Can we say amen one more time? I have the privilege of introducing our pastor today, Pastor Herb Hartso. He is a Washington native born and raised in Tacoma, Washington, and a graduate of University of Washington. All right. We will forgive you for that, I guess. He moved with his family to North Carolina where he completed his Master of Divinity. Herb then and his family moved back to the Pacific Northwest where he serves as senior pastor the last four years at Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Washington. Pastor Herb has a passion for evangelism and sharing the gospel, which is probably why him and Pastor Jesse get along so well. Herb's vision is to flip the Pacific Northwest for Jesus. Herb and his wife Lela, yeah. Herb and his wife Lela have two children and I also have a special relationship with his wife Lela and their family over the years, Carol and I. So we want to now welcome Pastor Herb as he comes. Hey Grace, how's everyone doing? It is good to be here, it's good to be here. I love Grace Church. Pastor Jesse is a friend of mine and a great mentor to me. There's other mentors and friends I have here at Grace. My kids attended a VBS at Grace. So this church is definitely special to me and if you go here, you attend one of the strong churches in our area. And anytime anyone's in Auburn or Federal Way, Kent, this way, I always point them to Grace. So I wanna encourage you guys, you guys are doing a great job for the mission of the gospel. Pastor Jesse's a great pastor. He has a bunch of energy, a bunch of vision, and he loves the Lord most importantly. And that's what really matters. It's not our position as pastors, but it really comes down to our personal relationship with Jesus. And I know Pastor Jesse wants to see a lot of people saved, and he does a, his best in doing that. So just wanna encourage you to support him and to serve here at Grace and to get plugged in. And I'm just so excited to be here with you today and I get to bring the word to you today. And it's not just that Pastor Jesse asked me to preach today, but it's that God called me to be here today. And it's not by happenstance that you're here today, but God called you to be here today. And how many of you know that God has a specific message for you today? And that's one reason why you wanna come to church. See, some people are like, oh, you don't need to come to church, that's not a priority. Well, one reason why you come to church is because you wanna hear God speak. Well, how does God speak? God speaks through his word. And I'm a Bible preacher. And so what I say, the foundation of everything I say is in God's word. And if you want God to speak to you, all you have to do is open up God's word. And he'll speak to you on Sunday, but he'll speak to you Monday through Saturday as well. But God's gonna do a special thing today. We're gonna be talking about a sensitive topic today in the Unite series. We're gonna be talking about forgiveness. Forgiveness. So everyone can start preparing their hearts. Now I got mixed emotions on that topic. That's a topic Pastor Jesse and God himself gave me. So I do what I'm told. But we are gonna be in Genesis looking at the story of Joseph. So if you have a Bible, turn to Genesis chapter 37. And the story of Joseph is in Genesis chapter 37 through 50. So Joseph has an amazing story of forgiveness. And what we'll do is we'll navigate through the text, looking at some key passages in chapters 37 through 50. And then we will end in chapter 50, verse 20, when Joseph tells his brothers, what you meant for evil, God meant for good. And that's the banner that we will sit under today that God meant it for good. So let's pray for this message and then let's get into God's word. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you for each and every person that you brought here today. Lord, I thank you for each and every person that is watching online. And Father, I know that you have a specific message for your people today. Father, and I ask that you use me to come alongside them in their journey of forgiveness. Lord, Father, you know what they've been through. You know the people that they've dealt with. But Father, today is a day of victory. Today is a day where we can say we can forgive. And so Father, I pray that you prepare hearts. I pray that you remove distractions. I pray that anything that the enemy is trying to do right now will not work. Lord, that those darts will be blunted. Lord, that they will be boomeranged back on the enemy and that he will be defeated just as he was defeated on the cross. So Father, prepare. These hearts, Lord, your children today, and even those who don't even know you as Lord and Savior, prepare them to hear this word. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen. All right, well, let's... Genesis 37, if you're there, we will... Talk about the story of Joseph and hit some key passages. So the story of Joseph starts in Genesis 37, it goes to Genesis 50. And I wanna encourage you to take some time to read the whole story. Just two hours, three hours, get a journal and study. You know, today is kinda like the story in a nutshell. But it's nothing like studying God's word for yourself. So as we approach Genesis chapter 37, Jacob was Joseph's dad, right? And Jacob had 12 sons. Now his favorite son was Joseph. So perhaps that's the first thing that we can learn is not to show favoritism to our children or to our grandchildren. But Jacob didn't get that message. So he showed favoritism to Joseph because he was a son of his old age. And so remember, Joseph got that special tunic, that robe of many colors. I don't know about you, but I like colorful clothes. And so Joseph's walking around with his colorful robe, and his brothers are seeing that, and they're just like, mm, mm-mm-mm. On top of that, Joseph had this gift to interpret dreams. So he was a teenager and he had this prophetic dream that his older brothers would bow down to him. So instead of keeping this dream to himself, Joseph decided to share the dream with his brothers. You know what, hey, I have this dream from God and it's gonna come to pass and you guys are gonna bow down to me. And the older brothers looking at Joseph like, man. So they started to hate him more. They became even more jealous of Joseph. So as a result of this jealousy and hate, his 10 older brothers plotted to kill him. So they came upon him and they were gonna kill him. But how many of you know that God is sovereign? God is in control, which means that Joseph could not be killed until God said he could be killed. So what God did is he took this situation, and the oldest brother, Reuben, stepped up. And Reuben said, you know what, guys? We cannot kill him. Let's just throw him into a pit. So he was thrown into a pit, and as Joseph is being thrown into this pit, the Bible says that there was anguish in his soul. and he's seeing this act that the brothers are committing and he's crying and saying help, but they would not help him and now he's down in this pit where there's no water and he's just gonna die in that pit is probably what he thought. So this takes us to Genesis chapter 37 verse 28. The Bible says, then Midianite traders passed by. So the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. So instead of Joseph being killed at the young age of 17, he was sold into slavery. He was banished from the land of Canaan, taken away from his family, and now he ends up in Egypt. You see, it was for 20 shekels of silver, so that must have been the going rate for a young man. You may recall that Jesus Christ was sold for 30 pieces of silver. So as a teenager, this here would go down as the worst moment in Joseph's life. I don't know about you as you reflect back on your life and people who have hurt you. I don't know what the worst moment of your life has been and the pain that you have gone through. But for Joseph at 17 years old, this was absolutely the worst moment of his entire life. And so when Joseph was in Egypt, he was sold again to Potiphar. But how many of you know that God is sovereign? God is in control. God does not make mistakes. So even when evil things happen, God's still in control. And he said, you know what, Joseph's a slave in Egypt at 17 years old, he could be sold to anyone. He could have stayed with these Midianite traders. But you know what, I have a plan for Joseph's life. And God said, I'm gonna take this evil and I'm gonna turn it into good. So Joseph, was intentionally, this was purposed and planned by God to be sold to a man named Potiphar. Now see, Potiphar was an officer of Pharaoh. So God knew all of this was happening and God gave Joseph great success. He prospered Joseph as a young man. He gave him so much success in what we call favor. that Joseph was over the entire house. Potiphar didn't worry about anything because he saw God's hand of favor on Joseph's life. He said, I don't need to micromanage this young man because whatever he touches turns to gold. So Joseph, you're over my whole house. So Joseph's doing well. I'm sure there's some resentment and some revenge still towards his brothers. He's not with his family. But then all of a sudden Potiphar's wife, who we'll call Mrs. Potiphar, she laid eyes on Joseph. She said, this young man is handsome, and I want to be with this young man. So here goes Mrs. Potiphar putting on her royal garments and her perfume and trying to seduce Joseph day after day to lie with her. I love Genesis chapter 39 verse nine because when you're tempted, this is a great verse, Joseph looked at Mrs. Potiphar and said, how then could I do this great wickedness? and sin against God. And that's what we need to think about when temptation comes our way, not who we'll see or what might happen, but how could I do this great wickedness and sin against God? So now similar to what Joseph's brothers did, they plotted, Mrs. Potiphar also plotted