"When Your Deliverance Comes" | June 20, 2021

hi i'm robert jeffress pastor of first baptist church in dallas we are so excited to have you join us on the i campus today for a time of inspiring worship and biblical teaching you are part of a vast online community gathered from all over the world we consider you a part of our first baptist church family and we hope you feel a part of what god is doing in and through first baptist dallas no matter where you are we hope and pray that this is a time you will grow in your relationship with god and others as we worship our savior together welcome to worship [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] well good morning first dallas family let's stand to our feet and worship together almighty fortress [Music] of yours [Music] his craft [Music] oh a mighty fortress is our god we worship him today we welcome again each and every one of you joining us at first baptist dallas for worship welcome to our guests and i campus viewers let's sing together did we in our own strength our striving would be [Music] [Music] christ jesus [Music] should threaten to undo [Music] [Music] one little workshop [Music] almighty [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] the spirit is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] amen mighty fortress is our god the rock upon which we stand he's our hope today what is oh what is our only confidence that our souls do hit all who holds our days within his hand what comes upon from his command and what will keep us [Music] which [Music] hallelujah all the ladies sing together [Music] is [Music] eyes [Music] oh [Music] christ he lives christ [Music] everlasting life [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] again [Applause] christ our hope today amen you may be seated well it's so good to see each of you for worship this morning at first baptist dallas and we also wish a very happy father's day to all of our father's day god bless you and we also welcome our guests and have a very special gift for you it's our pastors a place called heaven devotional 100 days of living in the hope of eternity as well as our choir's latest cd all for your glory some of the great songs we sing each week listed here on this album guest as you came in in this morning you received a worship guide and you'll find enclosed this guest card please take the time to fill this out and keep it with you at the end of the service take it outside these main worship center doors right there you're going to find our welcome center our staff is waiting there for you to exchange your completed card for your gift today and answer any questions you might have regarding our church if you can't make it to the welcome center you'll find some orange receptacles on your way out just simply slip this card in one of those and we will mail you a copy of your gift if you're joining us on icampus just follow that link on your screen to access your gift as well again it's great to see each of you this morning so many exciting events are taking place here at first baptist dallas so let's all take a look together at the screen good morning i campus family we'd love to share with you a special opportunity coming up next sunday june 27th if you live near first baptist dallas or if you can get to our church we'd like to personally invite you to worship with us here on campus for our special freedom sunday service featuring the incomparable first dallas choir and orchestra as well as our special guest speaker david barton that's right ben and i would like to personally meet you and welcome you to our campus for worship we would love to give you one of dr jefferson's books as a special gift for joining us and you will have a reserved seating in our worship service to be a part of this special sunday simply go to firstdallas.org visit fill out a little information about yourself and be sure to check the box indicating that you are coming from the i campus and one of our team members will be in touch with you shortly about next steps we can't wait to worship with you here on campus next sunday at first baptist dallas [Music] good morning we are so thankful to be with you in worship today we have an exciting season ahead and we want to take a moment and tell you about a few upcoming events girls age 5 and over are invited to enjoy the glitz glamour and excitement with dad at the 2021 daddy daughter red carpet gala on friday june 25th register now for a night complete with a delicious meal tasty desserts fun activities and competitions then celebrate our freedom as americans and our freedom in christ on freedom sunday june 27th we will enjoy powerful worship and patriotic music with first dallas choir and orchestra and a special message from guest speaker david partner vacation bible school is coming up on july 19th through the 23rd for all children three years old through completion of sixth grade registration is open now for a week filled with games fun worship music crafts snacks and learning more of god's word with this year's theme destination day as we go into the busy months ahead please help us make room for our guests and families with young children by parking in one of our two brand new parking garages providence or saint paul finally it is good to gather together to worship we encourage everyone to help maintain a healthy environment by using our hand sanitizing stations practicing social distancing when appropriate and wearing your mask if you are not vaccinated for more information on everything happening at our church visit firstdallas.org events [Music] so many exciting events to look forward to here at first baptist dallas well our pastor is right next to me and we're excited to introduce a very special guest with us this morning pastor well that's right tyler he's an award-winning journalist a best-selling author uh the writer for one of the most popular conservative blogs in america today and he's host of the nationally syndicated program the todd starn show would you join me in giving a first baptist welcome to todd starnes god it is great to have you here today you know my greatest honor a few years ago was when you gave me the promotion to be the official chaplain of the todd starn show and it's always a delight to get to appear with you well thank you pastor the lord knows we need it too but we are the only nationally syndicated talk radio show in america with their own champion so we're very honored well that's why i'm sure which a great honor from you now i got word this morning this week you broke your foot exercising yes uh pastor they the doctor said you got to start losing weight so i decided to hit the uh the trails over in memphis where i live and unfortunately i was distracted somebody was smoking ribs and took a wrong turn and well there you go so [Laughter] i asked todd if we needed to have a healing service this morning he said that would be great just as long as it's not a foot washing ceremony so todd uh you've got a new book which is completely different from anything you've ever done before the book is our daily biscuit devotions with a draw this is kind of different than what you've written in the past why a devotional like this right now you know my grandmother was a lifelong united methodist and of course they had a devotion series called our daily bread and a few years ago i started jotting down some funny stories about growing up in the southern states and i always tell people that the lessons i learned growing up in that small town in north mississippi really did flavor everything that i would you know eventually do in life and so we put a lot of these stories together and i really feel like at this time in the in the culture and in the country we need to step back and we need to appreciate the great things we have in common and we also need to share a lot of laughs too and that's why i put together this book uh it was interesting my publisher based in new york city simon schuster and a few things got lost in translation um but uh smoked pork butt being one of them actually uh she thought it was a euphemism for something and i said no no no it's really you know uh but but it's a fun book and again we just wanted to to do something that would remind people of who we are as christians here in america well you know you're such a great representative for the faith you never waver in your conservative beliefs but you're not mad at them about them you don't uh drool at the mouth when you talk you have a onesome personality that makes you one of the top-rated programs in the nation what advice can you give to all of us how do we maintain that optimism that joy as christians when we have so much junk going on around us well i first of all tell people drink sweet tea out of a mason jar that's that always makes you feel better um but you know it's it's really simple pastor it's something that you preach about so much from the pulpit here at first baptist dallas my hope is is not built in what's happening in congress it's not built at 1600 pennsylvania avenue my hope is built on nothing less than jesus blood and righteousness and and pastor we if we remember that and it's easy to forget that in the in the chaos of the day but if we remember that and if we cling to that truth and that promise then we're going to get through the difficult days and that's why i still have great hope for the united states of america we have right now even this week was a jam-packed week in the news especially for christians we had that great supreme court victory earlier in the week for religious liberty and yet it's very uh obvious we have some threats on the horizon to religious liberty as well um what do you see i mean not to be pessimistic about it but the bible says we need to be people of the culture