Surviving Your Family (Part 5)

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We're continuing in this series Surviving Your Family. And I love the story of Joseph.

I cannot get enough of this. If you have your Bibles, turn to Genesis 41. We're looking at 37 through 57 today. Picking up in the story. But I just, I wonder how many of you can think of a season of pain in your life and how God used it to shape you.

I have a friend. Well, Greg and I have a very dear friend. He's going to be the only one in the room that knows exactly who I'm talking about. That I would describe our friend in his mid-70s. The best way to describe his story is job.

He's been through it, and he's been through cancer and death in the family. And the trials in this man's life have stacked up in such a way that every time you hear something new that happens to him, you just, your jaw kind of drops. And yet when you see him coming, the only thing you see out of him is joy. And it's like the first thing you want to say to him is, do you not know what's going on in your life? But he'll walk up and let me tell you, he does not talk about himself.

He immediately gets into your life and what God's doing for you. We can be in a crowded restaurant, we can be in an exhibition hall at a convention center, and he'll always end by grabbing your hands to pray. And I'm like, oh, that's what we're doing now. Okay, yeah, go ahead, take him. And you know how touchy feely I am.

So I just give him my hands. And, man, he prays. And he always thanks the Lord for the opportunities that he brings into our lives. And I don't know if you have followed a leader with no scars, but typically the leaders that we respect the most, that we're following, and I'm talking knife and teeth, charge the hill type leader, are the ones who've been through it, the ones who've experienced a lot of pain in life, the ones who have scars to show it. I would even say, do you even trust someone in a leadership position with no scars?

And you know what I'm talking about. If you've lived for a while, like some of you real old people in here, like, I'm talking the 50 and 60 and 70 and 80 year olds. Whoa. Oh, he's starting off. That's where he's going right off the bat.

So we are looking at Joseph's story and talk about a guy who, I mean, just, he could get even, and he had the moments to get even in his life. A man who could just sit back and be like, everything that happened to me. Why in the world should I have to be dependable and humble? This is a man we're looking at of integrity. And I want to add a young man.

We picked up his story at age 17. Today we're going to see him at age 30. I don't know where you were at age 30, but I didn't have a lot of scars at age 30. I had some, but not like I do at 50. And some of you at 60, 70.

You know what I'm talking about here. It seems the older we get, the disappointment, the hurt, the regret, the pain, the scars, they begin to build up as you've lived a little bit of life. Some of you think about Joseph's story and you're going to, man, this guy could have kicked it into neutral and just let life happen to him. But we see a man who does not compromise when given great challenges and pain. And so we've been talking about family of origin.

And your family of origin does explain a lot, but it excuses nothing. So today, as we look at Joseph's story, I want you to remember this. Your family is part of your story, but God is the author of your story. He's ultimately writing your story. And we see in Joseph's family of origin full of deceit, jealousy, hatred.

But God worked in his life. Pain shapes us and prepares us for greater responsibility. Some of you know that job you're responsible for right now, you would never have been able to handle that 20 years ago. You weren't prepared for that 30 years ago. It would have destroyed you.

You would have been crushed under the weight of it if you were handed the reins 20 or 30 years ago. But God prepared the way for you. He prepared you for what you're doing right now. Now, I want to be careful. I don't want young people to hear this and be like, I want you to go out there and just experience a lot of hurt this week.

I hope you really get it going. But I don't want to be the one that causes that for you. But I do know how important it is and how you respond to it. Even more important, Sue Head at College of the Ozarks. I just think.

I mean, I don't Know when the Lord gave this to her, but when she stands up and says to a room full of parents, your children are gonna struggle, let them. And you get that right there from parents, they go, mm. And I always add to it, it's gonna be hard to watch. Your children will struggle, let them. It will be hard to watch.

When someone is given authority and major responsibility at an early age with no experience or scars, it can be painful to watch. It can be painful to work under said person. Can even be cringy, can it? Someone speaking out of no experience or authority. And that's why we talk a lot about paying your dues and how important it is to pay your dues.

We know this. The person in charge is not always the leader. He may have the title, she may have the title, but not always the leader. If you have to tell someone you're the leader, you're probably not.

If you have to remind someone you're the leader, you're probably not. The person in charge is not always the smartest person in the room. The person in charge doesn't always have your best interest in mind. Leadership is primarily about influence, responsibility, initiative, and serving others not having the highest title in the room. And that's what we're going to see today.

So if you don't like your job or your boss, today's message is for you. If you think you should be the boss, today's, raise your hand if that's you. I just want to see who's looking for the promotion. I asked in the first service, how many of you don't like your boss? And a self employed lady on the second row raised her hand and I went after her the whole time.