and conspired against him because Joseph would not give her what she wanted. So what she did is grabbed his coat and screamed, hey, he came to rape me. Look, he came to rape me. And then when Potiphar came home, he said, this Hebrew boy has come to make a mockery of me. Look, I have his coat. And so on this false accusation, Joseph was thrown into prison. This takes us to Genesis chapter 40. Verse 15. And this is what Joseph said while he was in prison. For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews. And also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon. So I don't know about you, but at this point I would be a little upset. I'd have resentment and revenge toward my brothers, because they sold me into slavery. That was not fair, that was unjust. All I did was tell them a dream. Okay, that's not deserving of being banished from my family. That was very cruel. On top of that, here comes Mrs. Potiphar falsely accusing me of rape. And so here I am now, I'm in this prison. And if we're gonna be honest, it could have been reasonable for Joseph to have resentment towards God. And maybe you've been in that situation before, evil situations, dealing with evil people, and you say, God, why did you put these evil people around me? God, why do I have to go through this? God, what is your plan in this situation? So these feelings that Joseph must have and that you might be experiencing as you're thinking about the hurt that has been done to you and the people who have been the culprits. So Joseph was in prison. Pharaoh's chief butler fell out of favor with Pharaoh, so Joseph and the butler met up in prison. And Joseph, remember, he had this gift to interpret dreams. So the butler had a dream, and Joseph successfully interpreted the dream. And Joseph said, hey, Chief Butler, what you can do for me is when you get out of this prison, because I told you that Pharaoh's gonna restore you to your butlership, but once you get out, can you tell Pharaoh about me? Because I've done nothing to deserve to be here. So the butler gets out, and he forgets about Joseph. Joseph did him a favor and he forgot about him for two full years. So Joseph is locked up in prison, probably awaiting for someone to come call his name for two years. Just forgot about him. So at this point, I would be mad at my brothers. I would be mad at Mrs. Potiphar still. And now this forgetful, good for nothing butler who I didn't try to help, right, ain't helping me either. So all of this resentment, this vengeance, this God, why, is starting to build up with this young man. And so Pharaoh had a dream. He had this dream of seven fat cows and seven lean cows, and the lean cows would consume the fat cows. And Pharaoh was very troubled by this dream. So he went to his magicians and said, hey, can you interpret this dream? Remember how God is sovereign? Remember how God's in control? God would not allow those magicians, even if they had the ability, to interpret the dream. That just wasn't gonna happen. So then the butler hesitantly suggested, because he didn't wanna bring up his past of falling out of favor with Pharaoh, hey, There's a guy in jail, he interpreted my dream. He might be able to help you. And so Pharaoh called him, Pharaoh called him, got Joseph ready, and Joseph interpreted the dream to Pharaoh, no problem, because this was a gift that God gave him. And he said, Pharaoh, here's what the dream means. Seven years of plenty, those fat cows. Seven years of famine, those lean cows. That's what's gonna happen in Egypt. You're gonna have seven years of plenty, then you're gonna have seven years of famine. So Pharaoh, what I would propose is that you set a wise man to rule over Egypt and to save. during the fat years. So that when the famine comes, Egypt will be able to sustain the severe famine. And so this takes us to Genesis chapter 41, verses 37 through 41. So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find such a one as this? A man in whom is the spirit of God. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, in as much as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house and all my people shall be ruled according to your word. Only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you? And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. So Joseph was now 30 years old. Joseph went from the pit when he was 17 years old, and now he's in the palace at 30 years old. During that time, Joseph had to endure hardship. He had to endure evil. But that too was all part of God's plan to build his character. See, a lot of people wanna go from the pit to the palace. A lot of people wanna go from the valley to the mountaintop. But they don't wanna be obedient to God in the meantime. They don't want to endure the hardship that is required. They don't want to learn the lessons that are required for the promotion. So his 13 years, Joseph was obedient, had built up his character, and now he is ready to