Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Divine Guidance Pt.5

I want to say happy Father's Day to all of our fathers. What a high calling it is! Isn't that the greatest reward to be able to realize that you've left behind a heritage, a godly seed and you're now a candidate to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Praise God. You know all of the designer tennis shoes are going to burn up and the Nintendo sets are going to melt and it's only what's done in their lives that is going to last, the character that's built, the Christlikeness that's established. That's the only thing that you're going to be remembered for. Not the property you left, not all of the things that are material; there's only one thing that you're going to be remembered for. That's whether you gave your children Jesus or not. So I encourage you fathers to be about the business that God ordained us for, amen? We're proud of the men here in this fellowship and the growth and the work that's being done and the roles that have been assumed. What a high calling! It's awesome! It's fearful, but God's with us. So we just acknowledge those men among us that are raising up a godly seed, another generation for the kingdom of God. The Scripture says, "Honour to whom honour [is due]."

Let's turn to Proverbs 3 and see if we can communicate this one point that I really believe the Lord has put upon my heart. I think this is one of the greatest hindrances to spiritual guidance that we're going to encounter. We're going to unravel it a little bit this morning, identify it, and therefore be able to walk free from it. In Proverbs 3, we have the admonition. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths," the Scripture says. He calls us to understand that there's an understanding that's natural. There's the tendency to always trust in our own perception. He says that you're going to have to enter every aspect of the decision making with that in place, understanding that you're not to lean to your own understanding. "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man..." the Scripture says. But you know His ways are far above our ways, amen? There's a way that man can endorse and then there are the ways of God that transcend everything that the natural mind counts as secure, trustworthy. God calls us into the realm of the unseen, into the realm of the supernatural, into the walk of faith, for without faith it's impossible to please Him. Faith calls things that are not naturally observed, naturally known, as though they were. Faith sees into the spiritual realm and into the eternal perspective and embraces it, not knowing how it's going to work, but knowing that all things do work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose. Lean not to your own understanding but in all of your ways acknowledge God.

This is a key now. We're getting ready to walk into another area, another realm. We have to make a decision as to a course in our lives, whatever it might be. It could be vocation. It could be marriage, whatever it might be. The question we have to ask is, are we acknowledging God in this? Many of us make the mistake of thinking that our own appetites are the mind of God. That's why we have to study and show ourselves approved unto God, workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. We've got to come to that place where we're able to discern to the best of our ability our own hearts and know what it is that motivates us at many junctures and say, "Is this the mind of God? Am I acknowledging God? Is He what I'm looking to glorify in this decision that I'm going to make? Is God going to receive the glory? Is He the author and the finisher of this course that I'm getting ready to take?" So as we acknowledge God in this, it puts us into a position of rest. Exodus 33:14 tells us this. We know whether or not we're in the will of God if we're at peace, if we're at rest. Circumstances have nothing to do with the rest and the peace of God. If you can only rest in times of ease and natural environment of victory, of contentment then very likely you're not walking in the Spirit, because the carnal mind, the Scripture says, is death. If all you can be directed by is natural circumstance and as long as everything is going right naturally you're at peace, then you're in death. But to be spiritually-minded is life and peace. The spiritual mind is just as content and just as much at rest in adverse circumstances as it is in the days of abundance.

So what I want to address is this, and it's based upon many of the responses from our home fellowships groups. I'll give you the whole teaching in just a couple of sentences and then we'll go back and fluff it out. Basically the teaching this morning is this. The thing that hinders guidance the most is a lack of contentment in your lives, because if you're discontent you're always feeling led somewhere else. If you're not at peace then you are always under the assumption that there's something else, there's another direction, there's another set of circumstances that must be the will of God because we know that God's will for our lives is peace. Beloved, it's not the job. It's not the disease. It's not the pain in your body. It's the lack of contentment in your heart. That lack of contentment, that "dis-ease," will cause that carnal man to always want to pursue something else rather than stay where God put Him, be refined, and rest in the presence of God. That will change your life if you'll get this truth.

