Being controlled by your emotions will always
limit your future to the level of your feelings, so you will only do what's right if
you feel like doing what's right. "Oh, I just wasn't feeling it today."
Well, those are the times to "faith" it. I didn't place my feelings in Christ; I placed my
faith in Christ, who's greater than my feelings. Joseph said, after he finished weeping… They
came and said, "We are your slaves," and he said to them (verse 19), "Don't be afraid. Am I
in the place of God?" The obvious answer is "No," but to the naked eye, he kind of is, because
he's so powerful at this point in his life. He's not the little brother they picked on
anymore. This boy is so blessed they didn't even recognize him the first trip they made to
Egypt to get food. He stood right in front of them dressed in Pharaoh's coat. Not the one his father
gave him. The one they stripped from him was still in the house of the father, but God always has
a coat for me somewhere if I keep my character. If I keep my character, you can have my
coat. If I keep my sense of who I am, I can go through things that would have killed
somebody else's character. This is the word. This is the verse we focused on last week, and
I'm going to break it down again. He said, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good
to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." All right. I want to illustrate
this. Who can I use? I need three strong men, three strong brothers. I need three. There we
go. We'll do that. One, two, three. Perfect. I want you to see it. Last week, when I got on
my knees in that sermon, that wasn't for a show. That was so you could carry
the Word of God forward so that it would have an imprint in your
life and you could ask the question, "Am I in the position to make the decision
or am I letting my pain get the best of me?" Okay. Y'all line up from strongest to weakest.
All of these campus pastors. Stand up. I'm done with that image. This is a different image. I
did that last week. That was last week. Y'all watching online, Youtube.com. I want the strongest
one on that side and the weakest one on this side. We'll start with the weakest. I did this last
week, but now let me illustrate it. Let's call him bad. Jeff Bates. Let's call him bad to represent
not that he's bad…the bad things that happened in Joseph's life. Remember, "You meant it to harm
me. You intended it for evil." So, let's say he's the bad thing. What I endeavor for you to see
today is that at this point in Joseph's life… When something bad happens to you,
when something bad is done to you, when the bad thing is because of you…all of it… I'm trying to get you to see that all
things fall under the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty. It means God uses sinful men
to accomplish saving purposes. That's the whole book of Genesis in a nutshell. God uses
sinful women to accomplish saving purposes. "You intended to harm me. God intended it for good
for the saving, salvation, of many lives." So, sovereignty, salvation. But it was bad. We said
last week that that's so important. It was bad. Now, if Joseph spends the rest
of his life in the first part of this sentence, "You intended to harm
me," then the bad thing that happened becomes a chain to who he blames
for it. (Chet, you're blame.) "You intended to harm me." Then he starts
name-checking them. "Reuben, Simeon, Issachar, you rawboned donkey…" He starts calling them
names. He didn't call Issachar a rawboned donkey. He could have. He could have spent the
rest of his life describing how they harmed him. It's such a small thing to say. "Harm me." How
much time do you give to that? I'm telling you, some of us would have spent the next 55 years
describing the first part of that sentence. "Let me tell you what it was like. First I had
to go down and be enslaved by the Midianites. I was picked up by the caravan. I was shoved in the
back." He would have spent the rest of his life… Because if you start there, then you have to talk
about "Then I excelled in the house of Potiphar, who I served, but then his wife was crazy,
and his wife kept on trying to get with me. I mean, who can blame her? I am well
built and handsome." The Bible says that. He was well built and handsome. But he didn't
go into any details about Potiphar's house. He didn't go into any details about
what happened after Potiphar's house, which was prison. He didn't go into any
details about being forgotten in prison when he was the key to one man's freedom. He
didn't rehearse the lack of reciprocation. Now come into the story with me. Don't just sit
there. I know Jeff and Chet are handsome together like that, and all that, but
I want you to see yourself chained to whatever you blame.
You gave your power away. Now watch. Try to get away from Chet.
Nuh-uh. It's not going to be that easy. This creates, what we called last week, the chain
of events that could have defined Joseph's life. Even sometimes I think you can blame yourself
and think that is somehow honoring to God. I thought you weren't God. Telling God you're worthless is an insult
to the word he spoke over you. It is the opposite of worshiping God to tell him how
worthless you are, because the focus is on you. Watch this. This is a chain, and what it
becomes… It's terrible, but it becomes bitterness, and now you have bondage. Walk with it for me in your own life. Something
bad happens. "Oh, that's horrible. I didn't get to finish because of them. They weren't there for
me." I mean, if we just named everything that's in this room… Forget about all over the world.
If we just named everything that's in this room… If we named everything bad
that happened in this room, I wouldn't get to preach another sermon
until 2064. If we spent the rest of this day, we would spill over into tomorrow. Yet
Joseph, after everything he has been through… Genesis 50:20: "You intended to harm me…"
That's all he said about that. That's freedom. He wasn't in denial either, because he still
wept. There was a process. He didn't say it the next day. He didn't say it in the pit.
He didn't say it in the back of the caravan as he was being sold and chained, but at
some point, his perspective became "But God…" So, you break it with a but. Let me show you
again. "You intended to harm me…" That was bad. Now I could blame you, I could be bitter about it,
and I could spend the rest of my life, but God… Let me show you again. Let me
show you until you see yourself interrupting what the Enemy sent to destroy
you, and you can break it with a "But God…" You can break it. So, now I'm
looking… My future is my focus. I'm looking for everything in my life that
has me in bondage, and I'm looking to put a but right here to see what God is going to do
next. The power to break it is in your praise, in your perspective, in your purpose!
That's how you break a chain. "They left me, but God has somebody else for me.
They hurt me, but God healed me. He's healing me right now." Somebody say it in the chat. "But
God…" I feel like preaching in this room today! Like God is breaking chains… I'm serious,
y'all! You can break it with a but. We were dead in our sin, but God…
You meant it for evil, but God… The weapon was formed against me, but it didn't
prosper, because I'm still breathing, living, walking, talking, moving! But God! I can break
that thing. You break it before it breaks you.