be ruler of Egypt. I have a question for you. Are you willing to endure hardship to build your character? Are you willing to sign up for that? Grace, are you willing to say, God, I know you have a great plan for my life, but for this plan to happen, I'm gonna have to go through some tough things. I'm gonna have to endure my hardship. You know why? Because your character is not yet where it needs to be. But God is trying to take you somewhere, and the only way he's gonna get you there is through this journey that he has for you. And that's exactly what happened to Joseph. He went through this journey, this preparation. And so now, as ruler over Egypt, he started when he was 30. The seven years of plenty had passed, that would put Joseph at 37. And now they're the second year into the famine, that would put him at 39. So not only Did Joseph build his character as he was enduring hardship those 13 years, but he also built his character in a leadership role for nearly 10 years. And this is God's plan for Joseph's life. And I know God has a plan for your life. He has a good plan for your life. And it doesn't matter what people have tried to do to you. It doesn't matter what people have said to you. The slander, the accusations, the evil, it doesn't matter. What Joseph shows us is be obedient, build character, even if you're in the dungeon, even if you're in a leadership position. Obey me, follow me, and watch what I'll do in your life. So now it had been over 20 years, right? As a teenager, now Joseph's 40 years old, second in command to Pharaoh since he was sold into slavery. It had been over 20 years since the worst moment in his life happened. And so now everyone was coming to meet Joseph from all the lands because there was a famine. Everyone needed grain. So Jacob, the dad, told his sons, what are you guys doing? You guys better go to Egypt and get this food, right? We need this food, we need this grain. So everyone's coming to Joseph and then his brothers arrive. So now this grace is where the rubber meets the road, right? So you can talk about, oh, I love Jesus, and I follow Jesus, and I go to life group, and I read my Bible. But now, those are all good things. But now when the rubber meets the road, when you're squeezed, what happens? Because when you squeeze something, you really see what comes out, right? So now Joseph is about to be squeezed. He's 40 years old. His brothers come. His brothers don't even recognize him. He probably has different clothes, royal clothes. He probably has gold chains. He probably has a headdress on. He's not recognizable. But Joseph definitely knew who they were. And so it's at this moment, is Joseph really going to forgive them? What would you do? What would you do? Right, I mean, so if I'm gonna be honest, in my flesh, I'd probably be like, I told you so. Remember that dream? I told you so. Hey, come here real quick. Let me lecture you. Let me lecture you, right? Do something like that. Or you could even be meaner. You're like, you know what? You guys tried to kill me, right? Sold me into slavery. No food for you. Y'all ain't going back with no food. Okay, watch that. Or if you want some food, I'm gonna take those prices way up. Or you know what? I might throw you in jail. You know what? I might kill you. How about that? So these are, this is resentment, and this is revenge, but this is what happens in our life as well. You know, when a picture of that person pops in our mind, we get triggered. When we think about what had happened, we go back. And so, I wanna encourage you that if you operate in your flesh, you're always gonna struggle to forgive people. But if you can respond in the spirit, then you can forgive people. And what we see is that Joseph responded in the spirit. See, the hardship that he went through, he built his character. As a ruler, he built his character. And what happened over two decades is God gave him a different perspective. Right? When we get saved, God changes us. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But it takes a while for that new to come to fruition. This process of sanctification, to be set apart, to have spiritual maturity, this is a lifelong journey. And I haven't arrived. and you haven't arrived. But during this time, God will give you a different perspective on forgiveness. And Joseph had a different perspective. So this verse will not be on the screen, but if you have a Bible, Genesis chapter 45 verse five tells us about his perspective. Genesis 45 five, it says, but now, Do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. Do you see that Joseph has this perspective, and this is how he's speaking to his brothers. And look at Genesis chapter 45 verse eight. Joseph tells his brothers, so now it was not you who sent me here, but God. It wasn't you. This is part of God's plan for my life, and I know this through my relationship with him. So when we talk about forgiveness, we have to think, you know what, this isn't really about me, and it might not even really be about the other person. We need to have this perspective that this is all about God's plan. Because when we think about ourselves, we feel some type of way towards people, and we know that person did us wrong, but when we think, this is all part of God's plan, and God will make it good. So you'll go through a test, but you know somehow God can turn that test for your good, right? He can make a test into a testimony. He can take a mess and turn it into a message. He can turn a lemon, a few lemons, stir it up and make it lemonade. This is the God we serve. How does he do it? I don't know. But I know even the Bible says in Romans 8, 28, that all things work together for the good. for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. So at the minimum, all things means good things and bad things. And today we're talking about bad things. But Joseph said, hey, these bad things, it's all part of God's plan. And God is going to use me to save lives. And so with this perspective, Joseph forgave his brothers, and he demonstrated forgiveness with his actions. See, sometimes we say we forgive people, but then when we have to do something, like respond to a text message, or see them in person, or hang out with them, or then we can really tell, yeah, there's still something in here that quite ain't right. It just ain't right. I'm gonna try my best, fake it till I make it, but it just ain't right. So sometimes forgiveness has to be done through action. You can say, hey, I've been in my prayer closet. I prayed, I prayed, I forgave, I forgave. But sometimes, hey, we gotta make a phone call. Sometimes, hey, we gotta take a picture. Sometimes we gotta give a hug. Sometimes we gotta send a gift. And as we forgive in action, it heals us. It heals those wounds. This takes us to Genesis chapter 50, verses 19 through 21. And this is really the culmination of Joseph's Life and forgiveness. And verse 20 is the verse where I wanna camp out a little bit. Joseph said to them, Genesis 50, 19 through 21, Joseph said to them, do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God. So this is after Joseph revealed his true identity to them. Verse 20, but as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Do you see that forgiveness in action, right? He just didn't say it, but he actually put his forgiveness into action. So Joseph makes this profound statement in Genesis chapter 50 verse 20. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. And so we don't need to dismiss evil actions, but we know that evil doesn't catch God by surprise. God takes evil and somehow turns it around for our good. the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers crucified Jesus Christ. This was the greatest evil that we had ever seen in history. And God somehow took the greatest evil, killing the Son of God, sinless, perfect, He not only died for his friends, he died for his enemies. You wouldn't do that. The greatest evil. God turned that for our good and gave us salvation in Jesus Christ. So what Joseph's brothers meant for jealousy and hate, that evil, God meant it for good for Joseph to save lives during the famine. In fact, it was their lives and their father that he was saving. What those Jewish authorities and what those Roman soldiers meant for evil in crucifying the Son of God, God meant it for good to bring you salvation. The greatest evil in history is now our prize. For any of you who have put your faith in Jesus Christ, you can testify that what they meant for evil, God meant for good, right? And I don't know about you, but Jesus Christ has changed my entire life. He has changed my life from a teenager and going through some difficult things, even put me in a position of leadership as a pastor for the past 10 years. He's built my character to bring me to this point, to share this message with you today. That as you think about evil and those people who have done evil, to give you this banner, that God meant it for good. So as you navigate forgiving people who have hurt you, remember how Joseph forgave his brothers. And remember how Jesus forgave the soldiers. They trusted in God's plan by faith. So as we leave today, when I preach, I always want to give a takeaway. like something that you can take away as you leave these doors. I don't want you to say, well, what did that pastor preach about? I don't know, but it was good. No, this is the banner I wanna give you today, that God meant it for good. Those five words, I want you to write those down. God meant it for good. Grace, you will struggle to forgive in your flesh, but you can forgive by faith because you know that God has a good plan for your life. You know, Genesis 50, 20, you meant that for evil. You could fill in the blank with anything there, but God meant it for good. Look, I don't know what you've went through, but I can tell you this, I've been praying for you all week. I've been praying for