who understand our times and know what we should do what do you see as the greatest uh threat to christians right now in our country yeah i don't know about you pastor but sometimes i feel like a dynasty guy living in an aoc world you know right is wrong wrong is right our values have been turned upside down for me i think the greatest threat is something i wrote about in my last book called culture jihad back in 2019 i wrote about the rise of something that a lot of people didn't know about at the time called the cancel culture movement and this idea that we're going to silence any speech anything that you disagree with you find offensive all of a sudden becomes hate speech and i think that really is the greatest threat facing our nation the idea that you can ban books like harper lee's to kill a mockingbird or dr seuss books the idea that you could remove a bible from a missing man p.o.w table at a military installation which i wrote about just a few days ago these are real clear and present dangers to our freedoms in america and i think the most important thing pastor is that christians have to take a stand but we have to do so not just in washington dc we have to do so in our in our hometowns and if we don't take care of what's happening at the local level first then we're never going to have any kind of uh meaningful change in washington dc you know i'd i'd like your take on this uh i have a commentary coming out tuesday on the fox news rundown about what is happening right now with the department of justice how you know just a few weeks ago they said they were going to vigorously defend the religious freedom uh under title ix and now they've updated it and removed the word vigorously what do you think we can expect from this current administration and religious liberty well i think in reality what we're looking at is the third term of the obama administration and we know that barack obama promised to fundamentally transform america and i believe he delivered on that promise and one of the ways his administration did that was he marginalized the church in america but let me qualify that we allowed ourselves to be marginalized for me i thought one of the greatest concerns was not necessarily the um was not necessarily the global pandemic it was our reaction to that pandemic where we were so willing to surrender our civil liberties to the government but we have to be very careful because when we do that the government may not give them back to us i'm a constitutionalist i believe in the constitution and i am a free speech purist and that is an important thing because one day they're banning dr seuss books but you never know the next day they might be banning our daily biscuit do you have any good cartoons in here like dr seuss i'm not a very good cartoonist what do you think christians can do positively in the culture right now and we're not talking about republican democrat we're talking about christian versus non-christian when we talk about values like marriage and gender these are not republican values these are christian values what can we do you say start locally what can we do to help uphold those values well the greatest engine for change in this country is our public school system and i think it's very important for christians to get involved in public education look i'm a strong proponent of homeschooling and also good christian education but there are many parents around the country who may not be able to afford that and so their kids are going to public school so we've got to get involved in that pastor i think that we need to run for school board christians need to get involved in the textbook committees and every christian in this room is a taxpayer you are paying for what's happening in that classroom and so you have a responsibility you don't have to burn down buildings or march in the streets you can do so in a very winsome way and you can facilitate change well you know we have a special guest here i'll introduce in just a few moments who is a great leader in our country he's what i call a reasonable conservative and todd we just thank you for being a reasonable articulate conservative who's fighting the good fight for the christian faith the book is our daily biscuit devotions withdrawal todd is here with copies of the book for our audience here and in day one and you can meet todd right after the service today don't you appreciate a christian spokesman like todd starnes todd thank you so much for being here good to have you here todd todd will be joining several thousand christian media people at the national religious broadcasters convention which gets underway tomorrow at the gaylord texan and it's going to be a great great time together thank you national religious broadcasters stands for free speech and freedom of religion so that the airwaves and all electronic media can proclaim the gospel of jesus christ so we're we're proud to do that and today we have the president and ceo of the nrb uh we have with us troy miller and his family they're here down front would you welcome them to first baptist as well [Applause] let's read god's word together and today we're reading from psalm 139 we'll be reading verses 7 through 10 and we'll read from the new american standard bible those words from that version will be on the screen here in the worship center and also for eye campus as well you'll have those words so that we can all read god's word together and we stand to honor the reading of god's word join me in standing as we read psalm 139 beginning with verse 7 ending with verse 10. where can i go from thy spirit or where can i flee from thy presence if i ascend to heaven thou art there if i make my bed and she'll behold thou art there if i take the wings of the dawn if i dwell in the remotest part of the sea even there thy hand will lead me and thy right hand will lay hold of me may god richly bless the reading of his word you'll be seated now our executive pastor ben lavorne is coming with a word for us well good morning church happy father's day we continue our time of worship this morning through giving you'll have the opportunity to leave your tithes and offerings in the boxes as you exit the worship center this morning you can also give online at firstdallas.org forward slash give online but right now as we go to the lord in prayer together i'll invite you to kneel all over the worship center heavenly father we praise you this morning as our holy god and on this father's day we are reminded that you are our father in heaven who loves us you loved us so much that you gave your only begotten son that we might be saved that we might be called the very children of god your word tells us lord that we are adopted to sonship that we are co-heirs with jesus christ and that we can call out to you abba father and so this morning lord we call out to you as your children to say that we love you we call out to you to praise you and to thank you for our bless the blessings in our lives lord we do thank you this morning lord for the fathers and the grandfathers that you've placed in our lives those men who stand in the gap and shepherd their families as your stewards and your servants lord we pray that you would strengthen them as your ambassadors and lord we pray that those fathers and we as a church would reflect your love the love of our heavenly father to the entire world we give to you now lord our tithes and offerings we commit to you our lives and we pray this in the saving name of jesus christ amen [Music] streets of mercy never [Music] [Applause] cease praise the lord [Music] here i raise [Music] is [Music] from [Music] stranger [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you so much tremendous first dallas choir and orchestra for your music today we want to welcome those of you who've just joined us in our day one service the hundreds of thousands of you watching on our first dallas eye campus and the literally millions of you who are watching or listening to our broadcast on pathway to victory thank you for joining our worship service here at first baptist dallas today as we begin today i would like to welcome a very special guest we have here with us today he is the 46th governor of the great state of arkansas a tremendous christian would you join me in welcoming governor asa hutchinson governor hutchinson so good to have you with us today thank you for being here governor hutchinson is finishing his term as governor of arkansas he's one of the great leaders i call a reasonable conservative and governor we're going to be praying for you and susan especially as you seek god's will into the next phase of your life you're much like the character we're studying right now joseph god calls men and women to serve in the world of politics to be his representative and thank you for sacrificing to serve not only arkansas but our nation we're grateful for you and today i'd also like to welcome troy miller and his family the president the new president of the national religious broadcasters and broadcasters make it possible for us to broadcast to spread the gospel throughout the world and we're praying for you and the meeting of the nrv this week thank you for coming patneff was a former governor of texas he was also at one time the president of baylor university and he liked to tell the story about two women two teachers who met back on the baylor campus for a class reunion they were catching up with one another to see how each one was doing one said well i got married and the other person said that's good but the first teacher said he's twice my age that's bad but he's worth two million dollars well that's good but he won't let me spend the cent of it that's bad but he built me a 500 000 home well that's good it burned down last week that's