. I sought for full deliverance from chains of guilt and sin. I sought for peace and pardon, for freedom from my fears. I sought a home. I found them all in Jesus, the life, the truth, the way. Beneath his flag I'll take my stand and follow him today. We have these announcements. Don't forget, now again, the prayer list, the newest one is the dark blueish or purplish, whatever you want to call it. I call it dark blue, but it's on the back pew. We changed it last week, so I did not change it this week. Yes, sir. Okay, pray for her. I don't know, do we know her as she came here? Got you. So keep Brother Prado's sister in prayer. As far as stuff going on this week, tomorrow night we have our regular sowinning, 645. We do have some folks that have some other stuff going on tomorrow night, but we'll still be here and still go out. We always try to follow up anyone that came on Sunday. There's visitors from Sunday. And then we also try to follow up anyone who's been missing church. If anyone knows the address, and Gladys, you or Tony might know this, The fellow that used to come in on a Sunday morning and sit on the back pew. It's been a long time since he's been here. If anyone knows, if you know who I'm talking about, he almost always sat back there. Sometimes he had a young lady with him, but usually it was by himself. If anyone knows his address or his name, if you get that to me, I will visit him. I just don't know his name, so I only shook his hand, but didn't get his name. So, but tomorrow night, so when in 645, then Saturday bus visitation and sewing in both is at 1045. And then we have several events coming up in the near future on the 9th, which is just about a week and a half away. The Mark and Maria's wedding, that is 4.30 p.m. in the afternoon. And then the 16th, which is the very next Saturday, Christina Bay's bridal shower. You can see Mrs. Sells about information on what food to bring. That is the 16th, that is 2 p.m. And then the Saturday after that, and I don't have the detail, I don't have it written down, but I know that is when they're having the piano recital. I don't know what time that is, but so three weeks, three Saturdays in a row, we have something going on. We have the wedding, the guys don't come to the second one. The second one is the bridal shower. And then the one after that, the very next Saturday, is the piano recital for the folks at Altec Piano Lessons. And we have quite a few that do that. And then the next big thing on the church calendar is December the 4th. Brother Jeff Owens will be with us. That is a Wednesday night. He'll be speaking for us here Wednesday night at 7.30, like our regular service. And then he'll be speaking at 7 o'clock on Friday at Texas Baptist facilities. and then Saturday morning starting at 10. So we'll hear him once here on Wednesday night, once on Friday night, twice Saturday morning, before he flies back out to his, he passes church in New Bern, North Carolina. So again, don't forget to vote, and don't forget to keep the election in prayer. A lot of, I mean, there's a lot of close races, and if you're wondering whether your vote makes a difference, the answer to that is yes, it could. If you watched last year's election, or the one a few years ago, you'll know that In some of those states, it was just a few votes that made a difference. I mean, out of the millions that were cast, it was just a few that made a difference. So you want to make sure you vote. And if you know someone that needs a ride, if you can't get them there, if you'll call me, I'll get them to the polling place so they can vote. Again, preferably the early voting, because that way you're not putting all your eggs and hoping that nothing goes wrong on the day of voting or that we don't have bad weather or something like that. So, again, if you can early vote. I don't know when it closes. I know it's still open right now. Not sure when it closes, but it'll close a few days before elections. So, sir? Closes Friday. So, again, you got two more days to get out there and early vote if you're going to do that. I don't know all the places. I know the one right down here, the library or military is where one of them is at. If you'll ask around, I know some of our people have went to other places. That's one I always go to in an early vote. But again, try to get out and get your vote done ahead of time so you don't have to worry about the day of election. Oh, yes. So this weekend's where you folks that don't usually come to Sunday school, don't worry about it. You make it for Sunday school. We appreciate that. All right, Ken, let's stand. How are you able, said the master. How ye able, said the Master, to be crucified with me. Yea, the conquering Christian answered, to the death we follow thee. Lord, we are able, our spirits are thine. Make us like the divine, Thy guiding radiance above us shall be a beacon to God. ♪ I am but still the master ♪ Whispers down eternity ♪ And in the big spirits answered ♪ Now is then in Galilee ♪ Lord we are able ♪ The spirits of the Yet above us shall be a beacon to God through love and loyalty. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to be in church tonight. I pray that you bless this offering, Lord, that you'd exceed the needs of our church. Bless all the prayer requests mentioned, Lord. And thank you for Brother Block and Pastor Nichols. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. you Yeah. you Right is so sweet to trust in Jesus ♪ It's so sweet to trust in Jesus ♪ Just to take Him at His word ♪ Just to rest upon His promise ♪ Just to know, thus saith the Lord ♪ Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him ♪ How I proved Him o'er and o'er Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus Just to trust His cleansing blood Just in simple faith to plunge me Neath the healing cleansing flood Jesus, how I trust Him, how I proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust Him more. I'm so glad Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend, And I know that Thou art with me, wilt be with me. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust Him more. I know He is real, oh He is real, through the lights of the night scene. Our loved ones are waiting, and now I'm getting beyond the sunset for me. Beyond the sunset. Be there, Jesus, I'll be. Comforted, knowing that I'll soon be going I'll soon shall forever be free I see Jesus standing on the shore by the landing Beyond the sunset for me Beyond the sunset In the blue, Jesus, I'll be have a We are the sunset for me We are the sunset for me You can turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 39. That's where we'll start this evening. Anybody need the verses? Mr. Henry, can you help round up the verses? They'll need both pages. Jayden, can you help? I don't know if there's anyone else. I know Miss Cools needs one. If you did not get the verses and you would like to have them, we have them copied off. That way you can keep up. But there are two pages. First one has page one and two on it. The other one has page three and four. Genesis chapter 39, we're going to read one verse there. We're going to look at the thought tonight, the Lord was with him. It says it about several people in the Bible, we'll look at those in a moment, but we're going to talk about Joseph. Joseph is the one we're going to mainly talk about this evening. Notice Genesis chapter 39 verse 2. And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian." Again, Joseph was not an Egyptian. Joseph was an Israelite. And Jaden, we still got some folks with their hands up. Grandma, or Henry, can you bring some to Grandma on your way? Stop acting like it's such a burden. I'll give you a little exercise. You didn't get to work your legs today, did you? Today wasn't leg day, right? Now Joseph was not an Egyptian, he was an Israelite. But those of you that know the story know that Joseph's dad had a special place in his heart for Joseph. I don't know if all of his brothers resented it, but most of them did, if all of them didn't. They sold him into slavery. Now at first they were just going to kill him. And one of the fellows said, let's not do that. And he actually was going to go back later and let him out. Went back later and found out his brothers had sold him into slavery. Then they sold him. So I mean, again, he is now in Egypt. While he was in Egypt, a lot of stuff happened, some good, some bad. But by the way, during all that time, the good and the bad in both of those situations and all the stuff that he went through, you can still say that this phrase was true, the Lord was with him. We'll see that four times in the book of, in the, in just chapter 39, which is again, a big part of Joseph temptation and some of the other part, you'll, you'll see the phrase, the Lord was with him, but we want to look at some things and some truths tonight of, of the Lord was with Joseph. And if the Lord was with Joseph, it should be nice if we could have the Lord with us. Um, it is always nice to, when you go through stuff to know that the Lord's there with you. Now we have him in the form of the Holy Spirit when you get saved the Holy Spirit moves into your into your life into your into your body into your heart so we have the Holy Spirit Jesus up in heaven make an intercession for us so we have him up there a nose in our he's our attorney going before God and pleading our case and we have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us if we're saved but we want to look at the thought the Lord was with him father ask for your help tonight help us Lord that we might Learn and get something from this truth that might be a help and a blessing to somebody and then Lord especially if there's someone here tonight that's lost help them to get saved Ask you to to use me and speak through me and help me lord be wise enough to listen to you And we'll give you the glory in jesus name. Amen Now I said those three times or four times in genesis chapter 39 the first one we just read in in verse 2 notice the next one in verse 3 There in your notes and it says his master saw that the Lord was with him So again, if you wonder whether people notice that got that God's with you They can this was and again, this wasn't another Christian. This wasn't sometimes a Christian It's like it's like you can tell someone else is a Christian by talking to them and your spirit and I mean there's kind of communicate this case It's a lost guy that that notice that God was with him notice verse 21. I But the Lord was with Joseph and he showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. That was a bad time that Joseph was going through, but God was still with him during that time as well. Then also 39 23 says the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord was with him and that which he did the Lord made it to prosper. So he got to the point that he didn't have to really worry about his job. Joseph was doing his job for him. And Joseph did it so well that he trusted, just as you'll see later in the story, that Pharaoh did that as well. But again, we want to look at the fact that God was with Joseph. It'd always be nice for us to have the Lord with us. We always, when we're going through tough and rough times in our lives, we always talk to God at that time. We want to know that He's with us. And I can tell you this, He is always with you and I because He lives within us. He tells us that He never leave us nor forsake us, but the truth is sometimes we make it hard for the Holy Spirit to use us, hard for the Holy Spirit to bless us because of how we treat the Holy Spirit. We'll look at that in just a moment. We'll look at three truths tonight. First, we want to consider the