Joseph The Model of Integrity | Norman McNulty

well greetings to each one of you it's a blessing to be with you as part of the maryland men of faith for 2020 and so thank you for joining me for this seminar presentation today before we start i'm going to offer word of prayer and i will introduce myself by saying that my name is norman mcnulty i'm a physician practicing in lawrenceburg tennessee i'm a neurologist and i have friends in maryland and it's a blessing to be able to connect with you and i know that god has a blessing in store for us today so let's pray father in heaven we thank you for the sabbath day that we can come together that we can call upon you and that we can seek for ways to grow as men of faith in these uncertain times and so i just pray that you would speak through me now as we go through this presentation i pray in jesus name amen so i'm going to be speaking about joseph today and the title for my presentation is joseph a model of integrity you know joseph is talked about in the heroes of faith chapter specifically in hebrews chapter 11 verse 22 and here we read in scripture by faith joseph when he died made mention of the departing of the children of israel and gave commandment concerning his bones so joseph just before he dies he tells the children of israel take my bones with you when you return to the promised land you're not going to stay here in egypt forever and he said that by faith they had a long period of bondage ahead of them they didn't know how long it was going to be but they had a long period of bondage ahead of them but by faith he saw that egypt was not their permanent home the home that the land of goshen was not where they would stay forever and so he commanded the leaders of israel to remember him when they passed out of egypt back to the land of canaan and that story is instructive for us you know they did not belong in egypt their future was in the land of promise and joseph gave that command by faith and he reminded israel of their future that they were not going to be in israel or in egypt forever you know his life of integrity allowed him by faith to look for that land of promise that was going to be in the future if joseph had not lived a life of integrity he would not have had the faith that he had relied on throughout his life to be able to make such a a hopeful promise for the future that the children of israel would go back to the land of canaan one of the things that we learn when we study the life of joseph is that even though he ended up being elevated to the highest possible position on earth he lived as if he was in the presence of god and so whether he was a slave in egypt in potiphar's house a prisoner a captive in in the prison house or when he was elevated to being the prime minister of the greatest nation on earth at that time he lived as if he was in the presence of god and that's the type of men of faith that we want to be at this time of earth's history we want to be living as if we are in the presence of god we want to be men who are faithful we want to be men of integrity we want to be faithful the way joseph was we want to be heroes of faith holding on to the promises of god the way joseph did so let's review the story of joseph we know this story well but there's certainly things that we can apply to the lives that we're facing right now in the year 2020 here we are in a pandemic we're meeting virtually rather than in person there's all sorts of changes that have happened because of this pandemic but joseph gives us an example that no matter what our circumstances we can be faithful to the lord joseph is an example for us just like him when we live by faith and integrity we live as in the presence of god and we look for the heavenly kingdom so we could make the application that the world that we live in today is like the egypt that joseph lived in during his lifetime and certainly joseph had plenty of temporal advantages that he didn't have when he was with his family back in the land of canaan he was in a prosperous nation in a prosperous land he could have enjoyed the pleasures of sin for a season so to speak but he looked for a better land and that's the example that we want to follow as well now joseph did not have an easy life he was sold as a slave now it's bad enough to be sold as a slave but it's even worse when it's your own family your own brothers that betray you which is what happened to him joseph loved his brothers he was sent on an errand by his father to see how they were doing and he went because he loved them and he wanted to make sure that they were doing okay that their well-being was accounted for and for his hard efforts of traveling on a long journey to find them he was betrayed and sold into slavery and he never could have dreamed of such hate and betrayal now i'm certain that some of you who are watching this presentation today who are listening right now have faced betrayal from people that you love in ways that you could have never dreamed of maybe you haven't been sold into slavery the way joseph was but perhaps your spouse cheated on you perhaps they ran off with somebody else and you never saw it coming and it's like hitting you with a ton of bricks between the eyes and you've struggled to pick up the pieces and that's clearly a a difficult trial that requires faith to move forward on joseph gives us an example when we face difficult betrayal he remained faithful to god i mean i can't even imagine the horror that joseph went through going through that betrayal you know many of us would have given up on god if placed in a similar situation you know you're going to a foreign country you can easily rationalize that i might as well just become an egyptian learn their gods assimilate into their culture and enjoy what the egyptians have to offer because the god of my father jacob didn't come through for me and my brother sold me off into slavery so i'm going to move on and try something different and unfortunately i see people do that when they go through difficult trials you know faith during trials is one of the hardest obstacles that we face and in the many presentations that i will give on faith and trials to people at churches around our country one of the things i often remind listeners and i'm reminding myself because i certainly face trials too we're all humans we all have trials is that a trial is not really a trial if it's not difficult and what joseph faced was as severe as a trial as you could place upon a human being he's taken away from his father whom he loves his brother benjamin who he loves and he loved his other brothers too and he's betrayed by them he doesn't think he's ever going to see his family again that's an extremely difficult trial any way you cut it and to remain faithful during that kind of a circumstance is nothing short of remarkable and so joseph gives us an example of faithfulness during a difficult trial