bad but he was in it you know it's always a mistake to try to judge a single event in your life as either good or bad before you know the whole story just think about the incidents in your life sometimes they appear to be good sometimes they appear to be bad but you really can't draw a conclusion until you see the whole picture just imagine trying to watch a parade through the knot hole in a fence all you could see is what is directly in front of you you couldn't see what preceded or what is following you would have a limited view but if you stood on a tall building you could see the whole thing the beginning the middle and the end of that parade it's the same way with god god is not bound by time like we are he doesn't see things in terms of past present and future he sees the whole picture and while single events in our life may not make sense they make perfect sense to god the god who only not only knows what's going to happen but the god who plans what is going to happen as well we see that in our story our chapter in joseph's life today there were events that seemed good that happened to him there were events that seemed bad but today in genesis chapter 41 joseph begins to see the bigger picture of what god is doing and today we're going to look at what happens when our day of deliverance comes if you have your bibles turn to genesis chapter 41. remember where joseph had been he had been the favored son of his father jacob that's good his brother sold him into slavery that's bad and yet he was delivered to egypt and rescued from the pit that's good he was sold as a slave to potiphar that's bad but he was raised he was promoted to be the chief of the household that is good he was falsely accused of rape and imprisoned that's bad and that's where we pick up with joseph's story in verse 23 of genesis chapter 40 it reminds us that while he was in prison he met two people the baker and the chief cup bearer and he predicted through a dream they related to him that they would be released the baker would be killed the cup bearer would be restored to his position and joseph said just remember me when you get released look at verse 23 yet the chief cup bearer did not remember joseph but he forgot him that's bad now look at chap chapter 41 verse 1 now it happened at the end of two full years don't skip by those words too quickly two full years you know waiting is difficult do you have trouble waiting waiting for any of us is difficult but it's alleviated because we know eventually they'll come an end to our waiting we know eventually the light will turn green we know eventually the airplane will come we know eventually the elevator will arrive we know eventually that toddler will be out of diapers and into kindergarten we know that there's an end to what we're going through but it's much more difficult when you can't see the end you wonder how long your present situation will go that was true for joseph he waited and he waited and he waited never forget that while we're waiting god is always working first of all he's working in our own heart that's what he was doing in joseph's life he was burning away all of the impurities in his life so that he could be conformed to be the vessel that god wanted to use him in a powerful way in the next chapter of his life by the way that's always god's plan for his servant some of god's choices servants have had to endure decades years months of waiting chuck swindoll and his biography of joseph notes that abraham and sarah waited for decades until the birth of their promised son isaac moses spent 40 years on the backside of the desert being trained and waiting to become the leader of the great exodus noah waited 120 years for the flood that he had been preparing for the apostle paul after his damascus road experience was on in the desert in arabia for three years being taught the great truths he would share as the world's greatest evangelist while we're waiting god is working he's not working only in our lives but he's also working in the lives of other people and other circumstances to bring about his plan for us and that's what god was doing here while joseph was in prison god was working and notice what happened verse one it happened at the end of two full years that pharaoh had a dream now let me just say a word about dreams uh does god speak to people through dreams well in the old testament god spoke to people he communicated through dreams through visions through angelic appearances he doesn't do so as much today how do i know that well hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 says god after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days he has spoken to us in his son jesus christ the living word of god the written word of god is the depository of everything we need to know about god there's no new revelation no new doctrine that is being given when people claim god has given me a new truth you know you ought to be very wary of that jude verse 3 says the faith the truth has been once for all delivered to the saints so when somebody comes to me and says you know i had a dream last night they tell me the dream what do you think it means i usually say i think it means you ought to quit eating before you go to bed um i'm not saying god doesn't lead people of course he still leads people through his holy spirit but he doesn't give new revelation that doesn't mean god doesn't lead us but in the old testament times he gave sometimes dreams and visions to communicate his truth and so it happened that pharaoh had a dream and notice by the way that god spoke to pharaoh even though he was a non-christian you know a lot of times we think god is limited in who he can work with he can only work with christians god is more powerful than that proverbs 21 verse 1 says the king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the lord he turns it whichever way he wishes some of you are under the authority of a non-christian right now maybe you are married to a non-christian husband or you work for a non-christian employer god is bigger than that non-christian in your life god is able to work with him to turn that person whichever way he wants he did that with pharaoh so he speaks to pharaoh in two dreams the first dream is related in verses 2 to 4. pharaoh saw in his dream the nile river the source of life for the egyptians and he saw seven healthy cows half submerged in the nile river and then he saw seven unhealthy cows skinny cows that rose up and developed the and and devoured the healthy cows he was very disturbed he awakened from that dream went to the refrigerator got some milk you know thought maybe that would help went back to sleep and he had a second troubling dream the dream was this time a stalk of wheat that had seven plump ears of wheat on it and then there were seven thin ears of wheat that had been devoured by the wind and they ate the seven plump ears of wheat and now the bible says pharaoh verse 8 was very troubled by what this could mean you know the late evangelist vance havner says god's spirit comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable uh many times god is working not just to bring us comfort but sometimes the holy spirit convicts us speaks to us when we need to make a change in our life and that's exactly what god was doing in pharaoh's life and so pharaoh calls for all the soothsayers and the sorcerers for an interpretation after all that's why they were on the palace payroll to give interpretations but they were dumbfounded and they couldn't uh provide an interpretation for pharaoh's dream and it's at that point verse 9 says that the cup bearer suddenly remembers joseph two years he had forgotten about him he suddenly remembers joseph i imagine the conversation went something like this the cupbearer said uh pharaoh i hesitate to bring this up i i know it's a sore subject but remember a couple of years ago when i dropped that glass of wine on your persian rug and you really got ticked off at me and threw me into prison oh i certainly do well while i was in prison i met a hebrew a hebrew slave and he had the ability to interpret dreams so pharaoh was so desperate he said well bring him here bringing to me now so that i can have an interpretation and that's how joseph arrives in the court of pharaoh now before we look at joseph's explanation i want you to again place yourself in joseph's position you've been in prison for two years every day is just like the last day it begins the end is the same and it stays the same and then on a day that begins like any other day of the 700 you've already experienced in the prison this day begins like all the other days but something unique happens the chief jailer comes and says joseph get dressed pharaoh wants to see you today let me just say and i'm going to say it again later when your day of deliverance comes it's going to begin like any other day but then god is going to intervene and do something miraculous that's what he did for joseph the chief jailer came and said pharaoh wants to see you look at verse 14. then pharaoh sent and called for joseph and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes he came to pharaoh there's another hint at the greatness of joseph why is it he rose like cream to the top and no matter what situation he was in whether it was in potiphar's household or with a chief jailer he was always gaining a promotion he was just street smart he realized if you wanted to succeed you needed to make a good impression on people i remember we were interviewing somebody for a staff position one time and they came in unshaved inappropriate clothes and i said forget it we're not hiring them you said well wait a minute that's kind of superficial uh man looks on the outward appearance but god looks on the heart well that's right and i'm not god i look on the outward appearance and my thinking is if somebody doesn't have enough sense to dress properly for an interview you don't want them around you and that's exactly what was going on here joseph knew how to be successful and out of respect for the king he dressed appropriately and he comes into the court and what does pharaoh say pharaoh says i hear that you can interpret dreams and notice in verse 16 joseph says it is not i who interpret dreams but god something had happened to joseph in those two years in prison he had been stripped of everything important to him he realized his life purpose was to glorify god so everything joseph did from that point on had one purpose and that was to glorify god you know what it means to glorify god it means to make god look bigger and better to unbelievers so that they come to faith in him that's what the purpose of our life is you will never understand your purpose in life until you understand that's the only reason you and i exist is to glorify god the presbyterians don't get everything right but they get this right the westminster catechism what is the chief end of man to glorify god and enjoy him forever that's why we're here one of our deacons was talking to a man and this man was relating all the seemingly miraculous things that had happened in his life and this deacon kept interjecting that's god that's god don't you see that is god who is doing that in your life that's why you and i are here to deflect people's attention to god joseph was saying god is the one who's given me the ability to interpret your dream so pharaoh relates the dream to joseph about the cows and the wheat and then notice in verse 25 joseph said god is telling you what you need to do now that was bold you know why that was so bold in egypt there was nobody greater than pharaoh or so they thought and joseph had a holy boldness about him that said pharaoh there's somebody bigger than you are there's somebody greater than you are god and he is telling you what you need to do governor hutchinson you will appreciate this you know i remember the late chuck colson in his book born again he was the right hand person of richard nixon he said a lot of times these people would be waiting to go into the oval office to see president nixon and they would say i'm going to give him a piece of my mind they'd be holding in the roosevelt room you know getting ready to go and i'm going to tell them how it really is and once they walk into the oval office they just melt they fold like a cheap suit because there's something about that office that is intimidating and people lose their boldness many times when they're in the presence of the president i don't tell a lot of stories but i'll have to tell you one um one time i was talking to the former president it was just he and i talking and he asked me a very pointed question and i thought very quickly how am i going to answer this and i kind of started to reason and i said well i don't want to offend him if i say something he doesn't like i might lose my influence or the opportunity to blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah so i'm gonna have to admit to you i waffled i didn't say what i knew was the right answer we kept talking and i got more and more convicted and i interrupted and i said mr president i'm sorry but earlier you asked me a question i didn't give you my best answer here is my best answer and he didn't throw me into prison i mean he didn't had me executed you know and so forth i'm just saying you can come up with all kind of reasons wherever you are to waffle and not speak the truth i think joseph would have been tempted earlier in his life to have done that now just imagine imagine his situation with potiphar had changed imagine that instead of being thrown into prison for supposedly trying to rape his wife imagine none of that happened and two years later when pharaoh had this dream joseph was still working for potiphar as his right-hand man and pharaoh was looking for an interpreter and the chief of the bodyguard potiphar said hey i've got somebody working for me who interprets dreams i'll bring him over to talk to you and joseph had come and pharaoh had asked him what the dream meant and joseph had done what i did he waffled a little bit he could have reasoned well first of all i don't want to bring any discredit to my employer potiphar i don't want to lose my position of influence with pharaoh i'll i'll hedge my answer just a little bit he could have rationalized doing that but no joseph hadn't been in potiphar's house he had been in prison for two years he had been stripped of everything he had lost his family he had lost his possessions he had lost his freedom what more could pharaoh do to him kill him that wouldn't be that bad after being in that stinking prison for two years he had a listen to this he had a holy detachment from this world that gave him a holy boldness you know he was like the apostle paul who years later would say when he was under arrest of the philippians for me to live is christ to die is gain really doesn't matter what happens to me if i live that's great i'll live to serve jesus if i die i get to go with him to be with him sooner than i expected to be either way i win maybe one reason you're having trouble being bold and glorifying god in your situation perhaps it's because you're too entangled with the things of this world you're too concerned about your popularity or your position or your possessions but when you lose all of those things it gives you a boldness for god that's exactly what happened with joseph he said god is telling you what you need to do and so joseph gives the interpretation he said pharaoh what this means is they're going to be seven years of bountiful harvest that's what those plump ears of grain wheat and the fat cows mean they're going to be seven years of bountiful harvest followed by seven years of famine and the best thing we could do my recommendation is during the time of harvest during the seven years of plenty let's set aside 20 of what we have and save it for the future and thus when the famine comes we will have all of the food that we need by the way did you know there's a principle there it applies not only to governments it applies to churches and it applies to individual families and that is make sure you're saving a portion of your current income to prepare for the future did you know there is a time of financial famine that every one of us is going to face one day it's coming there's going to be a period in your life when your expenses are greater than your income when your outgo is more than your inflowed right here and amen to that it may be your retirement when you no longer have a steady income coming in it may be an emergency it may be some extraordinary needs like sending your kids to school how will you prepare for that time of famine that is coming when you have more expenses than income people say well i'm going to trust god hey i'm all for trusting god there's every reason to believe god can take care of us the question is how does god take care of us he has a principle save some of the present to prepare for the future proverbs 21 20 says there is precious oil and treasure in the dwelling of of the wise but the foolish person swallows it all up it is a foolish family a foolish church a foolish government that spends everything it is taking in and more you have to save for the future that's what joseph was saying and then he added now of course you need somebody to oversee this operation if you're going to store this grain and massive silos and then distribute it later you need an overseer now early earlier in his life you would think joseph was trying to recommend himself for this position but there's no hint of it now he had every reason to think he was going back to prison but pharaoh had a different idea look at joseph's exaltation when pharaoh heard this he said where can we find a man like this who is possessed by rua elohim the spirit of god literally pharaoh was a pagan and yet he recognized that in joseph there was something different and so it is pharaoh who exalted joseph look at verse 41 and pharaoh said to joseph see i have set you over all the land of egypt then pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on joseph's hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck the signet ring is what pharaoh would use to stamp an official document as having come from him he would press that ring into the wax and having the mark of pharaoh meant that it was being done on the authority of pharaoh you know today we have different kinds of credit cards different levels of importance american express has the green card and then the gold card and then the platinum card and then the titanium card but then there's the highest level the black card it's a secret card for only a few well this signet ring was the black card only one person held it and it was pharaoh and he gave it to joseph look at verse 43 and pharaoh had joseph ride in his second chariot and they proclaimed before him bow the knee and he set joseph over all the land of egypt moreover pharaoh said to joseph though i'm pharaoh yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of egypt think in a moment's time joseph had gone from the prison to pharaoh's court what a difference a day can make when your day of deliverance comes what does this story say to us certainly it is a reminder that god is sovereign over the affairs of nations this act of putting joseph where he was would prepare him for another great act of his life that would result not only in the salvation of egypt but the preservation of israel the jewish line that would eventually produce our savior the lord jesus christ there were worldwide global implications of what was going on here but this story is also a reminder of how god vindicates and rescues his servants the psalmist cried out in psalm 13 1 how long o lord will you forgive me forever if you've ever wondered about that maybe right now you're asking this god the same thing god how long will you forget where i am how long will you forget me is it going to be forever don't forget your day of deliverance has already been scheduled on god's calendar it's been written in indelible inc and although i can't tell you when that day of deliverance is coming for you i want to point out three hints three signs that your day of deliverance may be coming soon first of all our deliverance may be coming when we have reached the limit of our own strength now sometimes god uses our efforts he partners with us to bring about our deliverance nothing wrong with that but i can tell you from my own life many times it comes when we come to the end of ourself when we are exhausted when we've done everything we know to do that's when god steps in why does he wait until then so that when he does deliver us there's no doubt who did it first peter 5 6 says therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of god that he might exalt you at the proper time secondly our day of deliverance may be coming when someone else pleads our case and that's what happened with joseph he was in prison he couldn't plead his own case the cup bearer had forgotten him but then two years later the cup bearer remembered him not because of anything joseph did but god brought him to the cupbearer's mind the same thing is true for you right now you may not know it but there's somebody perhaps you've never even met who is pleading your case or bringing about circumstances that are going to change the direction of your life you may say well i don't know anybody who can help me i don't have any connections you know what that doesn't matter god has the biggest rolodex in the universe he knows everybody and he has the ability to work through everybody's life for your good and his glory god knows the people you need to know and don't ever forget this when you feel like you have nobody to plead your case you have the most powerful person in the universe jesus christ first john 2 1 says and we have an advocate before him christ jesus the lord that word advocate literally means lawyer a lawyer he is our lawyer while satan is before god accusing us jesus christ is pleading our case before the father finally our day of deliverance may be coming when god reaches us apart from any effort on our part now again we should do everything we can in our situation but i have found that oftentimes god finally reaches down apart from anything that we do joseph had already experienced that remember his brothers left him in a cistern for dead how did he get out of that cistern there was no rope ladder that he could climb out of his brothers had a change of heart and they reached him same thing in the jail here he had been in prison for two years he couldn't affect his own release somebody else did it moved by god god reaches us apart from any effort on our part you know i was thinking this week as i read this story about another prisoner who lived a thousand years after joseph his name was barabbas remember his story he was a murderer an insurrectionist he had been sentenced to death he was being held on in antonio's fortress in jerusalem below the street level where they kept the prisoners it happened on a friday morning happened to be what we call good friday it was passover for the jews and right above him on the street level there was a crowd gathered together the roman governor pontius pilate was in town and he had before him a man jesus of nazareth and remember pontius pilate said to the crowd because it is your passover we're going to do something to honor passover we're going to release any prisoner you would choose to release jesus stands silently before pilate now picture it brabus is down below he can't hear what pontius pilate is saying but when pilate says which person would you like us to release barabbas or jesus the crowd shouts out barabbas barabbas and barabbas below can hear that he can hear the people shouting his name and heart encouragement begins to build in his chest as he hears the people cry out his name barabbas barabbas perhaps this is a group of fellow insurrectionists they're ready to overthrow the roman government they're coming to let him go and lead the revolution and then pilate says to the crowd well then what shall i do with this man jesus again bravest can't hear the question all he can hear is their answer crucify him crucify him crucify him so think about it all barabbas is hearing is his name being shouted barabbas barabbas barabbas crucify him crucify him crucify him and shortly after barabbas hears the sound of the boots of those roman soldiers growing louder and moving more quickly as they approach his cell he knows his end is near imagine his surprise when the prison door flings open and the jailer says barabbas you are free someone else is dying in your place today god rescued joseph god rescued bravos without any effort on their part and he'll do the same for you you may be asking the question of the psalmist where are you god are you going to forgive me forever and god knows exactly your address he knew the address of barabbas saint antonio's fortress he knew the address of joseph the jail he knows your address as well the psalmist said where can i go from your spirit or where can i flee from your presence if i ascended to heaven you are there god if i make my bed and shield behold you are there if i take the wings of the dawn if i dwell in the remotest part of the sea even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me god knows where you are and on a day that begins just like any other day your day of deliverance will come let's bow together in a word of prayer for some of you right now you're christians the circumstances of your life don't seem to make sense yet god has two words for you trust me trust me even though you can't see it i'm working for your good and for his glory would you say that right now in your heart god i really don't understand you i don't even feel your presence but i am trusting that you are working there are others of you here today who may not be christians yet maybe you feel alienated from god but you'd like to know god you feel guilty for the things of the past you're not sure when you die you'd be welcomed into heaven god has three words for you call on me call on me the bible says whoever calls on the name of the lord shall be saved it doesn't matter what you've done in the past no matter how far you've wandered away from god god is willing to forgive you because that same jesus who died in baratus place died in your place as well in some inexplicable way when he hung on that cross that friday afternoon he took the punishment that you and i deserve for our sins he experienced hell so that we could experience heaven one day the only way we can have the forgiveness of our sins is by trusting in jesus to be our savior i don't think it's an accident at all you've tuned into this broadcast during day one or here in our worship center god has brought you to this point so that you could receive the free gift of salvation and today if you're ready to receive that gift i want to encourage you wherever you are to pray this prayer in your heart knowing that god is listening to you right now would you pray this with me dear god thank you for loving me i know i have failed you in so many ways and i'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but i believe what i've heard today that you love me so much you sent your son jesus to die on the cross for me to take the punishment i deserve to take for my sins and right now i'm trusting in what jesus did for me not in my good works but in what jesus did for me to save me from my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to live the rest of my life for you in jesus name amen if you're watching online and you prayed that prayer with me would you go to the top of the screen right now and click that link that says i prayed the prayer to trust in christ as soon as you do that i'll be notified of your decision today and i have some free material to send you about what it means now to live as a christian so don't wait any longer go right now if you're watching online and click on the link at the top of the screen i prayed the prayer to trust in christ for those of you in day one or here in our worship center i'd like to ask you to take out your card today and there's a place for you if you prayed that prayer with me to indicate that decision it's the third box i prayed the prayer to trust in christ today check that box and i'll send you the same material we're sending our online friends maybe you're a guest today you can check that box maybe you'd like more information about our church check that box there's even a way now for you to join by checking the box it's the final one i would like to join first baptist church today i counted up last night 30 people who already indicated they're joining right now our church today and there are more of you who would like to do that as well just check that final box and when you have finished with the card you can drop it off at the welcome center on the way out and we'll exchange your card with a copy of my new devotional a place called heaven 100 days of living in the hope of eternity if you don't want to stop by the welcome center you can deposit this in one of the many receptacles around the campus thank you so much for doing that don't forget you can get your copy of our daily biscuit todd starnes great new book he will be out in the concourse to