thought that the Lord was with Him. Second, we want to see the reason God was with Joseph. Third, we want to see the results that Joseph had or the things that happened to Joseph because God was with him. Now, there in your notes you'll see that it mentions in Genesis 41, 38, Now, you'll see it if you know your story very well at this time. He was needed as someone to put over, there was a drought coming. When I say a drought coming, I'm talking about a drought like they'd never seen before. It was gonna be, but before that, they was gonna have seven good years, then they was gonna have seven bad years. Now the thing is, if we knew we was gonna have a bad year this year, we'd have done, if last year was a good year, we'd have stored up some extra stuff. But unlike this case, we don't always know what next year's gonna bring. Now, there are folks, I know the old farmers, they listened to the farmers' almanac, and I grew up a farmer, so trust me, my relatives listened to the farmers' almanac. Another thing that they used to do, they could tell you whether we was going to have a hard winter or an easy winter, they would watch the squirrels. And they said if the squirrels were storing extra, I mean, seemed like they was really busy, then it was going to be a hard winter because the squirrels could tell. Or the hair would be longer on some of the animals because it was going to be a hard winter. Or, the other one was, how many of you know what a persimmon is? The other was, they would take the seed of a persimmon, and if you cut it in half and open it up, and I've done it so I know it is actually true, it'll either have a spoon, a fork, or a knife in there, in the little dicot, or what do you call it, the little seedling thing that's in there, the little white thing that's in there, it'll either be shaped like a spoon, which is its normal shape, or it'll be shaped like a knife, or shaped like a fork, and each of those meant, I think the spoon was, it's gonna be a mild winter, or the, maybe a warm winter, the fork was a good winter, and the knife was going to be a tough winter. But they said the persimmons, the trees knew. So again, growing up a farmer, they had all kinds of things that the Farmer's Almanac would tell you. But the truth is, sometimes they were wrong. Your weatherman can tell you that it's going to rain today. And sometimes he is wrong. The truth is, if he told you it's going to rain any time recently, it hasn't rained enough lately to even stop the dust out where us folks live out in the country. Now, you folks that have asphalt don't have to worry about this. But those of us that have two inches of dust to walk through, because someone the other day said, well, Block, why don't you wipe off your boots? I said, I did before I got in the car to come to church tonight. But you have to understand, when you walk through two inches of dust to get to the car, the dust that you wiped off got right back on the car. There are folks who like to write dust words on my van because of the fact that it has a bunch of dust. And I washed it like two weeks ago. You say, well, that was a long time ago. For me, that was recently. Because usually I try to wash it like twice a year. I mean, because, you know, the dirt's holding the paint job on. But the truth is, whether it was a good time or a bad time, God was with Joseph. And Joseph in this case had predicted, I mean had told, had interpreted the dream and said you're going to have seven years of goodness so store a bunch of stuff up because then it's going to be really bad. And by the way because the fact that Pharaoh had Joseph He got really, really, really, really, really, really, really, and I can add a lot more reallys on, rich. You know why? Because he had stuff to sell, and folks were coming to buy stuff from him. By the way, first he got their land, then he got their life. I mean, most folks ended up with nothing, and Pharaoh had a bunch of stuff because he listened to Joseph, and the reason that all happened was because God was with Joseph. Notice in your notes there, 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, I said that today that we all have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost with us. It mentions there in verse 19 of chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians, what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? So again, the Holy Ghost lives in this body. Now, that's one of the reasons, as independent Baptists, there's lots of things that we preach against as far as things that you shouldn't take into your body because, again, there's not a verse in the Bible that says thou shalt not smoke. There's not a verse in the Bible that says thou shalt not do several things, but the reason we typically tell folks not to do those things is because they affect this temple. They can destroy this temple. Now, the truth is our bodies are going to fall apart when we get older anyway. Ask all the old folks here, they can tell you that. Our bodies are falling apart. The warranty ran out and now stuff is breaking down and we don't get new parts. So the truth is but when you do things like like the smoking or if you abuse other stuff you take the wrong wrong kind of medication or kind of drugs or the wrong kind of stuff you can mess your body up and some folks do that so again we always refer to folks tell folks this is the temple of god take care of god's temple he lives in here now i mentioned that we have the holy ghost he moved in when you and i got saved but we can affect the Holy Ghost. We can affect how He works in our lives and what He's able to do in our lives. Notice Ephesians 4.30, we can grieve the Holy Spirit, it mentions there, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed into the day of redemption. So when He tells you not to grieve Him not, what it implies is we can grieve Him. Notice the next one, Acts 7.15, Now again, the Holy Ghost is trying to guide us. The Holy Ghost is trying to direct us. The Holy Ghost is trying to keep us out of trouble. And sometimes we don't listen, we resist. By the way, we can lie to the Holy Ghost. You know the story there in Acts chapter 5, that was Ananias and Sapphira, and it mentioned there in chapter 5 verse 3, but Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? By the way, we can also quench or limit the Holy Ghost. 