you all week that God would connect my heart with yours, that I would speak in exactly the way that you needed to hear it. And I know that you have been through pain. I know you've been through some unspeakable evil. I know you're struggling to forgive. And so I leave you today with the five words. God meant it for good. This different perspective. And I can testify to this, Genesis chapter 50 verse 20, as I reflect on the 40 years in my life, I can look at that person and say, you meant that physical abuse for evil. but God meant it for good. You meant that false accusation for evil, but God meant it for good. You meant that social media message for evil. You were speaking out of your flesh. I don't even know who you are, but God meant it for good. I can look back as a teenager playing basketball in my own neighborhood in Tacoma. This is where I live. This is a court in my neighborhood, in my community. And a man opens the door and he says, you're not supposed to be here. I said, why? He said, you don't live here. I can look at that man and say, you meant that racism for evil, but God meant it for good. I can look at someone who took something from me, a thief, someone who robbed me, and I can say, hey, you meant that for evil, didn't you? But God meant it for good. So now, as you look back on your own life, and you think about all those times that you have been hurt, whether that be an abuse, that be a false accusation, that be theft, that be racism, whatever that may be, there's a person connected to that evil. And those persons are the people whom you need to forgive. So who is on your forgiveness list? And you say, well, pastor, how would I know if I need to forgive them or not? Or I've already forgiven them. I'm walking before the Lord. Well, if you still feel resentment and revenge towards that person, You need to forgive them again. My former pastor taught me that depending on the severity of the pain, you may need to forgive someone over and over and over for the better part of your life. The disciples asked Jesus, Jesus, how often should I forgive someone? Up to seven times, which was the Jewish custom. Jesus said, no, 77 times. which symbolized unlimited forgiveness. So as you're thinking about your life and the evil that has happened to you and the people who were the culprits, have you forgiven them? Who is on your list? And today, Grace, as we close, I wanna give a call to action. And the call to action is to forgive people today. There might be someone in this church that you need to forgive. There might be someone in your family that you need to forgive. There might be a neighbor, someone in the community, someone you work with whom you need to forgive. Well, how about this grace? Let's not walk out of those doors until we settle that with God. So if there's someone who you need to forgive, just raise your hand. Say, you know what, there is somebody that I need to forgive. There is someone on my mind, I still have thoughts of resentment, I still have thoughts of revenge, I've tried my best to forgive them, but there's still something a little wrong. Keep your hands up. Here's what I'm gonna do for those of you who have raised your hands. I feel like my role today as a guest pastor is to come alongside you in your journey of forgiveness. And so what I wanna do is I wanna pray for you. And that's how we're gonna close this message today. And when we pray, if you feel like slipping your hand up, maybe you didn't want someone to see your hand, but you're like, okay, now everyone's praying, I can put my hand up. Then put your hand up then. You can put both hands up, you can put a foot up, whatever you wanna do, right? You're like, hey, one, two, three, four. Yeah, I need to do this today. This Unite series, this forgiveness. So let's close with a word of prayer. I wanna pray for you. Keep your hands up. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, Father, I just pray for each and every person who has a hand raised. Father, I pray that you can help them forgive those people who have done evil towards them. Lord, Father, will you work a miracle and will you come alongside them? Will you do a miracle in hearts? Lord, these people are trying, but they need more. They need more of you, Lord. Father, may this cause them to fall on their knees. May this cause them to come to tears and to weep as they think about the great forgiveness that you have given them on the cross. And how they need to have a perspective that God meant it for good. Lord, I don't know the pain that they've gone through, but you know the pain. You know it, Lord. So may today be a day that they can put a stake in the ground and say, and I will forgive. I will be united with believers in Christ and unbelievers in Christ so I can reach them with the gospel. Lord, may they remember that banner. God meant it for good. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you, Grace. It was great being with you today.