I make questionable decisions. If you're tired of being overlooked at work, a promotion, and you're just tired of them not looking at you. And I just wanna remind all of us, you're like, I work hard, I show up on time, I do my job, I'm skilled at it. Nobody notices. Not true.

Even if nobody at your work notices, God does. And he's the one that does the promoting. You're gonna find yourself in rooms and at tables that you didn't ask for, you didn't solicit it, but God promoted you because you are faithful, you are dependable, you are humble. And if you're in a new role right now and you worry you're in way over your head, today's message is for you. So let's just kind of summarize where we've been in the first month.

Of this series, Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers. Goes to work, he's a slave in Potiphar's house. Ultimately takes charge of Potiphar's house, runs the show. But then he's falsely accused of trying to sleep with Potiphar's wife. He runs out of the house.

When Potiphar finds out, he buys the lie that his wife tells him and Joseph is sent to prison. While in prison, he becomes the associate warden. He's in charge of the prisoners. He's been faithful, he's been dependable. He's a humble leader.

He interprets Pharaoh's dream. This is where we picked up last week. Tells him that there's gonna be seven years of abundance followed by seven years of extreme famine. He tells Pharaoh they will need a discerning and wise man to lead them through this. And this is where we're gonna pick up today.

In Genesis 41, verse 37, the plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. Again, I always love to be a fly on the wall when reading the scripture. This prisoner makes a lot of sense. Let's do what he says. So Pharaoh asked them, can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace. I just. He's in charge of Pharaoh's house. And when we say house, we're really talking like a palatial type estate.

He's in charge. He then goes to prison. He's in charge. And now he's gonna be put in charge of a nation. But we're gonna see at the end of the story today, it's not just a nation.

He ends up feeding the world. And in order to do that, and in order to be prepared for that, he had to go through Potiphar's house and the prison.

God had prepared him for this. And all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. And verse 41. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

Clear out yourself. You're going to be in charge. Now, I want you to notice this is important to see. Like, if you do a careful reading of this text, Joseph isn't hinting, he's not asking, he's not looking for the job. He says, here is what it's going to take.

Joseph, ultimately, let God be in charge. He ultimately let God promote him. Verse 42. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring, and now. Signet ring, it actually means.

Signet means to sink. You've seen this in movies, right? So you would sink that into soft clay or maybe candle wax. And he now has the ring, which is the power, it's the authority. It's the responsibility of managing the wealth of the nation.

So invoices and work orders got the signet ring. He took that from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes and fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second in command, and people shouted before him, make way. Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

So you have to see, and we're gonna see in a second when all of this happens. Joseph is 30 years old. How well did you do? With massive responsibility at age 30, we can all look back and tell stories. Joseph goes from the prison to a position of authority, wealth and power.

He's now a public figure at 30 years old. I don't know why this name kept coming to my mind this week and the hard time that he's received as a young man. But you've seen it in the news all the time. Justin Bieber. And like, he just couldn't handle his.

And I always want to tell people, could you? Like, he's thrust into the spotlight given all of this wealth, all of this spotlight at. What was he, 12 when he got it? And we were like, he keeps making these mistakes. The same mistakes you made with a lesser spotlight.

The same mistakes I made with a lesser spotlight. Listen, the spotlight is good for nobody, but especially when you're young and have not been seasoned to get to that point. He's now a public figure at 30 years old, and he's gotta deal with J. Oswald Sanders. I love what he says about this. Not every man can carry a full cup.

Sudden elevation, which is what we experience with Joseph, frequently leads to pride and a fall. The most exacting test of all to survive is. Is prosperity.

And you think, well, I just need it for a little Ted. I think I'm ready for it. I think I can handle it. Just bring it on. How faithful are you right now, where you're at and in what you're doing?

Are you completing what you've been given to do? Pharaoh, we read in the story, gives Joseph a wife. She gives him two sons. We'll read about the sons in just a moment. But picking up in verse 46, Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

And Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout Egypt. During the seven years of abundance, the land produced plentifully. Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city, he put the food grown in the field surrounding it. Watch this.

Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain like the sand of the sea. It was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure. And I want us to see today. And as we pick up his story, as we've been looking at the past five weeks. Potiphar's house and prison prepared Joseph for the enormous responsibility of feeding the world.

And let's go back. We've seen it, but it echoes. It has the same thought of where he is right right now. In Potiphar's house. Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care.

With Joseph in charge, he didn't concern himself with anything except the food he ate. He saw that God was with him and that Joseph could handle it as a young man. Then he goes to prison. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. Joseph became so trustworthy that the people over him stopped worrying about what.