1 Thessalonians 5, 19 says, quench not the Spirit. So the truth is, if we listen, if we allow the Holy Ghost to have free reign in our lives and we nourish that, we will be blessed because of that. The Holy Ghost is gonna, I mean, now, I have here in my notes, it says this, to have the Lord with us, like Joseph did, is to be filled with the Spirit. It's not us getting more of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit getting more of us. Now think about that for a moment. It's not us, again, it's not us getting more of the Holy Spirit. He is already whole. I mean, he is all that he is, that he's gonna be. The difference is sometimes we don't let him have some rooms in this house. You might, if you had little children, you probably had some rooms that were shut off to the kids. They weren't supposed to go there. Some things they weren't supposed to touch. Some places they weren't supposed to go. Now that was usually to protect them. But in our case, when we shut the Holy Spirit, when we don't let the Holy Spirit have some parts of us, it's because we want to keep those parts for ourselves. And most of us have that. It may be our mind. It might be our hands. It might be our feet. It might be our mouth. It could be our ears. But there are some times that we don't give the Holy Spirit all of us. And again, I think that's something that Joseph did that we could sure learn from. Again, Ephesians 5, 18 says, And be not drunk with wine wherein it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Now, if you want to be a good soul winner, you need the Holy Spirit. Because the truth is, whether you're timid or not, if you're full of the Holy Spirit, you won't be afraid to talk to folks. Now he likens it to being drunk. I've never been drunk, but I've seen folks that's drunk, and I've dealt with people who are drunk. You know what? When people are drunk, they're not shy at all. They're uninhibited. There's nothing that, I mean, they won't say or talk. The truth is, they think they can take on the world. I mean, some of them think they're Superman. They think they got, I mean, great powers. And by the way, when you and I are full of the Holy Spirit, we will be the same way. It will make timid people able to talk, folks who are scared. Again, you're full of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will make it where you can do things you couldn't have done without the Holy Spirit. So consider the thought of the trait the Lord was with him. Now Stephen mentioned it right before he died and he was talking to the council and what he told them in Acts chapter 7 verse 9. And the patriarchs moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him. Now he was telling He was reminding them of some of their history. By the way, they didn't listen, and just a short time later, they stoned Stephen. But what he was trying to tell them was, you know what? You didn't listen. You're just like your father. You didn't listen in Egypt. But Joseph did. Joseph had God with him. Now, you say, was there other people in the Bible that had God with them? There was, and we'll see them in just a moment. But I want you to think about this for just a moment. God was with him. when he was in Potiphar's house. Now Potiphar was not Pharaoh. Potiphar was the guy under Pharaoh. Which is why a little bit when we say Pharaoh they're not the same guy. Not the same position. Potiphar was the second in command. So the fellow that he dealt with first was Potiphar. By the way Potiphar noticed that God was with him. 39.3 which we already read. and again what he said was he noticed that God was with him. 3921 was when he was in prison and the prison guard or the guy that was over the prison noticed that God was with him. And by the way then when he was actually under Pharaoh himself after doing the dream, the interpretation of the dream, then he dealt with Pharaoh himself and by the way then he became second in command. At that time he had Potiphar's job. Now understand in all that God was with him and that's a good thing to have. What it means is when you think about it when things are going good when he was with Potiphar he was in command. When he was in prison he was in command of the prison but again that was not we look at the prison as a bad thing. He was in a tough place by the way God with him. When he got back out of the prison he was now he is the second in command of all of Egypt. By the way the second most powerful man in the world at that time probably And by the way, through the thick and the thin, through the valleys, through the mountains, through the good, through the bad, God was with him. The Holy Spirit was with him. Samuel had that said about him. Notice 1 Samuel 3, 19. First Samuel 3, 19 says this, and Samuel grew and the Lord was with him. David, it was said about him in First Samuel 18, 12 through 12 and verse 14, and Saul was afraid of David. You know why he was afraid of David? Not because of who David was himself. Saul was a bigger, stronger, bolder, more powerful man than David, but David had something Saul didn't have, and here's why he was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him. See, Saul had God's blessing at one time, but that he lost it now we can have it and we can lose it we can have it and we can lose it that doesn't happen when we're on salvation but when it comes to the power of God that can happen because again whether we let the Holy Spirit work in us and through us or we don't there'll be times that again we can say even though the Holy Spirit lives in our heart and God is in us there's times when we're not letting him use us it was also said of David in 18 verse 14 and David behaved himself wisely in all of his ways and the Lord was with him. It was said of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18, 7. You have it there in your notes. It's said of Phineas in 1 Chronicles 9, 20. It mentions, And Phineas, the son of Eleazar, was the ruler over them in the time past, and the Lord was with him. It's said about John the Baptist in Luke chapter 1, verse 66, And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. Now, John the Baptist was a unique fellow. I mean, he was an oddball. The truth is, and he had a very important job. He was like the crier before the important people coming behind him. I mean, he was the one that let everybody know Jesus was coming. By the way, you and I have that job now. We're like John the Baptist. You know what we're supposed to do? We're supposed to let folks know that Jesus is coming. Brother Nicholas has been talking about it on Sunday night. And if you've paid any attention, you realize he could come any time. He could come before churches out tonight. He could come before the election and it wouldn't matter who wins or loses. The truth is, if you and I are up in heaven, we could care less what's going on down here. But again, John the Baptist had the Holy Spirit. Solomon had the Holy Spirit. Asa had it. And again, each of those fellows, it was said about them that the Lord was with them, or God was with them. By the way, it's something that you and I should want to be said about us. Something you and I want for people to know about us that God is with us, that God's in us, that God's using us. I mentioned the second thing was the reason God was with Joseph. Go back to chapter 39. I don't have these in your notes because I didn't want to be able to read it to you, but notice chapter 39 verse 7. The first reason that God was with Joseph was He refused to sin against God. Notice verse 7, And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. By the way, that happened a lot in the kingdom. Happens a lot today. There are a lot of folks that are unfaithful and disloyal to their husband and wife. So this has been going on for thousands of years. In this case, again, she was probably a younger woman, probably younger than her husband. Because most of the time when the king had wives, he got pretty young wives. He didn't get some girl, I mean, many times he had several wives. And by the way, Joseph had none. Now, you say, was Joseph attracted to her? I'm sure he was. But again, just because you want to do something, doesn't mean you should do something. Because you and I's bodies, you and I's minds, you and I's wills, there's going to be times that we want to do things that we shouldn't do. That's what it went on to say. But he refused. and said unto the master's wife, Behold, my master what is not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. There is none greater in this house than I. He said, I'm a very important fellow. Neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee. He said, you know what? I'm in control of all this, but you know the one thing that I'm not supposed to touch? You. She got her feelings hurt. And sometimes that happens. Whether it's male or female, sometimes when someone turns us down, sometimes when someone doesn't let us have what we, I mean they want something and we don't go along with it, they get their feelings hurt. She got her feelings hurt. And by the way, we have sayings about a woman scorned. Notice he goes on and says, he said, because thou art his wife, he said, he's committed everything to me, but again, not you. He said, there's none greater in the house than I, neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness? And notice how he put it, great wickedness. Sin against God so Joseph said I can't let God down. I can't fail my heavenly father I mean now he knew that God was with him, and you know what he wanted he wanted God to stay with him It wasn't it wasn't something he had and he wanted to lose and by the way if you've ever had The Holy Spirit power in your life. You've ever had God bless you if ever had God use you I can tell you that's something that you want to keep reoccurring and Notice verse 10, it came to pass as she spoke to Joseph day by day that he hearkened not unto her to lie by her or to be with her. You know the story goes on. She accused him of something that did not happen. There might be a time in your life that that happens. And by the way, that's a hard thing to get through. Many times people, they can handle all the other battles, but then when it comes to something that they actually, the truth is, I used to say this all the time. They'd say, I bet you got a lot of spankings when you was a boy. And I said, uh-huh, I did. I didn't get as many as I deserved, though. You say, what do you mean by that? There was times my parents didn't know some of the stuff I did. So, I mean, even though, I mean, all the ones I got, trust me, I deserved them. But every once in a while, there'll be something that happens to you that you don't deserve. By the way, sometimes that's a lot harder to take. The one teacher I remember in school was the, and again, I got some spankings in school. My parents have the rule, if you got spanked at school, you got spanked at home when you got home. I got whipped twice. And my brothers were always very good about delivering that message. I mean, so they were quick to tell. But in the second grade, when I got a spanking, by the way, that I didn't deserve, I remembered it for years. Because the teacher said, because all of us kids, I mean some of you are like, now you younger folks weren't like this because you didn't have classes like this, but when the teacher left the classroom, she'd say, y'all stay in your seat, don't get out of your seat, I'm going to go down and do something, I'll be back. We always had someone watch the door. And they would go out and look down the door, watch down the hall, because they knew which direction the teacher was coming, and the rest of the folks would do stuff wherever. Now I was actually behaving that time. I did not get out of my seat. But Brad Bono went by and knocked down the flannel board, the little tripod thing that had the flannel board on it, because the kid at the door said, she's coming. And they all ran, and then running back to his seat, he knocked it down. I got up out of my seat to pick it back up and stand it up. She came through the door, and she got all of us that was out of our seats, sent us to the hall. I was trying to explain myself. She didn't want to hear it. You know why? Because I was out of my seat, and I wasn't supposed to be out of my seat. You say, did you get a whooping? I did. And remember it now, it's sometimes tough. There's no one that took anything compared to what Jesus took. He was completely innocent, had never committed any sin. And by the way, he was hung on the cross between two really wicked men and was treated like he was, I mean, like he was like them. By the way, he did become the greatest sinner of all time. That's because he took your sins and mine on him on the cross, which is why the father turned his back on his son and it became dark for a while because God couldn't even stand to look at his own son. Because God hates sin. And what he said here, Joseph said I can't do this. I can't do this great wickedness. I can't let God down. Again, the reason God blessed him was because he refused to sin against God. Now, I realize when I said he didn't sin against God, there was times Joseph sinned, he was not perfect. Okay? Just like none of us are perfect. But again, in this case, he said, I'm not going to sin. He gave God all the glory. Notice in your notes there, chapter 41, we're going to look at just a couple of them. We won't look at all of them. Chapter 41, notice verse 16. And Joseph answered Pharaoh saying, it is not in me. I didn't do this. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. He said, it wasn't me, it was God. Notice verse 25, And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one. God hath showed Pharaoh what he is about to do. He said, God did it, not me. Notice verse 28, This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh, what God is about to do, he showeth unto Pharaoh. Again, he kept giving glory to God. By the way, that's what God wants us to do. That's why the Bible says, whether you eat, drink, sleep, or whatsoever you do, Do all to the glory of God. If you want God to bless you, quit taking the glory. Pass the glory to God. Now, typically when we deflect, it can be a bad thing. Because we're deflecting, I mean, instead of listening to what people are saying, we deflect and ignore it. But in this case, we're supposed to, when someone gives, I mean, gives us praise for something that belongs to him, deflect it. I mean, turn it to him. Okay? Don't let it go inside and dwell on it. Besides, if you listen to it and believe it, you and I will get full of ourselves and God won't be able to use us anymore because we go past that point where we get proud of ourselves and God doesn't use proud people. He had faith. Hebrews 11 and 22 talked about that. He was forgiving. Genesis 45 verses 5 through 8. Now I don't know that I could have done what Joseph did. I had three brothers. I didn't have as many as Joseph had. I had three brothers. And when there was a chance to get my brothers back for something they did to me, I usually did. If they threw a rock at me, guess what I usually did? I threw a rock back at them. If they shot me with the BB gun, I usually shot them with the BB gun. Now you shouldn't have BB gun fights, okay? Unless you're playing back then, and then it was okay, it's not good today. But the truth is, I wasn't always very good at forgiving. Still not, it's tough to forgive folks when they do us wrong. Because usually we're so full of ourselves. It's like, I can't believe you did that to me. I can't believe you said that to me. We get so full of ourselves. They sold him into slavery. God blessed him while he was there. Now he's, I mean, ruler over the land. King don't even know what's going on. Joseph's handling all that, and his brothers show up. Now, the truth is, he didn't tell them at the very first. I don't know if he was doing it just for a little payback. I don't know. He might have been, but ultimately at the end, I mean, he told him, he said, you know what? You guys meant this for bad, but I mean, God worked it out. God used it for good. again he he was he was able to forgive the third truth and all be done the results of Joseph having God with him in your notes and notice chapter 39 the verse we started with first two and three so we're talking about Genesis 39 verse 2 and 3 and the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man now when it says that doesn't in this case he actually was rich but there are a lot of ways you and I can prosper in it it has nothing to do with dollar bills For instance, many of you have children, or you have grandchildren. You know what? You're very prosperous. I mean, there are folks, I remember someone said, someone was telling me that one time, some lady went to Mrs. Wynn, because Mrs. Wynn has a bunch of kids, and went to Mrs. Wynn and said, why do you have, you've got eight or nine kids, and I don't have any. I mean, that lady just wanted a baby. I know Karen and I used to feel that way because it took us five years to get Jacob. We