that missionaries can take their children to the feet of women and let them sense what it's all about. May the Lord's will be done as you as a missions-minded and a heart for missions be directed in your prayers and support of those who want to go and need co-workers. and helpers, prayer partners and supporters. Genesis chapter 41, please, if you'll turn in your Bibles. Genesis chapter 41. And we're going to find a convention, I think I'm not wrong in using such a term. Not necessarily political, but still it's a convening of the best minds and supporters of the great empire of Egypt facing, facing tremendous crisis and suddenly it happens. Someone appears on the scene with answers that they hadn't expected would come from outside and particularly from a young Jewish man in their midst. Let's put in at verse 38 Genesis chapter 41 and verse 38. How many have the text? Genesis 41 and verse 38. And Pharaoh said under his servants, now these servants are what we would call congressional in our day probably, members of the support of the great Pharaoh. But they are facing a dilemma, a day of emergency in terms of what to do and Pharaoh blurts out quite extemporaneously, can we find such a one as this is? Would you read the balance of verse with me as a chorus together? A man in whom the Spirit of God is. Well, now I perhaps should underscore, I understand that the Holy Spirit's fullness and experiencing that kind of blessing from above we wait for the book of Acts and the epistles and the New Testament and so forth but I think without doing violence to dispensational understanding I think we do well in appreciating Joseph as an illustration way back in the first book of the Bible Old Testament illustration of what after all blessing of being spirit-filled and spirit-led, spirit-controlled is all about. And what had happened here? Word got out that there was a young man in prison who knew how to interpret dreams. And Pharaoh needed just that kind of help. And so, that's what happened. And let's go back first of all to chapter number 37. Chapter 37. As a point of departure, the text, can we find such a one as this as a man in whom the Spirit of God is? Beloved, all sorts of training, all sorts of other preparation for the mission field has its place and is very important. But compared to being filled with the Spirit, and led of the Spirit, and empowered by the Spirit of God, these other things are secondary. First and foremost, and indispensable, is a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled missionary and missionary wife. And I think I do no violence to Scripture if we put in here, in terms of Joseph, in the long ago, in the Old Testament, first book of the Bible, and of all things being recognized by a pagan, if you will, Pharaoh. Shall we find a man such as this is? A man so filled with the Spirit. Characteristic number one of a Spirit-filled life. We're going to give you several tonight. This first one is the spiritual life is a sweet-spirited life. a sweet-spirited life. That's number one. What do you mean sweet-spirited? He kept sweet despite all of the troubles that he had experienced in his childhood and early days of youth. You'll recall, I'm sure you're familiar with the story. He was Papa's pet. Look out, Daddy, Mama. Let's love our children as far as God can help us equally. And Joseph's brothers hated him. We're told that explicitly. They hated him. And particularly when he shared his dreams. Oh my. Fact is, had it not been for the intervention of one of the less murderously intended brothers, they would have killed him. as it was, you know the story, well they sold him down the river now, so to speak, to a caravan that was going down to Egypt for a paltry sum, and they thought that was the end of it. Oh, that was just the beginning of what the God of Joseph's life had in mind for him. How wonderful. Let's just put in there a chapter number to underscore biblically this background. Think of the background of this young man who ultimately became a kind of savior, not just of Egypt, but of the world. Illustrating, of course, the coming of our greater than Joseph, our Lord Jesus. Notice in verse 4 of chapter 37, when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him. and could not speak peaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream and told it his brethren, and they hated him what? Come on, yet the more, all the more. Talk about living in an environment that was difficult, a hate-filled environment. Turn over to, oh, let's see, verse number 8, same chapter. His brothers, his brethren, said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they, hey, there it is again, they hiddeth him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. And then verse 11, notice, and his brethren envied him. Talk about growing up in a difficult climate. in an environment of hate. And yet God had his hand on Joseph. And he kept sweet. That's my first point in terms of what a spirit-filled life will reflect. The spirit-filled believer keeps sweet despite the environmental problems. And that's part of what the fruit of the Spirit is all about. surmounting such environmental problems. He kept sweet. The more the icy winds of adversity and of ill will toward him blew and broke over his young life, those icy winds of trouble only served to bring out a richer taste and a lovelier look to the fruit of the spirit that was all the while developing, ripening in his life. Is there a message there for us as missionaries, as Sunday school teachers, as faithful Christian supporters of the work of the Lord here in this church, and praying for all of the missionaries and their families represented here. One indispensable mark of a spirit-filled life is that it will be sweet-spirited. And thank God that is indeed outstanding in the life of this young man. He kept sweet despite the environment and God honored him and blessed him and continued to direct and fill his life. Here's a second indication that a man of God or a woman of God, whatever age, being controlled by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. Not only sweet-spirited, but self-effacing. If you remember the story, let's look at it, returning to chapter 41 in your book of Genesis. And let's put in at verse 14. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. And he shaved himself and changed his raiment and came in unto Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it. And I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it." Now, I hope I'm not saying something out of order. For many, even believers, such a language could be a temptation to sort of straighten out, oh, you've heard about me, have you? Oh, my. Let's look and see what is reflected in young Joseph's response to the Pharaoh's words of high praise, as you were. I've heard say of you that you can interpret dreams. Notice verse 16, and Joseph answered Pharaoh saying, it is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. You pick up on that? He not only was sweet-spirited, he was self-effacing, humble, willing to acknowledge that it wasn't his outstanding gifts but that it was God. Folk, how indispensable that is in the life of any Spirit-led, Spirit-filled believer. It's called humility. And it's part of the development of the true Christian character that God wants to develop. Not just in these precious missionary families going to Madagascar and Colombia. Going across the street where you live to an unsafe neighbor, we need to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. Joseph was sweet-spirited. I think of the fact that time came, of course, I'm getting ahead of myself here, but you remember the story very well, and he became overnight heroic. The pharaoh made him number two in all of that great Egyptian empire, you remember that? And he not only did that, he gave him a wife. And God blessed the union with two children, Ephraim and Manasseh. Do you know what the meaning of those words are? Forgetfulness and fruitfulness. Fruitfulness, that's ambrosia. forgetting all that he had suffered, that's amnesia. Blessed amnesia and blessed ambrosia that reflects fruit and forgiveness. There was forgiveness in his heart. There was fruit in his testimony. Thank God. He's an illustration. Way back in the first book of the Bible, of what the book of Acts and the epistles tell us is available to every blood-bought, born-again believer. Being controlled by God the Holy Spirit. Yes, my beloved. He was willing to forget himself. How easy, how easy it might have been for someone else with the kind of language the Pharaoh, this great leader of the greatest empire of that day would have been. So he says, oh, you've heard about me, have you? No. It's not in this one. God's going to give the answer. So, sweet-spirited, self-effacing. Now, let's go to a third mark of what it means to be a man so filled with the Spirit as the Pharaoh himself recognized. And for that we go to chapter number 41 again. You have chapter 41 before you? Let's put in say at verse 55 and read from there. When all the land of Egypt was banished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph. What he said to you, do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth, not just Egypt. Worldwide famine. And Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold unto the Egyptians. And the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt, to whom? Joseph, were to buy corn because the famine was so sore in all that. Folk, would you agree with me? There's a worldwide famine for the true bread in our day. And to be spirit-filled and spirit-controlled and spirit-led and spirit-used will include the fact of bread for the hungry. They came to Joseph because he had bread. This morning, I don't know how it was, I stumbled onto some commentaries that I had put in my center reference and I decided I would make it more legible. So let me share with you from Genesis 41-55. Just as the great king of Egypt told all the hungry to go to Joseph, So the Lord God of hosts answers the whole world. Go to Jesus. To every famished soul it's the same word. Go to Jesus. He's the bread of life. There's no other life giver. There's no other Savior. Forsake the drought ridden and empty storehouses of earth for the heavenly storehouse. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? That cana Mary gave the same command when the wine ran out. Bread and wine are lacking in souls the world around. These dear ones must be reached. Come to Jesus, trust Him, do what He says, and He will save you and fill all your need. Even those who travel most widely cannot measure how sore is the famine For Jesus the Lord, in all the world, if we could see all the misery of any given moment, at any moment, the anguish of it would kill us. If we could behold all the tears shed in a single hour, it would seem a Niagara of sorrow. If for one moment we could hear all the sighs, groans, cries of prisoners, the downtrodden, the hungry, and the victims of sin, the swelling sound of tragedy would deafen us. But the cross of Christ provided the remedy. Lord, give us a missionary vision We alone have the bread. Christ Jesus, the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And so, being filled with the Spirit means sweet-spirited. It means self-effacing. It means soul-winning, because we are the ones that have the bread for the hungry. Missionaries must plead, Lord, every day. lead me to some soul today, teach me just what to say, and so on. Soul winning. Bread for the hungry. These dear ones going to Madagascar and Columbia. Let's put them on our prayer list and support them with earnest, fervent prayers along with all these dear ones on the back wall that you're already supporting. even include Margene and me, though we're supposedly retired. Let me say, we want to every day be ready to give out the bread of life. And people come our way, or we go and run into people. Out goes a gospel tract. Out goes a testimony of the gospel. And the Lord can still use an 86-year old missionary, so-called retired. I'm not going to tell you my wife's age. She's at least 39 and holding. Our illustration of what it means in the New Testament, if you will, to be as Pharaoh said, can we find such a one as this? So filled with a spirit. Sweet-spirited, Self-effacing, soul winning, bread for the hungry. What else? Sin conquering. The Holy Spirit is just that, the Holy Spirit. And if He is controlling our going out and coming in, our life, our words, our deeds, we're not going to be endorsing or indulging in the flesh and in sin. Let's go back to chapter 39 for just a quick review. Genesis chapter 39. It seems to me in some ways this is very contemporary. You remember that when the Egyptian military figure, what was his name, Bonhoeffer, I think? Yeah. Saw that they were auctioning off some slaves And his eye fell on Joseph. He said, I think I want this one. And he took him home. And soon enough he discovered that whatever Joseph did was done right. There was something about his character, something about his life, his personality, spirit control, that recommended him very exclusively so above anyone else. Soon enough, the day came when Potiphar turned everything over to Joseph, put him in the place of a headship. He was a military