sign copies of that book for you as well well today is father's day and i know we have a number of dads and granddads and great-granddads here today and we would like to honor all of our fathers today by having you stand wherever you are if you're a dad would you stand wherever you are and let's say thank you to all of our dads whether they're here or in heaven and uh governor hutchinson thank you so much for coming troy hope you have a great nrb this week thank you all for being here today let's stand together now all of us as tyler comes to lead our final song thank you pastor a tremendous morning of worship let's sing his praise together this is my story this is my song [Music] praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising myself [Applause] [Music] god bless you church and happy father's day well thank you so much for joining us for worship today on the first dallas i campus it's our honor and privilege to worship chat and pray with you throughout the service if you are local to dfw let me encourage you to come on down we'd love to have you visit us in person we'd love to greet you and show you a great spot in the worship center for you to sit it would be our honor to worship with you in person in the heart of downtown dallas right here at first baptist dallas also if you are new here to the eye campus or have been watching for a while and want to get plugged in let me encourage you to sign up for a free gift we'd love to provide that to you directly in your inbox and then sign you up for pastors daily devotional it's straight from the pen of dr jeffress and you will be encouraged with that great resource each and every day simply visit the link that's provided on your screen and lastly stay connected with us each and every day with our facebook global group there we encourage one another through scripture and graphics but also pray for one another so head on over to facebook and join our icampus global facebook group thank you again for joining us today for worship we look forward to seeing you next week on the first dallas i campus hi i'm robert jeffress pastor of first baptist church in dallas we are so excited to have you join us on the i campus today for a time of inspiring worship and biblical teaching you are part of a vast online community gathered from all over the world we consider you a part of our first baptist church family and we hope you feel a part of what god is doing in and through first baptist dallas no matter where you are we hope and pray that this is a time you will grow in your relationship with god and others as we worship our savior together welcome to worship [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] well good morning and welcome to worship at first baptist dallas today let's all stand together let's worship almighty fortresses [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is a mighty fortress is our god we worship him together today in spirit and in truth welcome to worship first baptist dallas we welcome guests viewers joining us across the world today let's lift our voices together [Music] right [Music] christ jesus [Music] is [Music] should threaten to undo [Music] every voice [Music] is [Music] is [Music] through [Music] this [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] praise the lord this morning he's our fortress the rock upon which we stand he's our hope today what is our hope in life christ alone christ alone what is [Music] [Music] is [Music] all the ladies [Music] [Music] is [Music] who stands [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] will be destroyed [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh is [Music] christmas christ our hope today amen you may be seated church and it is so good to see each of you for worship this morning here at first baptist dallas and we also wish our fathers a happy father's day god bless you and to our guests we have a very special gift for you it is our pastors a place called heaven devotional 100 days of living in the hope of eternity as well as we have for our guest our choir's latest cd all for your glory and guest as you came in this morning you received a worship guide you'll find and close this guest card please take the time to fill this out and keep the card with you at the end of the service take it outside these main worship center doors right there you're going to find our welcome center our staff cannot wait to meet you and to exchange your completed card for your gift and answer any questions you might have regarding our church now if you can't make it to the welcome center you'll find some orange receptacles on your way out just slip the card in one of those and we will mail you a copy of your gift if you're joining us on icampus just follow that link there on your screen to access your gift as well again so good to see each of you for worship this morning lots of exciting events are taking place here at first baptist dallas let's all take a look together at the screen good morning i campus family we'd love to share with you a special opportunity coming up next sunday june 27th if you live near first baptist dallas or if you can get to our church we'd like to personally invite you to worship with us here on campus for our special freedom sunday service featuring the incomparable first dallas choir and orchestra as well as our special guest speaker david barton that's right ben and i would like to personally meet you and welcome you to our campus for worship we would love to give you one of dr jefferson's books as a special gift for joining us and you will have a reserved seating in our worship service to be a part of this special sunday simply go to firstdallas.org visit fill out a little information about yourself and be sure to check the box indicating that you are coming from the icampus and one of our team members will be in touch with you shortly about next steps we can't wait to worship with you here on campus next sunday at first baptist dallas [Music] good morning we are so thankful to be with you in worship today we have an exciting season ahead and we want to take a moment and tell you about a few upcoming events girls age 5 and over are invited to enjoy the glitz glamour and excitement with dad at the 2021 daddy daughter red carpet gala on friday june 25th register now for a night complete with a delicious meal tasty desserts fun activities and competitions then celebrate our freedom as americans and our freedom in christ on freedom sunday june 27th we will enjoy powerful worship and patriotic music with the first dallas choir and orchestra and a special message from guest speaker david partner vacation bible school is coming up on july 19th through the 23rd for all children three years old through completion of sixth grade registration is open now for a week filled with games fun worship music crafts snacks and learning more of god's word with this year's theme destination day as we go into the busy months ahead please help us make room for our guests and families with young children by parking in one of our two brand new parking garages providence or saint paul finally it is good to gather together to worship we encourage everyone to help maintain a healthy environment by using our hand sanitizing stations practicing social distancing when appropriate and wearing your mask if you are not vaccinated for more information on everything happening at our church visit firstdallas.org events [Music] [Applause] we do indeed look forward to seeing you at each of these upcoming events well our pastor is here and ready to introduce an exciting special guest with us this morning pastor well that's right he is an award-winning journalist a best-selling author he writes one of the most popular conservative blogs in the country today and he's host of a nationally syndicated radio program the todd starn show would you join me in welcoming our friend todd starnes you know um one of my greatest honors is to have been appointed by you a few years ago as the official chaplain of the todd starn show so thank you for that well you know dr jeffers we're the only national talk radio show in america that has a chaplain and quite frankly needs a chaplain so we're we're honored you know todd hobbled in i asked him what happened he broke his foot this week and i said do we need to have a healing service he said that would be great but no foot washing today so you know my doctor said starnes you got to start exercising you need to take off a few pounds so i'm out walking in memphis tennessee and one of our local parks and i got distracted i smelled somebody with smoking ribs and uh took a tumble so that shows you what exercise is good for well speaking of which amen you've got a brand new book by simon schuster but it's different than anything you've ever written before it's called our daily biscuit devotions withdrawal what led you to do a devotional book with everything else that's going on in the world well you know pastor i grew up reading books that were written by irma bomback and louis grizzard some great uh just wonderful comedic writers and humorists and i really felt like this was one of these for such a time as this books you know there's a lot of chaos a lot of noise in america right now and i think lost in all the chaos and the noise is the fact that we have a lot to celebrate and we have a lot to be thankful for we have a lot to be hopeful for so my grandmother my sweet grandmother she was raised united methodist and they used to have a devotion book called our daily bread well being a baptist i thought you know what we eat biscuits so um why not call mine our daily biscuit and we um we not only have great inspirational stories in this book dr jeffers but i invited a lot of our listeners and readers to submit recipes and so we have some great recipes including uh buttermilk biscuits in this book wow great butter biscuits and bible together they go well and baptist yeah you know one of the things todd i think that makes your show so popular is you're very conservative but you're not mad about it you don't froth at the mouth you have a great sense of humor what is the key to doing that is christians living in a chaotic age how can we balance a concern for what's happening with the hope that is uniquely ours well i i think it's important for christians to understand that we have to be happy warriors because we are ultimately ambassadors for jesus christ and knowing that we can still engage the culture and i think we can do so and i think we've demonstrated that in a winsome way the reason why i am happy and i have hope is because my hope is not built on a political party my hope is not built on what's happening at 1600 pennsylvania avenue my hope as the great songwriter said my hope is built on nothing less than jesus blood and righteousness wow great well you did a great job of balancing that [Applause] you know uh the bible tells us we're not supposed to put our heads in the sand and not be aware of what's happening in the culture we're supposed to be first chronicles 12 like the sons of issachar who understood their times and knew what they should do as you try to make us aware every day monday through friday of what's going on in the culture what do you see on the immediate horizon this should be most concerning to christians well we we talk a lot about these issues on my national show and and you can listen here in dallas on am 1160 uh we're on 11 to 2 o'clock and noon to 3 eastern um we talk a lot about the cancel culture movement and i wrote about the the beginnings of that movement in my last book culture jihad and also the rise of something called critical race theory i think these are both very very dangerous philosophies to america and ultimately this idea that any belief that you disagree with becomes racist or becomes hate speech that's a big problem in america and i think a lot of people in including those who might be on the political left are beginning to realize how dangerous this philosophy is when you are now banning books like to kill a mockingbird and most recently dr seuss but we're also seeing this play out in the war on religious liberty which quite frankly has been reignited under the current political administration yeah i've got a commentary coming out tuesday on the fox news rundown about the dangers that are facing us in that arena we just saw a couple of weeks ago the current administration the department of justice saying we would quote vigorously defend religious liberty and then they updated their filing and took out the word vigorously which ought to tell us a lot what do you think we can do as christians and this isn't about republican democrat this is about american and un-american biblical and unbiblical what can we as christians do positive to change the present environment we're in well pastor i think one of the most important things is for christians to speak out and and don't be afraid to speak out um look we've we've got your back every day on our radio show we're going to take a stand we're going to fight alongside americans whose rights are under attack we are proud and honored to be able to do that but ultimately this is not about fighting back in washington it's about fighting in your local communities it's about getting involved in the local school districts it's about running for school board office getting involved in those textbook committees to find out what they are teaching children in those taxpayer-funded public schools because ultimately the public schools in america they are literally the engine driving the change in america everything from the redefinition of marriage to critical race theory uh to cancel culture movement well you do a great job todd of reminding us that to be people of faith we don't have to be fatalistic we don't have to say quesara or ra we can push back on these things while holding out the light of the gospel and and and that really is the message of our daily biscuit uh again pour yourself a glass of sweet tea in a mason jar get yourself a good old hot buttermilk biscuit cut yourself a tomato out of the garden it's got to be mississippi red slather it with some mayonnaise and you would be surprised at how the world's problems just fade away well you know this is going to be a great book encouragement for our church members here you're going to be available after the service to sign copies of our daily biscuit for those of you watching online and there are many of you you can go to amazon.com or any of the e-tailers and get a copy of our daily biscuit devotions with a draw todd thanks for being a great warrior for the faith and a friend of first baptist dallas let's show our thanks to todd storms today [Applause] todd it's great to have you with us and he will be joining several thousand christian media people at our national religious broadcasters convention which starts tomorrow an association that for over 75 years has stood for free speech and freedom of religion and to keep the airways and the electronic media open for the gospel and uh so you pray for us as we meet i see my good friend ed cannon here ed faris broadcasting where they send the gospel around the world in so many ways it's time now for us to read god's word and we'll be reading today from psalm 139 and we'll read verses 7 through 10. we'll read from the new american standard bible that'll be the words you'll see on the screen in the worship center and on our campus as well so that we can all read along together would you join me in standing so that we can honor the reading of god's word psalm 139 beginning with verse 7 ending with verse 10. where can i go from thy spirit or where can i flee from thy presence if i ascend to heaven thou art there if i make my bed and she o behold thou art there if i take the wings of the dawn if i dwell in the remotest part of the sea even there thy hand will lead me and thy right hand will lay hold of me may god richly bless the reading of his word you may be seated at this time as our executive pastor ben lavorne comes with a word for us well good morning happy father's day we had a good one up there as we continue our time of worship through giving this morning i'll remind you that you may leave your tithes and offerings as the boxes as you exit the worship center this morning you can also give online at firstdallas.org forward slash give online but during this time i'll invite you as you're able to kneel all over the worship center as we go to the lord in prayer together heavenly father we praise you this morning as the holy god and on this father's day we're reminded that you are our father in heaven who loves us in fact you loved us so much that you sent your son jesus christ to give his life for us your word tells us that we are called the very children of god that we have been adopted to sonship that we are even co-heirs with jesus christ and that we can call out to you abba father and so this morning lord we call out to you to tell you that we love you to praise you and to worship you and we also thank you lord for the fathers and the grandfathers that you've called to stand in the gap to shepherd their families as your servants and your stewards we pray lord that as fathers and indeed as a whole church we would reflect your love to our families and to the world this morning lord we give to you our tithes and offerings we commit to you our lives and we pray this in the saving name of jesus christ amen to my heart to seek thy grace [Music] [Applause] [Music] r [Music] here i raise my [Music] [Music] take is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you so much first dallas choir and orchestra for your music today we welcome the multitude of you watching us on our first dallas eye campus the millions of you who are watching or listening to pathway to victory thank you for worshiping with us it's father's day and speaking of pathway to victory i thought you'd be interested in a letter i received this week it was from a dad a hispanic man who was serving and is serving in the u.s army being stationed in hawaii and he was telling us how much he was ministered to by the ministry of pathway to victory and he said recently he had ordered one of our books for children the gift the gospel for children he had read it to his five-year-old son and when they got to the end of the book the son prayed to receive christ as savior and then afterwards praying that prayer he began to cry and the dad said what's wrong why are you crying he said i know that i'm a sinner but i know that jesus saved me and i'm so happy i don't know what else to do isn't that a great story that's what our church is about transforming the world with god's word one life at a time thank you church and thank you faithful watcher watchers of pathway to victory pat neff was the former governor of the state of texas and then president of baylor university he loved to tell the story about a class reunion they had on the baylor campus and a couple of teachers came back and met one another after many years of being separated for the class reunion and so they thought they would catch up on one another and see what had happened in their lives and the first teacher said well i got married and the other teacher said well that sounds good that's good but the man i married is twice my age well that's bad but he's worth two million dollars well that's good but he won't let me spend a penny of it then that's bad but he built me a 500 000 home well that's good it burned down last week that's bad but he was in it you know it's really unwise to judge