used to see there was girls in Bible college that would go, oh man, I'm pregnant. I didn't want to be pregnant. And we're thinking, we want to be pregnant. We can't get pregnant. Here's people that don't want to get pregnant that are getting pregnant. Again, sometimes that happens. Now, I said that he was a prosperous man. He had the Midas touch. Everything Joseph touched. By the way, even in prison, everything he touched prospered. God used. Sometimes we have the wrong idea of what value is. I've told you this before a long time ago. We had a fellow that came to our church from India. I think his name was K.C. Thomas. He was a missionary, but he was from India. And this was back when India, at that time, in villages, people were starving to death. They would just take either some type of machine, either a bulldozer, something else, and just drive down the street. People would carry their dead bodies, put them in the dozer. They'd take them and dump them in dump trucks, take them out, and dig a big hole and bury them and cover up mass graves. I mean, you see the pictures on TV of the little folks with the bloated tummies and folks starving to death. Mr. Thomas was at our place. Preached at the church. Dad and Mom brought him to the house. We was going to cook him a meal. And I remember he walked around on my mom and dad's property. My dad had 40 acres. We had some cows. We was hog farmers. We had a bunch of pigs. We had a car. We had a truck. We had a house. We had a barn. To Mr. Thomas, we looked like we were rich. Because I remember he stood on the stump. And he went, Oh, Mr. Block, here in America, you must be a very rich man. Rich compared to what? Were we rich compared to folks that actually had money? Because trust me, we didn't have a lot of money. But we were rich compared to what Mr. Thomas was used to, because in his country, people were starving to death. They didn't have enough to stay alive. Did we ever go without food? And the answer to that was no. We ate three meals a day. There was always leftovers in the refrigerator. I mean, freezers full of food. We always had clothes to wear. It may not have been fancy clothes. I always had shoes. Someone asked me one time, did you guys have outhouses? No, we actually had bathrooms in the house. I'm a country boy, but I was at the time. I've used outhouses, but we didn't have an outhouse. We had indoor plumbing. But the fact is, to Mr. Thomas, we were rich. So sometimes, again, when you and I sometimes think we don't have a lot, sometimes we fail to look to see what, to notice what we really have. If you have a godly husband or wife, You're prosperous. If you have children that are living for the Lord, you're prosperous. By the way, if you have a preacher that's been here for all the years, and our preacher's been here and preached the Word of God and stayed faithful, you're prosperous. If God's used you in just a little way, you're prosperous. If you've got food to eat, and clothes to wear, and a house to sleep in, because there's a lot of folks in San Antonio that don't have that, you and I are prosperous. Now, no matter what we have to some people, we would seem rich. In this case, he actually was rich. But again, if we have God with us, we will prosper. The second thing that we'll do as a result of Joseph having God with him, he found favor in the sight of others. We already read the verses, but again, the leader in the prison and the leader of the country, they all looked to him, and you know what they said? They said, we put you in charge because we know that God's with you. Now, when I said that, you know that it says this about Samuel in 1 Samuel 2, verse 26. This is the Bible page 3 1st Samuel 2 26. It says the child Samuel grew on and was and was in favor both with the Lord and Also with men by the way, if you have the right relationship with God, it will help your relationship with people it was also said that about Jesus Luke chapter 2 verse 52 and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and Man now that doesn't mean everybody's gonna love you I can tell you there are some folks today that if you do right you stand for right you you have some morals There'll be some folks that don't like you But I can tell you someone who will be pleased with you and that's Him and Him and by the way and people that really matter. you do right, there will be some folks that won't like you doing right, but you do right and you're going to get some favor, especially with God. Jesus had it, Samuel had it, again we want to have the favor with God and man. Another thing that happened as a result of Joseph having God with him, he was a cause of blessing to and for those he worked with. Notice in page 4 verse 5 of Genesis 39, Says and it came to pass from that time that he had made him overseer in his house and over all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Matt for Joseph's sake now here God didn't typically go around blessing Egyptians the Egyptians were the enemies of the children of Israel you say then why has God blessing this Egyptian because of Joseph said it right there in your verse because of Joseph's sake you know if you are a good employee and your boss will like you, because you're helping, I mean, you're making him look good, or her look good. If you're making money for your company, they will like you, because you're making money for them, and you're making them prosperous. So again, sometimes other people will be prosperous because of the fact that, I mean, because you are there, they'll get blessings because of you. If you have a godly wife tonight, gentlemen, or wives, you have a godly husband, Or kids, you have godly parents, you'll receive some benefits from that because of who they are. God blesses them and in blessing them. For instance, just think about if I had a lot of money tonight, guess what? My