now you read the story in patriarchs and prophets and before this paragraph that i'm reading joseph is going through on the caravan of the ishmaelites down towards egypt and he could see the hills where his father's 10 we're at and after he went through this period of of mourning and of terror and fear notice what this statement then says in patriarchs and prophets page 2 14 his soul thrilled with a high resolve to prove himself true to god under all circumstances to act as became a subject of the king of heaven he would serve the lord with undivided heart he would meet the trials of his law with fortitude and perform every duty with fidelity one day's experience had been the turning point in joseph's life its terrible calamity had transformed him from a petted child to a man thoughtful courageous and self-possessed now this is a difficult thing but joseph was his father's favorite son he had been treated in such a way that he had enjoyed the good things of life and his brothers were extremely jealous and of course their actions of betraying him certainly weren't in no way justified but joseph had been living a charmed life he had been a petted child and by being sold into slavery god allowed those circumstances so that joseph would grow into a man of integrity and be the the man that god would have joseph to be and so sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances that we never would have dreamed of that we never would have chosen that we never would have wanted and it's in those moments that we have decisions to make are we going to be true to god are we going to be faithful to him or are we going to let these disappointments these tragedies these very trying circumstances are we going to let these cause us to turn away from god or are we going to allow these circumstances to strengthen our faith to strengthen our fortitude and to allow us to grow into being the men that god wants us to be courageous men there's too many spineless men in society and even in the church and there needs to be men of courage of ability and a faith and integrity he will be true to god no matter what so joseph is clearly an example in this respect so joseph he comes into egypt he sold as a slave to potiphar who is high up in the king's court and so this is seemingly a blessing from god and joseph served in potiphar's house for 10 years and his faithfulness was a witness to his god you read the story in the bible and in patriarchs and prophets joseph attributes his success in managing potiphar's household to the god that he serves he wouldn't serve the idols of egypt and so potiphar accepted that explanation and he eventually made joseph a steward over his house so joseph even though he's a slave he's living a good life in a sense now it's not something anybody would want no one would want to be a slave but joseph was faithful where god placed him even though he's a slave he's faithful and you know sometimes we say you know if i was in a better place if i was in a better circumstance if i was in the job that i wanted if i had the the district that i wanted as a pastor if i had the type of location that i wanted to work in as a physician or as a dentist or any other profession if i could be in a location that i really wanted to be and then i'd be faithful to god but this isn't where i wanted to be so i'm just going to kind of tough it out and kind of do what i have to do but i don't want to be here and i'm going to complain about all the difficulties that i have joseph wasn't like that now it's interesting his ancestors would complain all the way through the the wilderness about all of their trying circumstances joseph was not like that he did not complain about his circumstances in life that's an illustration for us now things didn't stay well at potiphar's house we know the story there comes the temptation of potiphar's wife now you have to believe that she was a beautiful woman and again a temptation is a temptation because there is a lure to it there's an alert to it that you know there's these thoughts that come across your mind she's a beautiful woman she's high up she's married to potiphar and he's high up in the king's court and she's beautiful and she's not going to put herself in a position that would sacrifice her influence in egypt so she'll know how to conceal this so that nobody will have to know and if i get in good with her like this i'm going to have even further favor and rewards i'll be the steward of potiphar's house and i'll be a favorite of his wife and no one will even have to know this and furthermore if i don't do this i might be put to death and i'll lose my witness i will lose my witness and my ability to witness for god in the land of egypt if i lose my life and so you know it's interesting the way we will rationalize sin but you know joseph says in scripture how can i do this great wickedness and sin against god you know this conference maryland men of faith i can tell you as a fellow seventh-day adventist christian as a man of faith that as men we are tempted in this area even when we are married and it doesn't even always fall along the lines of going for another woman sometimes it falls in the area of what we view on the internet there's men who are married there are men who are in ministry who are addicted to pornography and it's a very serious sin that needs to be dealt with and god can deliver you from that but here's here's the point as men of faith in these times god is looking for men of integrity who will not compromise in the area of sexuality and morality god is looking for faithful men who will be leaders and who will be faithful unto death joseph was willing to die to be faithful to the lord he said how could i do this great wickedness and sin against god and that's how we should consider this notice this is patriarchs and prophets page 217 his whole future life joseph's future life depended upon the decision of the moment would principal triumph would joseph still be true to god with inexpressible anxiety angels looked upon the scene you know angels are interested in the decisions that we make they are looking for men of faith men of integrity joseph's answer reveals the power of religious principle he would not betray the confidence of his master on earth and whatever the consequences he would be true to his master in heaven so he's not going to betray potiphar he's not going to betray god under the inspecting eye of god and holy angels many take liberties of which they would not be guilty in the presence of their fellow men but joseph's first thought was of god how can i do this great wickedness and sin against god you know it's interesting even though we know that god is watching some of us are committing sins of immorality because we figure nobody's going to see what we're doing and god is looking for men like joseph who love the lord so much because we love it's because we love god that we would