What they put under him. So let me ask you, for those who think you need a promotion, for those that are tired of your meaningless job, is what you consider it. I don't like where I'm at. I know there's something greater that I can be doing. And this is a complete and total waste of my time.

I'm here to tell you it's not. Now we've all in here had that rare employee that you only have to tell them to do something once. You only have to show them once, assign the task once. Maybe there's some course correction because the communication was bad. Cause we have to own that sometimes as leaders, we didn't communicate it right well.

But when we give it to this person, we know the job's gonna get done. This was Joseph. Not only was the job gonna get done, it would probably exceed our expectations. Some of you have had said employees and they got poached by another business because they saw how great this person was with the responsibility. But then we've also had the employees that are tough.

You constantly have to check in on them first to see if they showed up. You have to check in on them, you have to correct them. You have to keep them motivated. They don't have any motivation to work. And if we wear out on that, we eventually have to fire them.

Because nothing frustrates a great employee more than tolerating a poor one.

There's a self employed businessman right there.

But I just want to remind all of you that are in jobs that, like, I'm meant for so much more and something's coming available at my work, I should have this. You're developing skills in the position you're in right now. And when I say skills, you're not just developing competency, you're developing character.

Character and competencies. We're always right with those that we lead. We're always wondering, they didn't do that task like I asked them to do it. And in our minds we're always going, is it a character thing or a competency thing? Character is.

Is it laziness? They just don't want to do it. That's character. They don't agree with what I said and they're being dishonoring. So that's character.

Or they don't know how to do it. They don't have the skills or the training to do it. That's competency. So that's something they can get. But we're constantly assessing that and, and both of those can be developed.

If you took a summer job, you know, working on a dock, and you're like, this isn't what I'm gonna do with the rest of my life. I don't know what you're gonna do with the rest of your life, but this summer you're on that dock, you give it 100%. And guess what you're learning on the dock? People skills. You're learning how to deal with people.

Good customers, rough customers. You're showing up on time. And by the way, there's just a ton of things you can do that require zero skills. You can show up on time, you can smile. How many of you are just longing to see employees working places just smiling?

I walked up to get coffee. It was a different town, like a different state. Before you ask, where was I? And the lady was on her phone when I walked up. And I do black coffee.

That's all I do, just do black coffee. And I'm standing right there. And 30 seconds doesn't sound like much, but it's an eternity when you're standing there and she's just pounding away on the keys and then this. I'm not exaggerating. I know you think I exaggerate, but this is exactly how it went, Can I help you?

And you're like, oh, wow, yeah, yeah, I want to help you.

Are you wanting another job someday, a better job someday? Because it starts right now.

This position is preparing you for great things if you want him. But some of you are like, he's getting old. You can say, getting frustrated.

You are developing a servant's heart in the position you're in right now that you feel you've outgrown, that you think you should be beyond by this point. You're developing skills and a servant's heart. How you doing in those two areas? So we pick up in the story. During the years of abundance, before the famine came, Joseph had two sons.

I think these are two of the most important verses in the whole story. We go from all of the trauma in his family to now him over the land of Egypt and this massive project that God prepared him for at Potiphar's house and in prison. A major managerial test, an organizational test. But verses 51 and 52, we see God doing a work in his life and healing him from a dysfunctional family. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, it is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household.

God heals him. And some of you can still be blaming family, mad at family, disconnecting from family. But the question is, are you going to allow God to heal you from your dysfunctional family? Not just survive it, but heal it and move on. He names his second son Ephraim and said, it is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.

Do you see what he's saying here? It's so easy. And this is the trap of success. When God brings you to a place of success and there's so many successful people in this room and will be on this campus today. You've been successful in entertainment, you've been successful in business.

Be very careful never to get to a place where you go, look what I have done.

I am so gifted, I am so skilled. My business smarts, I mean, people are now coming to me for coaching to help them with their businesses. That's how awesome I am.

And you start develop. Let's see how much God uses you after that. Because humility is what's required when you're thrust into the spotlight. Humility is essential. And, and that's all Joseph shows us right here.

He knows where he's at. He knows the power and the authority and the wealth that he has and how he's dressed and riding around second in command over Egypt. He knows all of that. And he doesn't say, huh, about time somebody noticed. No, he immediately says, what?

God did this. God brought me here. God made this happen. He healed me and he has blessed me. And I'm convinced God can heal you and bless you despite your dysfunctional family.

So just remember this. What your family did to you does not determine what God can do through you. But you have a decision to make. You have a decision to make. What will you do with it?

So let's jump into verse 53.

And by the way, I always love to say this. We love crying babies at this church, right? I don't know if you saw that in the thing when you pulled up. Moms need to be encouraged by. But.

But we're called Woodland Hills. What? There you go. So. And there's not a baby in the world that can out scream or cry or shout.

Me, I am going to. I. I will speak. I will always win. So don't ever worry about that, Moms. When that happens and you will not, you may get applause when you not.

Not because you're leaving with the baby, but because we love you, we're grateful for you and so don't. We're not stressed over that. It's funny, some of you are like, no, remove distractions. We never want to be a baby anyway. I don't even know why I'm saying all that's not in here.

Verse 53. This is just powerful. What great, great, great words from the Lord. The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end. And the seven years of famine began just as.

Just as Joseph had said, there was famine. And in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt, there was food. They did what the Bible teaches us to do. You got to put something away for rainy day. You can't devour all that you make.

You have to put something away. When all Egypt began to feel the famine and the people cried to Pharaoh for food, then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, go to Joseph and do what he tells you. Verse 56. When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. For the famine was severe throughout Egypt.

But watch. Verse 57.

Potiphar's house, prison, Egypt. But it goes far beyond that. The world. This guy basically now is the leader of the the world. Without him, they starve.

Verse 57. And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph. Because the famine was severe everywhere. And God did this. Make no Mistake.

God did this. I think this should bring about humility, and it should also bring about contentment with where God has you. I want to be content. I want to be humble in life. And so I'm going to just share with you some of the lessons that I took from this story this week.

Number one, God is writing your story, and he's preparing you for future assignments. I believe that you're gonna show up in rooms you didn't plan on being in. I can say, you know, 25 years here in Branson and 30 years in ministry, you know, I don't go looking for stuff, but I find myself in the craziest, doing weird things, crazy things. And it's exactly what our friend told us. Isn't it cool what God's allowed us to be a part of?

On Thursday, I was with like 75 friends of mine who do what I do, marriage and family ministry. Passionate about helping couples. We were in Atlanta, and the Kathy family loves to support marriage champions. And so they just filled the room with. With 75 of us.

And they brought in all of these experts from all over the country. And we were. They were talking about AI and I was trying to act engaged. But my main lesson from the whole day was we're all going to die. Okay?

So I would, as you prompt ChatGPT, say please and thank you. That's my suggestion to you. So you, you'll be one of the last living human beings. Some of you, some of you, I've watched talk to AI, and you're rude and you got attitude, and when it develops a disease, you're going to be the first to go. That's what's going to happen.

So start being nicer to the AI. But this guy gets up and he starts talking about hemispheric lateralization. That was our first morning session over coffee. I'm like, there's a lot, but let's do it. Talking about how to use AI, how not to use AI.

Oh, it gave it great. And added to that, we gotta get back to being bored. Boredom is everything. The key to success in life is boredom. We can't be distracted all the time.

The best ideas in the world came out of bored minds. So I was fascinated by it. And so AI expert data research. We're talking Silicon Valley, we're talking all these people speaking. And they said.

And then on the schedule was Ted Cunningham, 50 minutes of comedy. I'm ending the day with all this. And then here's. We're gonna just throw Ted in right there. So I Wanted to include the day.

So I got on my phone and I said, hey, hi, Chat GPT, It's Ted. Hope you're doing good.

Would you create for me a simple, clean graphic, professional graphic on everything Arthur Brooks teaches about hemispheric lateralization? And then it spit this out. I thought it was pretty cool. I mean, don't try to read. I can explain it all later.

The whole point I took from his talk is, only use AI to nurture the left side of your brain. Never use AI to nurture the right side of your brain. Creatives don't use AI. You need to be bored and eat with people. Isn't that great?

Anyway, so I shared this, and then I said almost the exact same thing, but I just replaced it with myself. I said, I. Hey, Chat GPT, It's Ted again. Hope you're doing good.

Give me a nice, clean, professional graphic of everything Ted Cunningham teaches about helping couples enjoy life together. And it gave me this right here.

And if you've never followed my teaching, that pretty much sums it up right there. And I thought. I just. I'm thinking, I'm laughing all day long at these Harvard guys and, and Baylor and Human Flourishing Project and all the stats in the Barna group. And I'm just laughing, going, lord, what am I doing here?

I didn't ask to be here. But God has prepared the way, and I'm telling you, he does this for all of us. Is there anything cringier than the person that walks in the room with their resume and sticks their hand out, lets you know who they are, what they've done, why you need them? Settle down. Because that room, I would say of the 75 of us in there, there were some cringy people.

They're wanting the next gig and they're fighting for this. And they're just, cool it. Be humble, be dependable, be faithful, and watch what God does. I'm convinced a generous man will prosper, and he who refreshes others will be refreshed. So go make somebody else successful today and watch what God does in your life.

Go help somebody else and see what God does for you. That's number one, and we gotta go number two. God uses humble beginnings and hard times to prepare us for these future assignments. Young leaders, hear me, and I'm grateful for you, but you don't have any scars yet. You're gonna get them.

I don't want these for you. I don't. I don't want you to get. I don't want you. It's Gonna be hard to watch.

You haven't walked through hard times yet. I remember when Gary Smalley asked Chuck Swindoll at a buffet, why are you my favorite leader? Chuck couldn't answer it right away and he said, can you give me a day and let me tell you tomorrow? They were at the buffet again the next day. And Chuck goes, I have an answer for you, Gary.

And Gary goes, what is it? He goes, pain, Pain. You walk through enough valleys and come out the other side. And God uses it. And remember, you know what the Bible teaches.

We are not comforted, to comfort just ourselves. We're to take the comfort we've received from the Lord and comfort other people. This is what it's all about. Number three. While waiting for your promotion, let your character and contribution do the talking.

Don't make it about you and making yourself important. Make the organization, the business, the restaurant, the store, the show, the theater. Make that successful. Be faithful, be a servant, be dependable and watch what God does. And then this is key.

Never hold your promotion authority or wealth over the heads of those who doubted you or stood in your way. When God promotes you, don't be walking around like Toby Keith. How do you like me now? Now that I'm on my way? You still think I'm crazy, right?

No. We don't get even. And we're gonna get there. We're not to the story yet, but you picked up in our last verse today the whole world needs food from Joseph, including the brothers who sold him into slavery. I've read that story four different ways.

There's the biblical way of reading it, but then there's 30 year old Ted's way of reading it. What would I do if my brothers who were so abusive to me came to me for help and it was my moment to.

This is it. You had this coming for a long time. And that is not what Joseph does. Not to jump ahead in the story. Number five.

A servant leader is faithful with every assignment, every job, the ones we like, the ones we don't. So show up on time. Stay late when necessary. Do things outside of your job description without being asked. Be a blessing to the place that you serve.

Just two more. If serving is beneath you, then leading is beyond you. I don't know who you are, sir, but I'd like to get to know you after the service. Are you new? Do you go to our church?

Just visiting. From where? Sedalia, Missouri. How far of a commute would that be for you? Every Sunday, about two hours.

You can do that. That's no problem. We got people that come from Berryville. You're good. Come on.

I got one more. You ready? Leverage your position, authority, and wealth to the benefit of others. Okay.

God didn't give this to Joseph for Joseph. God gave this to Joseph to the benefit of other people. God used Joseph, and guess what happened in that process? God healed him. God blessed him.

But we've gotta get this real clear. Go out this week and make somebody else at your work successful. When that promotion comes up and your boss asks you what you think, recommend somebody else and see what happens. We all know what that does. One of my favorite things to do after leaving an event, they're like, man, we do this event every year.

You should come back next year. I go, no, no, no. You want recommend somebody else, get somebody else the job, make someone else successful. And you're going, ted, this really isn't a great business talk. I could give another business side to this, but this is how the Lord works.

And this is the lesson that we take away from Joseph. And I hope this week you walk into work, you walk into whatever assignment you have for those who are retired wondering, what am I doing with my life now? Live for the benefit of others. Serve others, be a blessing to others. What wealth you have, I know you give here at Woodland Hills, but how are you blessing those in your family?

How are you helping people outside of yourself? And I'm just convinced a generous man will prosper, and he who refreshes others will be refreshed. And now we're seeing that played out in Joseph's life, literally feeding others, refreshing others. I look forward to continuing the series next week. Would you pray with me?

Father, thank you for how you continue to work in this church. I just pray for businesses and attractions and theaters and restaurants and stores. From the leader in here with one or two employees to the leader with thousands. I just pray that as the employee, we would serve well. So grow us in those moments when we feel it's beyond us and.

And beneath us, and we don't need to deal with this. You keep us humble, and we want to serve you well all the days of our life. I pray for the one who's never placed faith in Jesus that today would be the day of their salvation, that they would repent of their sins, confess with their mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that he has been raised from the dead and be saved. And we pray all this in the authority of the name of Jesus. And everyone agreed.

And my friend from Sedalia said Amen. Love you all. I hope you have a great weekend. The prayer team is down front here and outside.