kids would enjoy the benefits of that. Now I don't, so they don't, but the truth is my kids, like most of you, my kids make more money than I do. And that's not, I mean, a lot of us have kids that make more money than we do. If I ask you tonight, most of us parents will say, yeah, my kids make a lot more money than I do. You say it blocks out a big deal? No, because I've seen a lot of folks with a lot of money that were not happy. Money doesn't make you happy. If you think having a lot of money is going to make you happy, when you get it, you're going to be sad because money doesn't bring happiness. But the truth is, other folks got blessed, other folks prospered because of Joseph. Another thing, he was trusted. Because God was with him, he was trustworthy. Paul trusted him, Genesis 39, 8. The prison guard trust him 39 23 and Pharaoh trust him Genesis 41 40 again They believed in him and by the way, he didn't let them down. You say he was human. Yes now I've said this before you follow me or you look at me Sometimes I will fail you because I'm human and by the way, if you follow Joseph all this life I guarantee there's some time Joseph would let someone down. But again Joseph with God with him. I mean Joseph It's like he had a superpower I mean it wasn't all Joseph, it was because God was working through and in and with Joseph. And the last thing, and I'll be through, he was made ruler in Egypt. You know what that means? He got a promotion because God was with him and he allowed God to work through him. You know what? It benefited him as well. And you will find it will benefit you if you let God, you let the Holy Spirit work in you, you let the Holy Spirit use you, that will be a big benefit to you. Because you'll find that, again, when the Holy Spirit... Now, I can tell you though sometimes that I did not make a mistake that I would have made, because that little voice said, you shouldn't do that, you shouldn't go there, you shouldn't say that. Now I can tell you that sometimes I didn't listen to that little voice, And I got in trouble. I messed up. I made a mistake. Kind of like your check engine light on your car. It comes on, you have two choices. Pay attention to it and figure out why it's on or ignore it. By the way, when you blow the engine, you will no longer ignore the check engine light. By the way, you don't even need to check the engine anymore because you just blew it. When I've listened to the Holy Spirit, and I asked the Holy Spirit to do this years ago, I asked the Holy Spirit, I said, Holy Spirit, I mean, you tell me what I should and shouldn't do, and I'll try to listen. You say, do you always listen? No, and when I don't, I get in trouble, I mess up. But when I listen to the Holy Spirit, when I pay attention to him, and I respond to him the way I'm supposed to, keeps me out of a lot of trouble. Now, understand, he was promoted in Egypt, because of the fact that the Holy Spirit was with him. And by the way, he listened to the Holy Spirit. You know what his flesh was saying when that pretty girl was saying, come here, Joseph? His flesh was saying, whoo-hoo, go boy, go. That was what it was. And by the way, if he'd been around a bunch of other guys, then he went, oh man. I mean, if he'd been talking to a bunch of other guys in the boys' locker room, they'd all been going, whoo-hoo, boy. I mean, I would chase if she asked me. But see he didn't listen to them. You know who he listened to? The Holy Spirit. You know why? Because he didn't want to let God down. He said he didn't want to hurt God. Now, I can tell you that's why some husbands and some wives behave themselves because they don't want to let their husband or wife down. That's why some children sometimes don't do stuff that other folks are doing. You know why? Because they don't want to let their parents down. That ought to be true of us. There ought to be some things we don't do. By the way, some things we do do because we don't want to let our Savior down. or a pastor down again joseph had the holy spirit with him was it a bit of a of any kind of benefit you bet it was and it got me it didn't just bless him it bless those around him i would like to be a blessing i also like to be blessed and in order for me to be a blessing you know i use that we've got to be blessed first president for me to be able to give someone something guess what i have to have it in the first place so again if we will put god first we will listen to the Holy Spirit, we will let God work in us, and while He wants to, don't grieve Him, don't quench Him, don't lie to Him, but listen to the Holy Spirit, we'll find that one, we evade a lot of potholes that others hit, we miss a lot of storms that others go through, We miss some heartache. Now, life is gonna have some problems, but I can tell you the problems with Jesus with you is a lot easier to handle than the problems without Jesus with you. Many of the times when we get into problems, it's because we decided to do something that Jesus couldn't be with us when we was going through it. It's always nice to know that we have a friend that sticks closer than a brother and someone who never leaves us nor forsakes us. Joseph had that in his life. God, several times it was said about him, God was with him. Let it be said about us. God was with us, and that God used us. And again, if He is and He does, it's because you and I allow Him to. Because He doesn't use us unless we let Him. He doesn't influence us unless we listen to Him. We have a choice. Just like we did when we got saved, we have a choice every day whether we're going to serve Him or not, whether we're going to allow Him to use us or not. We want to make sure we make that right choice. Father, we thank You for the Word of God. We thank You for the men of God that gives examples to us. Joseph is one of them. There are some great men in the Bible