figure. As such, he would go out on maneuvers, doubtless, and be away for a time. And as it turns out, Potiphar's wife was a wicked Egyptian temptress. And she had long since begun to take note of this handsome young Hebrew houseboy of hers. And I suspect she took advantage of any opportunity that seemed to come her way. But then it happened. The husband was off on maneuvers somewhere on his military assignment. And she said, this is my opportunity. You know the story. And she threw herself at him. The fact of the matter is, he sought to escape. And when he left, he left his coat with her. But he didn't leave his testimony. He didn't leave his spirit-filled victory with her. And thank God. even though her wicked dishonesty when the husband came back, I rather suspect he had some idea that it wasn't all that she was saying. But he had to look good, so he sent his erstwhile favorite from being the number one under him at the homestead, he sent him to jail. But even in jail, God honored the faithfulness of Joseph. And he'll do so with our dear missionary couples as they go with the Lord and under the Lord's blessing. And as you continue to support all of this family of missionaries the world around, what will we do without the fullness of God's Spirit and the fullness of God's blessing? Do you have chapter 39 there before me? Let's see, verse 7. Came to pass. Well, you might just pick up on the last phrase of verse 36. Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. I suspect that we could say in terms of today's lingo, he was a hunk. Handsome and well muscled and well figured. Joseph was a goodly person, well favored, and it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph. I'm just going to say a word. We don't have that many teenagers here just now, ladies, but let's pray for our young Christian ladies that they will ask the Holy Spirit to control their eyes. and their wardrobe, and their gate. I'm not talking about a door either. Even older ladies, ask the Holy Spirit to control your eyes. The eye gate, the enemy seems to take special delight in getting through the eye gate of a believer into his or her heart for trouble. She cast her eyes upon Joseph and she said, lie with me. What a wicked proposition. But now notice, three words begin verse number eight. Let's read them together as a chorus. Would you join me? But he refused. He, by the Holy Spirit's power, had learned how to pronounce the most difficult language in all of the language of planet Earth. By the way, I don't know just what language is going to be yours to master, brother and sister, when you get to the island, Madagascar, but I can assure you that if you don't think you know Spanish, you do. And if you don't think some of you know English, you do. It's the same word, spelled the same way, and pronounced identically. You don't have any kind of hang up about, well, that doesn't sound Spanish. It sounds very definitely and authentically Spanish when you pronounce it in English. When you say, no, you've just spoken Spanish. And there are often occasions, situations where there's one indispensable word that we must pronounce. And some say, well that's so negative. No, that's a very positive response on occasion. Keep you from disaster. Keep you from losing your testimony with the Lord and for the Lord. Say it with me. What's that word? The word? No. And he said it with an emphasis that made it stick. But she was the sort that didn't take no for an answer. As you know well the story. And verse 10, it came to pass that she spake to Joseph one of the next three words, day by day, that he hearken not unto her, to lie by her, to be with her. It came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business. There was none of the men of the house there within, and she caught him by his garments with her wicked proposition. And he left his garment in her hand, But he didn't leave his testimony. He didn't lose his testimony. God honored him, and he fled. The New Testament word on this would be, flee youthful lusts. Somebody says, what a coward. No, what a champion. What a champion. And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth that she called unto the men of her house and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in and she was full of anger for the rejection of a godly young man. It came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me, but he didn't leave his testimony. He kept his faithful witness and testimony for the glory of God. Spirit-filled Christians are not only sweet-spirited and self-effacing and soul-winning, bred for their sin-conquering. What does it mean to be spirit-filled, spirit-controlled? You'll know how to pronounce that most difficult word on occasions, but one that must be pronounced. pronounce it in the power of God. So he didn't lose, he may have lost his coat for a time, but it was only God's permission so as his shoulders would be prepared to wear not a garment of a slave, but the robe of prime minister in the greatest empire of the day. Just think of how God honors faithfulness. And you remember how that took place. He was sweet-spirited, self-effacing, soul-winning, sin-conquering. And, folk, that's what we need to pray for our missionaries as they go forth with the message of our Savior, our wonderful and worthy Lord, that God will enable them to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Let's bow and have prayer together. Father, Thou knowest how greatly we need to be filled with Your Spirit, led by Your Spirit, taught by Your Spirit, used by Your Holy Spirit. And so we come just now asking that You would do just that for us. that if any man has not the Spirit of God, it's none of his. But we also know that there are believers by the scores who have the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit doesn't have them. And so we pray solemnly and earnestly and eagerly tonight, each of us individually, praying to the blessed Holy Spirit, take control of us, fill us Deliver us from teaching Sunday school without the anointing and the fullness of your Holy Spirit. Deliver us from preaching to a handful of hungry hearts or to a church full of needy souls, but in the energy of man rather than in the power of your Holy Spirit. We pray, Lord, for one another. assembled here just now, not just our dear friends going out to the region south of us in South America or on yonder to the island of Madagascar, Lord in heaven. We need the freshness and the power and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit filling us, controlling us as we go out and come in. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed.