Adrian Rogers: Practicing the Presence of God [#2247]

welcome to love Werth fine with pastored teacher and author Adrian Rogers reaching out with God's love bringing people to Christ touching lives around the world and helping you find the answers you need today join us as we prepare to open God's Word and discover how your life can be changed forever by his great love worth finding turn if you will with me please to the book of Genesis chapter 37 and when you found it look up here again I want to talk to you about practicing the presence of God now what is the greatest tragedy of all I suppose the greatest tragedy of all would be to come to your deathbed being ready to die and to discover you've never lived because Jesus said I've come that you might have life and have it abundantly then many people who are grinding it out who are enduring who are existing but they are not living one man described it this way youth a struggle maturity a blunder an old age a regret yet there's some people who seem to be born with so little and yet they accomplish so much another people who seem to be born with so much and yet they accomplished so little what is the difference I submit to you that the difference the secret is the presence of God now we're going to study the life of a young man named Joseph and I'm going to show you later on there's a refrain about Joseph that comes in the story of Joseph and it says this and God was with him and God was with him and God was with him that is here was a man who learned how to practice the presence of God interesting thing the book of Genesis is a wonderful book but let me give you an astounding fact 25 percent of the book of Genesis is about Joseph that's an amazing thing because in the book of Genesis also tells about the creation of the universe and in five words five words it says and he made the stars also which it five words for the whole universe and then 25% of this one book about one man whose name was Joseph I believe the most christ-like character in the Old Testament was Joseph and we have so much to learn about him and the story we're going to read pretty soon takes up when Joseph was a teen 17 years of age just about ready if he were to lived in today's society to graduate from high school and sometimes we think that these were mighty men great men never had any problems and somehow they were born full-grown and mature and all of that let me tell you about Joseph Joseph came from a dysfunctional family his his father Jacob was a con artist by Nature I mean he was if you study the life of Jacob you'll understand before God got hold of Jacob turn him inside out upside down Jacob was a con artist he had he had an uncle Laban who was a slicker than Jake and this was cheap cheating cheat now I'm not going to get into all that story but let me tell you that on top of all of that his mother died when he was in mid-teens can you imagine the trauma of having your mother had a gracious beautiful mother whose name was Rachel but she died and when he came up friend he lived in a nest a swarm of wicked ungodly brothers that's the kind of a background that this boy had he's 17 year old kid and that's the start that he gets and then we're going to find out in the story that he gets into all kinds of difficulty and trouble and it's sort of to set the stage if you're not familiar with the story of Joseph I'm going to give you just a brief thumb the hill sketch of this boy named Joseph first of all he was his father's favorite son I believe he was his father's favorite son because he was born of Rachel who was his father's favorite wife now Jacob had several wives but his his true love his real love was Rachel and Joseph was born of Rachel and Jacob loved Joseph so much that he gave him a coat a coat of many colors and we're talk about that coat later on but he receives a coat of many colors and he has he received some dreams God speaks to him and God gives him a vision and God says to Joseph this boy's seventeen year old boy one day all of the world's resources are going to be at your disposal and all of the world's rulers are going to bow down to your feet he's just a 17 year old kid and God gives him this dream and he tells it to his brothers his brothers envied him because of his coat of many colors his distinctiveness they are jealous of him because of the father's love for him they resent him because of his dreams and his visions which he he told them well upon a time when they ride in the field his brothers took him stripped off his beautiful coat I really wanted to kill him they put him in a pit to die a pit where there was no water to languish there and then when a caravan coming to Egypt passed by they said well hey we'll do something better than let him die in the pit we'll sell him and so they sold him for the price of a slave here's this teen boy he's done nothing wrong now he has been abused by his brothers sold as a slave I can see him as he's bound to the caravan there the whip whistles through the air and off he goes all the way to Egypt when it gets down to Egypt he's put on the slave block down in Egypt and the the chief of Potiphar's guard Potiphar who was part of her he was the one who protected the failure and he saw this goodly handsome young man full of virility and strength and they Potiphar bought him and made him a household slave but Joseph was of such character in industry and ingenuity and fidelity that he begins to rise up in the ranks and before long he is running Potiphar's household for him but then Potiphar's wife begins to lust after Joseph and begins to try to entice him to an adulterous affair which Joseph refused and hell hath no fury like a woman scorned so she says that Joseph tried to assault her and to rape her and she tells us that what this boy did to me and her husband takes Joseph now by the NAP of his net and cast him into prison he's languishing there in prison not for doing something wrong but for doing something right for keeping himself pure and there he is down in the prison and he begins to rise to the top again he's beginning to be a good role of the prison and he helps a man who gets out of prison the man says Joseph I know you're innocent I'll speak word for you when I get out of prison but he forgets Joseph and Joseph is there rotting in prison languishing in prison he stays there for a while until Pharaoh has a dream he needs somebody to interpret the dream Joseph has taken out of prison because Joseph has the wisdom of God about him Joseph interprets the dream for Pharaoh there's going to be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine and and Pharaoh says Joseph you saw wise use of smart I'm going to put you in charge of all of this and Joseph is gathering grain and after a while Joseph becomes the savior of that known world in the physical material sense and Pharaoh exalts Joseph he is the prime minister of Egypt this is the boy was sold in as a slave and he just keeps rising and rising and rising now he is the prime minister of Egypt and there's a famine in the land down in the land of Canaan those wicked brothers where it sold him into slavery have to go to Egypt for food they don't know that who Joseph is Joseph now dressing like an Egyptian he's grown up he's changed but they come and they have to appear before Joseph and asked Joseph for grain and that the story gets so interesting there and I can't tell you all of it right now because a time would fail me but finally Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and forgives his brothers brings his father their old Jake all the way from Canaan to Egypt it is a glorious story it's one of the greatest stories ever written I mean it's not fiction it is fact it is truth and it is full of Bible truth but there is a there's a theme well let's just look at it now turn to chapter 39 if you will here for just a moment and look if you will in verses 2 and 3 and notice here Genesis 39 verse 2 and the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man do you see that look in chapter 39 verse 21 but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison look if you will in verse 39 verse 23 the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord was with him that is with Joseph and that which he did the Lord was with him and made him to prosper I love that the Lord was with him the Lord was with him the Lord was with him no matter what happened here was a man who was practicing the presence of God now would you like to do that would you like to prosper I mean have real prosperity that's not necessarily wealth prosperity is the progressive realization of the will of God for your life would you like to prosper let me give you four principles can I do that that's going to come right out let's go back to chapter 37 if you will here number one principle number one express your god-given difference when God saved you God made you different and Joseph expressed his god-given difference read the first four verses Jacob welt in the land where and his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan these are the generations of Jacob Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah his father's wives and joseph brought unto his father their evil report now that doesn't mean he was a tattletale it means he was a truth-teller now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age and he had made him a coat of many colors and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him now put it down big plain and straight Joseph was distinct and Joseph was different and the multi-coloured coat that he wore was a mark of distinction that he wore now I believe and we're getting this later was because Joseph was given the birthright which was spiritual as well as material that is he was distinct because of his nobility the the multicolored long-sleeved coat was a a mark of nobility now what does that have to say to Adrienne today what does that have to say to you today folks I want to tell you that we are nobility in the Lord Jesus Christ do you know who's preaching to you today our royal blue blood I'm a king and a prince you say you're full of yourself get out but I'm a king and a prince you don't call me a pastor just call me Prince Adrienne it's that the folks I am telling you that God has made us a kingdom of priests we are somebody we are a chosen generation the Bible calls us a peculiar people we are different and the world resents our nobility in the Lord Jesus Christ and the world always wants to squeeze us into its mold as Paul said in Romans chapter 12 verse 2 be not conformed to this world Joseph was different his brothers hated him he would not conform I can hear these kid brothers say hey Joseph Hey drink of this hey Joseph take a puff of this let's get old your date with you-know-who you know and and Joseph they're constantly trying to get Joseph to conform but he will not do it he would not conform you know this world wants to make us conform I'll guarantee you there's something about nature that makes us want to conform we speak of a flock of sheep a pack of wolves a swarm of birds a covey of quail a pride of lions a gaggle of geese a bevy of women a gang of boys we might say in a giggle of girls we all want to get in there and somehow conform and and the chief religion in America is the cult of conformity and the chief sin is to be different now it's very strange that sometimes however somebody will break out from the group and you'll be different there'll be an old boy and rather than putting his hat on this way he'll put the bill back this way and for a while all the kids look at and then the first thing you know they're all putting a bill back this way and that's the way they wear the hat that thing supposed to keep the Sun out of your eyes not off your neck but they're all wearing a head and then the first thing you know somebody will wear pair baggy pants that most young respectable young men wouldn't be caught dead in but here wear these pants hanging down the real baggy and so forth next thing you know all the kids are wearing these baggy pants they don't want to be different they want to conform somebody will put a safety pin through his nose good night goodnight these kids going to safety pin through the nose everybody's got to conform you got to be like the crowd I was reading where some scientists were trying to understand why fish swim in schools you know what they did they took a fish and by surgery they did a lobotomy on that fish removed his brain but he could still swim they took away the schooling instinct evidently was in his fish and so he no longer fall into school he just slam off by himself now let me tell you what happened all the rest follows him true here is a fish without reins without reins and the rest are following him for further reference go to any junior high school here was Joseph Joseph refuses to conform he is different and I want to tell you friend a child of God is different what we believe starts in a different source it follows a different course it ends at a different conclusion and we are twice born people in the world of once born people and you're going to be going against the tide most of the time and you ought to stand out like a diamond in a gold mine now we are special we're distinct you you'd like to have the presence of God well let me just say exhibit exhibit your distinction your difference number two number two explore your god-given dreams explore your god-given dreams look in verse five and Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it to his brethren and they hated him yet the more and he said unto them here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed for behold we were binding sheaves in the field and lo my sheaf arose and also stood upright and behold your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf and his brethren said unto him shout thou indeed reign over us or shot down deed have dominion over us and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words and then in verse nine on through eleven he dreamed another dream for I'm going to compact and let you read that when you get home but here was a man who had a god-given dream he's just a team but God is putting a dream into his heart now I tell you that youth is a wonderful time not to conform but to dream let God put a dream in your heart I was about Joseph sage a little younger when God called me into the ministry I was in high school and my pastor told me that God had a plan for everybody's life and I wanted to know God's plan for my life and I said to the Lord Lord I don't know what you want me to do but whatever it is I want you to show me your will and whatever it is I want to do it now God spoke to Joseph through dream he may speak to you some other way but the point is this that God has a plan for your life would you like to know what God's plan for your life is really would you now remember Joseph just had a vision he had it he had a hint but that's all God didn't get give him a road map I think Joseph would have been perturbed at God told him about the pit in the prison and the accusations and all this but he had a dream he had something that he aspired to romans 12 verses 1 & 2 for those of us who live this side of calvary is such a wonderful wonderful formula for formulating our god-given green and and i've preached this verse to you so many times but it's such a key verse Romans 12:1 and 2 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed this world now notice not notice the order but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God you want to know the will of God there it is there's the formula presentation + transformation equals realization presentation just present yourself to him have you done that I mean have you really done that have you presented yourself then Here I am God most people have never done that most people say you know if I did that no telling where it I did I'd end up I I'd be a missionary over in Bongo Bongo somewhere you don't want to present yourself to God listen present yourself to it sign the contract and hand it to him and tell him to fill it in don't be afraid of that because when you present yourself to him then you transform be not conformed to this world but be transformed and the word transform is is the word we get our English word metamorphosis from you will go you will have a divine net more fascists what is a metamorphosis it actually means meta means change morphus means form it's a change of form it literally means when that which is on the inside comes to the surface for example the worm goes into the cocoon and comes out a moth or a butterfly it has gone through a metamorphosis the inner nature of that caterpillar is a beautiful butterfly Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration the Bible says he was transfigured it's the same word metamorphose ah jesus went through a metamorphosis what was his inner nature glory it just came the surface hey that's it he was metamorphose he had a change of nature what is the inner nature of a child of God if you're born again what is God it is glory it is Jesus your inner nature is Jesus Christ lives in you when you present yourself to him hey living sacrifice there will be a metamorphosis and that which is on the inside will come to the surface rather than letting the world squeeze it out it begins to come out presentation equals transformation equals realization and you will know what is that good perfect acceptable will of God hey folks listen to me you don't find the will of God the will of God finds you you get your heart right with God you present yourself to him you let the glory of Jesus come out of you you have the mind of Christ and you just get in the stream and you find out that God will be guiding you God will be guiding you I mean Joseph God didn't give Joseph a road map but God gave to Joseph a dream now don't say God you show me what you want me to do and I'll consider if I want to do it no sir now make sure it's God that's speaking now when I'm talking about dreams here I'm not talking about carnal ambition I'm not just telling you that God has promise to fulfill your fantasies I'm talking about a god-given dream I found this verse Jeremiah 29 verse 8 the Bible says neither hearken to your dreams which he calls to be green well that's a good one do you write it down though you didn't write it down hearken not to your dreams which ye have green why because God's got a better dream for you and God wants us to dream dreams not day dreams god-given dreams the book of Joel says in Joel chapter 2 verse 28 and it should come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions what's he saying he's saying let God be real in you how can I tell whether my dream is a god-given dream think about it pray over when Mary had a vision about the coming Savior the Bible says that Mary pondered all these things in her heart one of my great verses that I love is proverbs 4 verse 18 and says the path of the just is is a shining light that shines more and more into a perfect day what does that mean sometimes you don't know what the will of God is for your life even the will of God for today but the path of the just is is a shining light that shines more and more into a perfect day at first it's dark then it's great on no colors you can only see shadows and then the Sun is coming up and you can see the colors but they're long shadows and after a while it's high noon the path of the just is as a shining light that shines more and more unto a perfect day when I was a kid I said Lord what do you want me to do and then after a while I got a little German my heart Lord I think you want me to preach and then Lord it was Lord do you want me to preach and then after a while it was Lord I think you want me to preach then after a while it was Lord if you don't want me to preach about let me know and then finally Lord I know this is what you want you see check your dream out soak it in prayer God will guide you you say Lord that this is you speaking keep on speaking but explore your dreams that's what Joseph did I wish I had more time to talk about that by the way there were plenty of wet blankets in Joseph's time they hated him because of his nobility they despised him and and when you get a dream in your heart I can promise you the devil will see to it there will be a bunch of people on the cold water committee in the wet blanket committee to keep you from doing I was a team sleeping in the back bedroom or taking a nap my dad was out on the patio with a man named Burt he was the sheriff of that County and I respected him so much Burt said to my dad what's Adrienne going to do when he gets out of high school my dad says he thinks he wants to be a preacher Burt said that boy will never be a preacher that boy will never may he didn't know I heard that but I sitting there listening there are plenty of people who say that it can't be done but I'm telling you if God gives you a dream it can be done let it be a God given to remember thering we've got to hurry this morning number three endure your god-given difficulties now when there's a god-given dream there will be some God given to difficulties and in this chapter if you read from verse 8 on through 27 you would find just a few of the difficulties here's this man he's scorned by his brothers there's a conspiracy against him he's thrown into a pit he's sold as a slave he's falsely accused he languishes in prison well was God out of control not for 8 was God not in control not a nanosecond when when it was all over and you can just put in your margin Genesis chapter 50 verse 20 Joseph is confronting his brethren and he says as for you you thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring 2 passages as it is this day to save much people alive now they've meant it for evil God meant it for good what's the corresponding verse to that you know it Romans 8:28 and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose God is going to allow you to have difficulties in life God does not cause these things God did not cause Potiphar's wife to accuse Joseph of rape God did not cause these things to happen but wherever man rules God over rules and God was not finished with Jay are you having difficulty did you have a dream and your dream is now shattered your dream is shattered that doesn't mean that God is out of business with you I mean if you're in an impossible situation I know at least one brother I'm speaking to this morning that's in that kind of situation and and God gave him a dream and at this moment the dream line Chatard I want to tell you that God is over it all and no matter what Satan does no matter what happens there's a god who's in control of this world and friend you better get a lock on that okay now I had a lot to say on that but I'm going to move on to the last point because got a couple of minutes here here's the fourth thing if you would practice the presence of God enlist your god-given dynamic you've got the dream you've got the difficulties but there is a dynamic and what is the dynamic go back again to Genesis chapter 39 again and God was with him and God was with him and God was with him and you know in the book of Acts when a great preacher was preaching a sermon on the new on the Old Testament you know what he said about Joseph you know what he picked out about Joseph put it in your margin Acts chapter 7 verse 9 and it says this and the patriarchs moved with envy soul Joseph now the patriarchs were his other brothers they called him patriarchs so Joseph into Egypt but notice what he said but God was with him I love that but God was with him a little boy stopped me he said preacher I've got a question asked you I said what is that he said is God in hell pretty good theological question I said son there's nowhere where God is not Satan doesn't rule in here God has given Jesus a name which is above every name that of things in heaven things on earth and things under the earth shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father ah there is no place where God is not one philosopher said that God is a circle whose Center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere are you chewing that God is it as a circle whose Center is everywhere there's nowhere where God is not God is here God is here God is it for there's nowhere where God is not you see the difference is not his actual presence when the Bible says that God was with him it means that God was for him God was on his behalf God was engineering things for Joseph God was with him in times of persecution God was with him in times of responsibility by the way all of these things there's little sermon here but I'm running through God was with him in time with temptation we'll see it later God was with him in times of slander and suffering God was with him God was with him when he died you know what I will I want God with me I want there to be something about Adrian that you cannot explain apart from the fact that God is with me I don't want God to take his hand off of my life I don't want God to take his hand off of our lives we'll have sorrows we'll have sickness you know the joys and I lost a little boy little boy died on mother's day one of those crib deaths on Mother's Day I just preached on the glories of a Christian home we left that Sunday afternoon to go from Fort Pierce to West Palm Beach about 60 miles to be with family they call somebody else in the pastor little church our past aureum was as close to the church as I am almost to mark over here just a little white frame house and the church members had come by we've not been in that church but just several weeks as Joyce and I backed out our automobile they didn't have air conditioning in that church a little white church building I can see the yellow light as it was streaming out of the open windows and the congregation was singing you know what they were saying no never alone no never alone he had promised never to leave me never to leave me alone I've seen the Lightning flashing I've heard the Thunder roll I felt since breakers dashing trying to conquer my soul but I heard the voice of Jesus telling me still to fight on for his promise never to leave me never to leave me alone I would not take anything for the conscious presence of God and this little phrase that speaks about Joseph's life and God was with him God was with him in prison God's with him in the pit God is with him in slander God is with him in business God is with him in pain God is with him in prosperity God is with him he's dying God is with him and I want to tell you that God is in Christ and if you want God with you you need Jesus now let's bow our heads in prayer heads are bowed and eyes are closed and if you're not saved today God brought you here to be saved and I want you to pray a prayer like this dear God I am a sinner and I am lost and I need to be saved and I want to be saved in Jesus you're the son of God you paid for my sin on the cross you died to save me and you promised to save me if I would trust you come into my heart forgive my sin I trust you to save me and Lord Jesus I'll make it public I'll not be ashamed of you your name I pray we pray God has blessed you as you've watched this message if you'd like additional copies or information on other resources write us at love worth finding the Oh box 38 800 memphis tennessee 38134 at lwf 0rg in the US you can place Visa or MasterCard orders by calling 1-800 two seven four five six eight three Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central tea thank you and may God richly bless you

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Keywords: practicing, the, presence, of, God, Adrian, Rogers, Dr, Pastor, Teacher, Teaching, Preacher, Preaching, Evangelist, Prophet, Prophecy, Truth, Praise, Faith, Worship, Gospel, Grace, Word, Minister, Ministry, Ministries, Love, Worth, Finding, Jehovah, Jesus, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Yahweh, Messiah, Saviour, Savior, Lord, Holy, Spirit, King, Lamb, Ghost, Bible, Bellevue, Baptist, Church, Saved, Salvation, Sermon, Fellowship, Trinity, Preist, Missionary, Revival, Lost, Sin, Satan, Backslide, Help, Forgiveness

Id: yDBTXVj5fnU

Length: 34min 22sec (2062 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 01 2016