Now Exodus 33:14 says this: "And [the Lord] said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee [say it with me] rest." "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." What do we know, then, accompanies the presence the God? Rest, peace, contentment. We understand that the Scripture says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain." God is looking to bring us into the area of contentment. Now, to be discontent originates, as virtually all sin does, from pride and selfishness. Assuming that we should always have better, assuming that we should always have more, and assuming that our life should be above the natural conflicts that everyone else is going through. Because we think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, because of this pride, because of this self-will, it creates discontentment to where we're always looking around for the proverbial greener pastures, when we have the promise that the Lord will lead us into green pastures, amen? So discontentment is just disbelief in God. It's a lack of accepting the fatherhood of God, that our Father cares for us, that our Father is the giver of every good and perfect gift, that our Father's good pleasure is to give us the kingdom. We are judging God a poor father when discontentment is in our hearts, when we lack ease and peace in our lives.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him...." Seek to glorify Him. Seek to move with the rest and the knowledge that God is ordering our steps. He's put me here, praise God. One of the things that most of you dealt with is this. Most of you said you have the tendency to believe that when times were tough--adverse circumstances--that somehow you were out of the will of God. Now we've shared many times that this is the ultimate pagan mentality. Pagans believe that if things are going good, you're in the will of God. If things are going bad, you're out of the will of God. You've sinned. The Scripture clearly teaches contrary to that, but fallen man will always embrace that ideology. What do you believe this morning? When things get tough do you think somehow you've missed God? When things get tough do you feel that maybe you're out of the will of God? Do you believe that maybe you've sinned? Maybe somehow God is punishing you? Maybe He's just having a bad day and He wants to take it out on you? What's your concept of your heavenly Father? Do you believe that it's His good pleasure to give you the benefits of His kingdom?

So, it's how we perceive Father and how we understand the will of the Lord. We saw in this study that the steps of the good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in His ways. Are you able to delight, as we shared before, in the valley of the shadow of death the same way you delight in the green pastures and the still waters? Do you understand that the Holy Spirit is the One that led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil? When we're looking at guidance, do you understand that many times God is the author of that adversity? God is the author of all of that affliction and that pressure that's being put on your life? Things get tough on the job, we want to bail. Things get tough in the marriage, we want to bail. Things get tough in the fellowship, we want to bail. "I'm going to go to a church where they 'love' me." God is directing your path. Do you believe that the steps of the good man are ordered by the Lord? Then how can we be anywhere but where Father wants us?

Now, we know that we can make decisions that go contrary to the will of God. We were talking about this very clearly, that the steps being ordered does not mean that everything we do is right. Nor does it mean that everything we do is initiated of God. But God works all things for good to those that love Him. This word "ordered" means to be set right. So when we go off course, whatever it takes, God will set us right. We gave the example, as you remember, here in review of Jonah. Here's a guy that did everything exactly opposite of what God was telling him to do. The great fish swallowed him up and brought him into the perfect will of God. Do you have that much confidence in Father today that He will put you on course? Some of you right now are a little anxious because you're just climbing out of the vomit. It's not a real pleasant place to be, spit up on the beach. All bleached by the stomach acidity, seaweed wrapped around your neck, barfed up on the beach and sent to do the will of God. It's a hard thing to get away from God.

It's a hard thing to get away from the love of God in this fellowship. We had someone just the other day here that told another brother in the fellowship, "You know I think that maybe we ought to spend less time together. I know I asked you to speak into my life but I think that you need to back off a little bit." You ain't going to get it that easy, Jack! I just sent word to that person to hunt you down! You're here this morning. I sent word to that person to hunt you down. If you're going to run, you're going to have to speed it up. You're not running fast enough to get away from us yet. This is the will of God. The pressure in your life is the will of God. Now, can we rejoice in that? This is where the faith comes in to understand that everything that's happening in our lives is based upon the understanding of the sovereignty of God and the knowledge that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. The one thing that you can take to the bank is this: everything that's happening in your life is to make you more like Jesus. Can you say, "Praise God," for that? The good and the bad, praise God. The people that you encounter, the decisions that you make, God is able in His sovereignty to work everything out for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose.

That's why we can fulfill the mandate, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Do you want to know one of the great deterrents to walking in the will of God? Unthankfulness, that lack of contentment. How many of you are truly thankful for what God's doing in your life when you're in the wilderness being tempted of the devil? How many of you are truly thankful and able to raise your voices in worship and praise when you find yourself in the prison and adversity of life? Let me ask you something. Can you sing praises at midnight?

Turn over to Acts 16 and let's take a look at this. We've spoken toward this a little bit, but it would be good to refer back to it, and in Acts 16, let me show you some practical things. Do you remember one of the examples we were giving as how our lives are directed? So many times it's by those that are in authority over us. It's by parents. It's by husbands. It's by the spiritual leadership. As we're set in order in the community, the community of the church, the community of our homes, whatever it is as God has set this divine order, our lives are being governed. You see, many of us are not comfortable that God is ordering our steps in those things. "When our stupid husbands make decisions that put pressure on the family, they must have missed God." Really? Can I ask you a question? Who's in charge of your family, your stupid husband or Jesus? Who's really orchestrating all of those lives that comprise that family unit? Who is it that's aware of the hairs upon your head? Who is it that can call you by name? Who is it that said He would never leave you nor forsake you, and that if He was for you, nobody could be against you? Not a weapon formed against you could prosper? Can you believe that God is using your stupid husband to maybe deal with that nasty spirit in you?

So it's very important that we realize that nothing just happens in our lives. We look at this passage in chapter 16 of Acts and the Scripture tells us that they tried to go into Asia but the Holy Ghost forbids them. You all remember that part of the teaching. So they assayed, verse 7, even more. They made every preparation possible. They tried. They prepared. They purposed and the Holy Spirit said, "I'm not going to let you go down there." Not a door opened. No opportunities. No peace. In the midst of all of that, then, we see the Macedonian vision and Paul gets the vision and the whole company, the missionary team made this comment. In verse 10, then, after the Macedonian vision, "assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them." Paul had a vision and every man in the company knew that God had spoken. He spoke to them through Paul, not individually, through the leadership. So they began, then, to go into Macedonia. They leave Troas and they sail into the harbor in Macedonia.

As Paul and the others came on, the Scripture says that they knew that they were in the will of God. No question in their minds. So as their custom was, they went and ministered in the Synagogue and then they found out that there was a group of people that was gathering for prayer down at the river. They went down there and they met Lydia. They prayed and they ministered to the Lord. Then there came this damsel that followed them and said, "These men are the servants of the most high God which shew unto us the way of salvation. [Hear them.]" They weren't at peace. This was someone who was projecting the fact that they were speaking for the Lord and yet there was no peace in their hearts. This went on and Paul turns and casts the demon out of this girl, this religious demon. Because it cost money to the men that had supported her in her soothsaying, her masters reported Paul and the company and they were thrown in to prison. Verse 23 says, "And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks." So here they are, beaten, bleeding, bound in the inner prison. It's midnight, and the guy that had the vision, Paul, at midnight said, "Let's worship the Lord!" What about all these other guys that were assured that they had been called to preach the gospel? None of them had their own personal vision but they got beat just like Paul. They're in the same prison. Do you understand that beaten, bleeding and bound, they're in the will of God? Do you understand that in that prison is where they were called at that moment to preach the gospel? Look what the Scripture says. "[We were] assuredly gathering [verse 10] that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them."

"Well, we were thinking more like Hyatt Regency, the ballroom. We were thinking about maybe renting out the stadium, having a little television coverage. We didn't know you wanted us to go preach to the head of the prison as one of the inmates." God doesn't always tell us the details of where this journey is taking us. But they were assured that God had called them to preach. I wonder if they're being shaken a little bit here now. How do you perceive the will of God? Is your god a Hyatt Regency god? Or do you believe that your God will do whatever is necessary to reach the family of the Philippian jailor? Who are you serving? What kind of a god has America created today and who is the God that we're serving?

So it's important for us to realize then, that at this time, their lives had been ordered into this situation. "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." How could those prisoners have ever heard voices being beaten and imprisoned, in bondage, worshiping God and known the reality of it unless the Lord had ordered their steps? And the prisoners--the prisoners on your job, your boss? Do you quit? Or do you sing praises? Do you quit and go "seek the will of God?" Or do you have perfect peace in the midst of the adversity at midnight? Midnight, the darkest time of your life. Midnight, the time when you're so isolated and everything's dark. Can you sing praises to God at midnight, knowing that your steps have been ordered of the Lord? Or is there something in your character--the pride, the discontentment, the unthankfulness--that demands that somehow you escape this because this cannot be the will of God. I determine this is not the will of God because I don't like it here. I'm not comfortable here. I don't "have peace." Then what you're saying is that the presence of God is not there. What you're saying is God has not ordered you to this place. Because in His presence there is peace.

So we realize that we have to examine our own hearts. How do you respond to the trials? How do you respond to adversities? Things are so tough. It seems like things are always going wrong. Do you believe that it will work right? Can you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and in due time let Him exalt you? So we understand this course of direction. "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, [and look what happened] so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed." Praise God! God's made a way of escape. Here it is! How many of you would have already been down to the ocean? You would have been aboard the Minnow on a three-hour tour. Every opportunity to leave and what did Paul do? They sat. They stayed.

The man rushes in. He sees what's happening. He knows the charge that was given. You know, like the guards that were supposedly were to watch the body of Jesus and were actually rewarded and paid off. This was a colony of Rome. He knew what the consequences of his prisoners missing were going to be. It was death and so he was going to kill himself. And Paul says, "Don't do yourself any harm, we're still here. God put us here." "But Paul cried [verse 28] with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be [able to sing praises at midnight? What can I do to know a God that will shake the prison doors open? How can I be] saved?"

What in your life is speaking to those around you that your God is better than everybody else's, the only God, the true God? So we understand, then, that Paul and Silas and the company are here and confident that God had called them. I'm sure this wasn't what they were expecting. But they were on a mission to be the light of the world, to be the salt of the earth, to preach the gospel to those that were in Europe. And it so happened that those guys locked up were Europeans. So, let's preach, praise God! Content with where God had put them, understanding this was the will of the Lord.

"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house [verse 31]. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house." "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." Do you delight in the way of the Lord? "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." There's never lack. Everything that we ever need is provided. The grace is sufficient in the midst of the adversity. Am I saying that the whips didn't hurt them? God supernaturally just took away all of the pain? It hurt! They bled! They may have cried out in pain just like everybody else. But My grace is sufficient for you. I sought the Lord to deliver me, "And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee." "And being in agony he prayed more earnestly... [and said,] ...nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." Are you in the will of God today? Is this where God wants you? There has to be faith. There has to be the understanding of the divine purpose or you're going to faint, that's all there is to it. Because the carnal mind--the mind that has to be able to figure everything out, the mind that has everything already analyzed and has already determined the will of God for your life--is death. But to be spiritually-minded will put you at peace in any of life's circumstances. So, here we are, our steps being ordered of the Lord. Do you really believe that? Can we rest in that fact? There's no greater example of this than the life of Joseph, is there?

Let's turn over to Genesis for just a second. Don't you love the story of Joseph? How many of you think Joseph probably would have been smart to keep his mouth shut? Let's look at a show of hands. How many of you think if Joseph had just kept his mouth shut about those dreams, he would have been okay? Let me see your hands. That's what the natural mind thinks. But who do you think was behind him blabbing? Do you know that sometimes it's the will of God behind those obnoxious people? Did you know that God is sometimes at work in the "big mouth"? Have you ever wondered after you opened your big mouth, "Why did I say that? Dear Lord! And the circumstances that came from it! Here I just run my big mouth off. I speak when I shouldn't have and my husband unplugs the dishwasher and now I'm doing them by hand." God's will. Some of you husbands are saying, "Man, I never thought about that." Just helping you out this morning.

So, we know the story and in Genesis 37, we'll go back clear to the big mouth. Part of the reason was that the Scripture says, verse 2, he was seventeen. Just thought I'd throw that in for some of you young people. Joseph was seventeen years old "And when his brethren [verse 4] saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him." They just didn't have a good thing to say to Joseph. He's a young man that's just seeking God and is excited about what God is doing in his life and the Lord gives him a dream. He's excited about what God's doing, so he just shares it. He says, "Man, you'll never believe! As I was praying, God...." You see, these other guys weren't seeking the Lord like Joseph was. Joseph is hearing from God and it's contrary to them. The spirit that's in this young man is offensive to them. There's always an offense between those that are doing the Word of God and the religious people. And Joseph then says, "[I had this dream] ...and, lo, my sheaf [verse 7] arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. [That's not good to tell your older brothers. They don't like you anyway.] ...And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words." And dad, trying to solve things, I'm sure, came in and said, "Now look, boys, if God's working in his life then you're just going to have to accept the will of God and there may be a day when God raises him up in glory and honor and this could be the Lord speaking."

And he says, "[And that's not all. Dad, guess what?] The sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." And Jacob said, "[Now look, son, your brothers may bow down to you, but you're talking to Dad.] Shall I [verse 10] and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his father [stepped back and] observed the saying." So then we watch and we know how the story goes. They go out and the brothers say, "Okay, we got to kill this guy. We need to get him out of our hair." Reuben intervenes in verse 21 and says, "[We can't kill him.] Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him. [We'll just leave him in the pit.]"

We know the story. The caravan comes by and they come up with a good idea. They said, "Let's just sell him. We might as well get some profit out of it. He's good for something." So, they sell him into bondage. They fabricate the story of the wild beast killing him, and all this, and then we come to chapter 39. And in chapter 39, we've got Joseph now in Egypt in Potiphar's house. So, here we are and we have to deal with what's in the heart of this young man, Joseph. God has just revealed to him that He's for him and nobody can be against him, that he'll be blessed going in and coming out, that it's His good pleasure to give him the kingdom of God, that everything he touches will prosper, and that if God's for him nobody can be against him. And the dreams excite his heart with these promises and now he's in the pit and his brothers are there mocking him. What happens in the life of people between the prophecy and the pit? The Word of the Lord that comes to us and, now, the pit. We know the pit is the pits. Have you ever been there? You were sure that God was leading you in a certain direction and now all of a sudden, the pit. Isolated, forsaken, exiled from the brethren, envied, despised, hated. And all you were doing was saying what God said. "I don't understand. All I did was stand up among my brothers and say what God said. And they hate me." I've been there. I know what that's all about. And in the pit, you have two choices, self-pity or worship. Self-pity or the final determination that the Judge of all the earth does right and that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Not my will, Thy will be done.

Now you're in a place where God can direct you. What are most of our assumptions? Most of our assumptions at that time are that a great light will come around the pit and we'll be sucked right out of the pit, praise God. Just resurrected instantaneously, hover over the brethren and watch them bow, praise God! But it doesn't always work that way. God's delivering me into bondage. Out of the pit, into slavery. Joseph is now a slave, in the absolute truest sense, a slave, of a whole generation that will be slaves. "And Joseph [verse 1 of chapter 39] was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither. And the Lord was with Joseph." "And the Lord was with Joseph." Put your name there. Say it with me. Say it with your name. And the Lord was with _________. He said He'd never leave us nor forsake us. He said He'd go before us and prepare a way. He said He'd not allow us to be tempted past that that we're able to stand. And with every temptation He makes a way of escape. "And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. [Hmm. A prosperous slave.] And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand." He was a man of diligence. He was a man of character. We'll see that. He wasn't just saying, "Well, here I am. I'll just sit this thing out." Let me ask you something. Are you doing the best you can with what you have? Are you letting God be glorified in your life as a slave? "Well, if I was free and could make my own decisions, and if I wasn't working for somebody else, if I had my own business...." You don't have any character. That's the problem, because we don't work for ourselves. It's not that we're working for our own benefit or working for somebody else. Whatever we do we're to do as unto the Lord. "Well, I don't know why the Lord's put me in this menial place. If I had my own business I could really get some stuff done." Who has ordered your steps?

So we understand, then, that "...Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer, verse 4 tells us.]" And then, verse 5, quite a phenomenon as the Lord began to bless the house of this man because Joseph was there. Do you know that's what the Scripture says about you and me if we'll humble ourselves? Do you know that in the midst of adverse circumstances God will bless? He'll bless the people around you. Do you believe that? "Well, yeah, the Bible says...." No, do you believe that? You see, I happen to believe that as God has directed my path, that I'm about my Father's business and that those who are opposing me are opposing God. I believe that. Now, don't misdirect the emphasis. Those that are opposing me are opposing God. No. I'm God's representative. This isn't about me. I'm a slave. I'm a servant. I'm about the Father's business. All I'm doing is what God caused me to do. If I'm faithful, He's going to preserve me, and not only preserve me, but at His chosen times He will prosper me. So, I'm either prospering or being preserved. I know how to be content. I know how to be abased. I know how to abound. Paul understood that contentment. Joseph understood that, and supernaturally God blesses.

"And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand... [verse 6 says]. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured." Slave. Didn't own a thing. No retirement plan, didn't own any property. A slave with a dream that seemed impossible. But nevertheless let God be true and every man a liar. So, he finds himself here, and praise God! The dude's being blessed and prospering in the midst of this household. He doesn't have his free will. He can't go where he wants to go. He's a slave. But in the midst of that environment, God was preserving him and prospering him. And then we know the story. Potiphar's wife lays her eyes upon him and tries to seduce him. "And she said, Lie with me." And Joseph said that every "lie-er" will find himself in the lake of fire. "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against [Potiphar who's been so good to me? Potiphar's blessed me. I was sent here a slave and he doesn't know anything that he possesses except the bread that he's eating at night. I'm over his whole household. How can I do this and sin against Potiphar? Oh, no, that's not what it says, is it? Verse 9] How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against [say it with me] God?"

In all of your ways, acknowledge God. It's not about people. Who might get hurt? Whose feelings are going to get hurt? How is this going to affect us? Every decision we make for the will of God, for the direction of the Holy Spirit, is "how will this bring glory to God?" Will sleeping with this woman bring glory to God? Could it have momentarily made life easier for Joseph? Yes. "This decision can give me favor here and the woman is soliciting me. I don't want to hurt her feelings. A woman scorned, you know. She can make things tough on me. So I might as well, who will know?" God. Will this decision bring glory to God? "Well, I'll just ignore her. It'll go away." Verse 10, "...day by day." Every day.

For you young people, read Proverbs. Don't be a fool. Don't go down even to the corner. Dear Lord, you'll fall into the ditch! I want to tell some of you young men right now. God has a way of escape for you and Satan has the solicitors to destroy you. You'll see in God's direction here what kind of a woman he has for you. And it's not one of these harlots. And the Scripture makes it very clear then that day by day she seduces him and "...he hearkened not unto her." So finally, she gets a little more aggressive and tries to jump his bones, verse 12. "And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me." And the dude says, "Hey look, I'm a man. I mean, give me a break!" You know most men are dogs. We understand that. Most men are under the severe influence of testosterone. Most men are in a perpetual state of "horny." I'm sharing that for you ladies to understand. Don't think that your husband is an exception. It's the chemical make up. Joseph is a young man. You all remember what it was like in the twenties. Dear Lord, insanity! I'm just a man. She grabs him and says, "Lie with me." And what does this young man do? What does the Scripture say here? He had a set course. He was seeking to glorify God. "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" The Scripture says he just leaves his garment and flees. Shun the very appearance of evil. Flee youthful lust, the Scripture says. Dear Lord, when in doubt, run! Live to fight another day. Don't put yourself in this position. But if you find yourself there and these are the circumstances, then run!

What's it going to cost you? I'll tell you what it may cost you. All of your prosperity. All of your ease, all of your comfort. This type of a decision to stay pure for God may put you in prison. In fact, that's what happened. Lied against. Imprisoned. Verse 21, underline it. Get it in your hearts. Put your name there. "But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, [Do you believe God is with you? Do you believe your steps are ordered of the Lord?] and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners." What is with Joseph, that in the midst of all of this, he comes out smelling like a rose? Godliness with contentment. He had determined to glorify God regardless of the cost. God knows our hearts and makes provision. He doesn't keep us from the adversity, the trials, and the tribulations, but He causes us to know His presence in the midst of them. In that peace comes prosperity, and that's why Joseph continued to prosper. So it "...was under his hand, [verse 23 says] because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper." What a fabulous story! I just love the story of Joseph. I spent a lot of time in this, believing to imbibe the spirit of this man and to be able to walk in these circumstances as he walked. I've fallen way short, but I'm in hot pursuit.

Then we know the story, as it goes on, that the prisoners were sent from Pharaoh's house and Joseph shares the interpretation and understanding of the dreams. Word gets back to Pharaoh that there was a guy in prison that could interpret these dreams. And Joseph's humility is seen in chapter 41:16. "And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." "It is not in me." Do you want to be used of God? Do you want to have your steps ordered? It's not in you. This isn't about you. You're only one small piece of God's great tapestry of redemption. And God will exhaust, in the natural, every asset to reach one prisoner in Philippi. He'll bankroll the whole company to leave Asia and go to Europe to reach one prisoner in Philippi. That's the kind of God that we're serving. He'll do whatever is necessary to place you where He wants you.

"But the Lord was with Joseph." And Joseph says, "It's not in me." God is the only one that can answer this. And then we have the story of the skinny cows and the fat cows, the famine and all of that neat stuff that's going on. You might glean some wisdom in chapter 41 from verse 34. When things are really going good, save 20 percent. Put away 20 percent for the lean years. We realize that he interprets this vision of the famine that's going to come, and this wisdom preserves the nation there through the famine. God is prospering Joseph, and the Scripture says, "Can we find such a one as this is, [verse 38] a man in whom the Spirit of God is? [Verse 40] Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou." He's still a slave. He's the boy with a dream who escaped the pit, and Potiphar's house, and the prison. He's been abased and he knows how to abound. All of these ups and downs are the direction of God in his life for what? Is it about Joseph? Only on the throne; does it get any better than this? What is it that God has for this man? It's not about Joseph. It's about preserving the seed of God. Everything that happens in your life is not just about you. It's not about your personal gain and ease. We don't live to ourselves or die to ourselves, the Scripture says.

And so, as Joseph encounters his brothers in chapter 45, he says, "Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. [Verse 7] And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth. [Verse 8] So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God." Do you believe that? Then you'll be at peace in the pit, in the prison, in the jail at midnight because the steps of the good man are ordered by the Lord.

Father, we thank You for Your Word and we just rejoice in Your goodness and Your wisdom and the rest that Your ways are far above our ways. It's beyond our comprehension. If we could understand it, it wouldn't be supernatural. If we could see the end, it wouldn't be infinite in its wisdom. The intricacies of everything we do, the lives that they affect, are beyond comprehension. The ripple effect of every move we make through the lives who affect others, who affect others, who affect others, who affect others, who affect others, beyond our knowledge. So we rest and we boast in You. That's all we know how to do, to sing praises, to declare the judge of all the earth does right, to know that in Your presence, there is peace and in that we rest, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning. As Gary plays, let that peace that passes understanding come and rule your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Let it die this morning, because I want to tell you something. Your dream is most likely being misapplied. The dream that Joseph had was true and it happened, didn't it? But it sure wasn't what he thought it was going to be. If it's not for the glory of God, let it die. If it's not initiated in Him, let it die. Don't insist on going to Tarshish when God told you to go to Nineveh. You'll save yourself a fish ride. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Study to know your own heart. Understand the Scriptures and know what's in man, and that's who you are. It's ugly, it's vile, and it is pure selfishness. It misrepresents and misinterprets for self gain. It justifies all individual personal decisions, and if you're religious, you'll try to use Scripture to back it. But it's the heart of man and it's the will of man. Learn something in Gethsemane. Learn something at the hand of the messenger of Satan who was sent to buffet you. Learn something at that midnight worship service. Not my will, Thy will be done. "In all thy ways acknowledge [God], and he shall direct thy paths." As we sing this this morning, just rejoice in the love of Father and the ordering of your steps and that He is for you and that He will work all things for good if you love Him and are called according to His purpose. Let's sing it together. "In Your Presence." There's perfect peace there. Are you in the will of God? There's peace! Sing it again. Oh, hallelujah! Hallelujah! Just thank Him for what He's doing in your life this morning. Just thank Him for His great promises that are yea and amen, sure to a thousand generations. If you're anxious about it, it's probably not the right time; it's probably not the will of God. If you can't rest indefinitely, then you need to die. You need to celebrate the death of self and sing praises at midnight. Before you go, turn to somebody and say, "The Lord is with you, praise God!" Amen, go in peace. God's love go with you.

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