say i would not want to do anything to hurt my savior and my lord how could i do this great wickedness and sin against him you see we have to love the lord more than we love that son and again hebrews 11 talking about moses he could have enjoyed the pleasures of sin for a season it's not as if joseph wouldn't have had a good time with potiphar's wife for a period of time it would have been the pleasures of sin for a season and that's what trips up so many men today is that there are the pleasures of immorality in sexual immorality for a season but then comes the pain and the devastation and the destruction that follows when as scripture says be sure your sin will find you out now again the motivation for not sinning is not because your sin will find you out the motivation is because you love the lord with all of your heart and because of that we choose to be faithful to him this quote goes on if we were to cherish a habitual impression that god sees and hears all that we do and say and keeps a faithful record of our words and actions and that we must meet it all we would fear to sin let the young ever remember that wherever they are and whatever they do they are in the presence of god no part of our conduct escapes observation we cannot hide our ways from the most high so remember we love the lord our god with all of our heart soul and mind and everything that we do is set before him and so we want to be faithful to him because we do not want to hurt him and you know if we're married and we love our wives we would never want to do anything to hurt them either and so joseph's integrity when tempted is an example to us that his whole life depended on that one decision and we will face decisions maybe you already have or you will in the future that will determine your destiny and by the grace of god we can be faithful when tested and tempted so joseph is thrown into prison and you know the thought is that if potiphar had really believed his wife's story he would have executed joseph so the fact that joseph was thrown into prison shows that potiphar probably didn't really believe what his wife had said and so now joseph is in prison and now he is faithful in prison and his faithfulness causes him to quickly rise through the rings we know the story of how he interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker of pharaoh eventually when pharaoh has a dream two years after that he's called to pharah's palace to give an interpretation and in god's due time joseph was elevated to a high position of influence he became a type of christ he became a savior to his own people and to the egyptians now you think about this and we know the story joseph's brothers the 10 not not coming with benjamin the first time but the 10 show up they bow down in fulfillment of the dreams he had had where the the sheaths of wheat bowed down to joseph sheaf and then the stars bowed down to joseph as well this is the fulfillment of those dreams that he had had and joseph could have exacted revenge these were the brothers that had sold him into slavery these were the brothers that had made life very trying and difficult for him but again joseph is a man of faith and integrity and men of faith men of integrity will not exact revenge upon those who have hurt us in life we will be like jesus as he's dying on the cross saying father forgive them for they know not what they do we will extend forgiveness and grace to those who have hurt us and joseph gives us an example of how that is possible joseph loved his brothers and of course then benjamin came back the second time and finally he revealed who he was to his brothers and then he called for his father to come join him and he had 17 more years in egypt with his father jacob and so there's a happy ending to the story in a sense you know the thing is there's not always happy endings in this present life sometimes we are betrayed we are hurt we are wounded we may go through a tragedy where a child dies in a tragic accident a spouse dies in a tragic accident a spouse runs off with someone else never to come back whatever it may be and things will not be set right in a sense until the heavenly kingdom but that doesn't mean that we can't have peace and forgiveness now we don't have to let those who have hurt us and harmed us define our present and our future what has happened in the past does not have to define our present and our future and like joseph we don't have to look to exact revenge we can commit that to to the judge of all the earth so let's as we come to the end of this presentation notice what the statement in patriarchs and prophets page 239 says the life of joseph illustrates the life of christ it was envy that moved the brothers of joseph to sell them as a slave they hoped to prevent him from becoming greater than themselves and when he was carried to egypt they flattered themselves that they were to be no more troubled with his dreams that they had removed all possibility of their fulfillment but their own course was overruled by god to bring about the very event that they designed to hinder so the jewish priests and elders were jealous of christ fearing that he would attract the attention of the people from them they put him to death to prevent him from becoming king but they were thus bringing about this very result joseph threw his bondage in egypt became a savior to his father's family yet this fact did not lessen the guilt of his brother so the crucifixion of christ by his by his enemies made him the redeemer of mankind the savior of the fallen race and ruler over the whole world but the crime of his murders was just as heinous as though god's providential hand had not controlled events for his own glory and the good of man you know you may have been hurt by people you may have had difficulties what they have done doesn't absolve them of their guilt even when we forgive but we can have peace and joseph's faith and integrity can be ours and i just want to challenge you may we live like joseph did as ever in the presence of god may we look for the promised land of the heavenly kingdom knowing that we have a better country to look forward to that the present egypt of this world is not the home that we are living for that we are looking for a better land and by faith we look for that goodly land that we can go up to possess so may we be men of faith may we be like joseph and i just want to challenge you be leaders in your home and be moral leaders be spiritual leaders and be used by god so let's close with prayer father in heaven we thank you for your blessings we thank you for the faithfulness of joseph may we be faithful like he was faithful and may we be found faithful when you come this is my prayer in jesus name amen thank you may god bless each one of you

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Length: 25min 10sec (1510 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 10 2021