and experience a single experience in our life as good or bad until we know the whole picture isn't it you know it's kind of like trying to judge a parade by looking through the knot hole in a fence all you can see if you look through that knot hole is what is immediately in front of you you can't see what preceded or comes afterwards but if you were standing on a tall building looking down you could see the whole parade past present and future all of it together and make a more accurate judgment you know god is like that god doesn't see things in terms of the past the present or the future he's not bound by time like we are he sees the whole of our life and even when we can't make sense of individual events god makes sense a sense of those individual events because not only does he know what is going to happen to us he has planned what is going to happen to us and it is a plan for our ultimate good and his ultimate glory today we're going to look at an incident in the life of joseph that began to allow him to see what god was really doing in his life and today we're going to discover what happens when your day of deliverance finally comes if you have your bibles turn to genesis chapter 41 genesis chapter 41 remember what's happened so far in joseph's life he was the favored son of jacob that was good but his brothers got jealous and sold him into slavery that's bad but he ended up in potiphar's house where he was promoted that's good but potiphar's wife accused him of rape and had him thrown into prison that's bad but while he was in prison he met two people and one of them was going to be released and promised to remember him the cupbearer when he came into pharaoh's presence that's good but notice how chapter 40 ends verse 23 yet the cup bearer did not remember joseph but forgot him that's bad but look at verse 1 chapter 41 as we begin to see joseph's exoneration now it happened at the end of two full years don't pass by those words too quickly two full years joseph was in that stinking prison you know waiting is hard isn't it we all have trouble waiting but waiting is a little easier when you can see the end coming you know the end will finally get here you know that eventually the light will turn green or the elevator will come or the plane will depart or your toddlers will finally be out of diapers and into kindergarten you know there's an end in sight into whatever you're going through but what makes it difficult is when there is no end in sight remember joseph had no crystal ball he had no copy of the book of genesis he couldn't read chapter 41 to see how this was going to turn out instead he thought he was going to be there forever and ever never forget while you're waiting god is working when you're waiting god is working and waiting time doesn't have to be wasted time first of all god's working in your life in your own life remember what we said last time god is not nearly as concerned of what's happening to you as he is about what's happening inside of you there's not one circumstance you're facing right now god couldn't change immediately if you wanted to god has a purpose he's working in your life he's shaping you molding you into that person he wants you to be so he can use you in an even more significant way in the days ahead in his biography on joseph chuck swandahl says it's always god's plan for some of his most choice servants to go through a waiting time abraham and isaac pardon me abraham and sarah waited decades until the child of promise isaac was born moses spent 40 years on the backside of a desert waiting until the exodus time had arrived noah spent 120 years waiting for the flood he had been preparing for paul spent three years after his road to damascus experience in theology school all by himself in arabia where god taught him directly waiting time doesn't have to be wasted time but when we are waiting god's not only working in our heart he's working in the hearts of other people as well who will shape the events of your life he he's great did you know god is great at multitasking he can be doing something here in your life and be doing something over here as well and that's what god was doing here while he was working in joseph's heart in prison he was also working in pharaoh's heart look at verse 1 of genesis 41. now it came about at the end of two full and never-ending years that pharaoh had a dream now let me just say a word about dreams in the bible in the days before jesus christ in the days before scripture god often gave revelation to people through dreams or angelic visitations or visions he spoke in those ways when somebody comes to me today and says i had this troubling dream last night what do you think it means my usual response is it means you ought to quit eating before you go to bed now the reason i say that is i'm not saying god can never speak to you through a dream but for the most part he doesn't lead in those ways any longer hebrews 1 verses 1 to 2 says god after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets and in many portions and in many diverse ways in these last days god has spoken to us in his son everything we need to know about god no longer comes through revelation or angelic experiences everything about god you need to know is deposited in the living word of god jesus christ and in the written word of god the bible jude verse 3 says the faith the body of truth you need to know has been once for all delivered to the saints now i'm not saying god doesn't still lead us of course he leads us those who are indwelt by the spirit of god are led by the spirit of god god leads us exactly where he wants us to go but for the most part god doesn't reveal new truth about himself through visions but to pharaoh he spoke to him as a dream and notice it was pharaoh who had the dream pharaoh wasn't a believer he was a pagan don't ever think that god is limited in only being able to work in the lives of christians proverbs chapter 21 verse 1 says the heart of the king is in the lord's hands to turn whichever way he wants some of you are right now under the authority of a non-christian maybe you're married to a non-christian husband maybe you have a non-christian boss at work don't forget god can still work through that person for your benefit their faithlessness is no match for god's faithfulness it was true with pharaoh he had a message he wanted to give to pharaoh and so he gave him two dreams the first dream is recorded in verses two to four pharaoh in his dream saw seven healthy fat cows half submerged in the nile river the source of life for the egyptians and then he saw seven skinny cows that arose out of the nile and they devoured the seven healthy cows well that disturbed pharaoh he awakened wanted the refrigerator got a glass of milk thought maybe that would solve the problem he goes back to bed and he has another troubling dream this time he sees a stalk of wheat with seven plump ears of wheat on the stalk and then there are seven skinny ears of wheat that have been withered away by the wind and they devour the seven healthy uh ears of grain and he was very troubled verse eight about his dreams now remember this was the spirit of god who was troubling pharaoh have you ever heard people say well if you're fearful or worried about something that doesn't come from god that's not always true sometimes the holy spirit of god isn't just here to comfort us he's here to convict us or to deliver a message that we need to know you know vance habner said the spirit of god is here to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable sometimes god wants to stir something in our heart and get a message to us that's what was going on with pharaoh and so he awakened and he calls on all of his soothsayers and sorcerers to come to the palace to interpret his disturbing dreams and they were completely unable to do so they had no ability to interpret the dream pharaoh was exasperated why do i have these guys on my payroll if they can't help me he was desperate and the bible says at that moment the cupbearer after two years remembered joseph just think about what that scene must have been like the cup bearer said to pharaoh you know i know this is a sore subject to bring up pharaoh but remember a couple of years ago when i dropped that glass of wine on the persian rug and you let me have it and threw me into prison remember that oh yeah i remember well while i was in prison i met a hebrew slave who has the ability to interpret dreams maybe he could help and pharaoh was so desperate he was willing to turn anywhere even a hebrew slave to get a word from god and so they bring joseph into pharaoh's court and we're ready for joseph's explanation of pharaoh's dream but before we get there i want you to think about joseph's situation here he was in prison he'd given up all hope of ever being released again and on a day that began like any of the other 700 plus days he had spent in prison they all had began the same they all had ended the same this morning started the same got up at 6 a.m to do his chores but on this particular day something miraculous happened i want to remind you folks that your day of deliverance is coming and when that day of deliverance comes it will begin like any other day but something different is going to happen that day that's what happened with joseph joseph began the day when suddenly the chief jailer said pharaoh wants to see you verse 14. then pharaoh sent and called for joseph and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon but when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes then he came to pharaoh he said before i see pharaoh i want to shave and i want to get out of these terrible clothes i want to bathe and make myself presentable now there you see another hint at the reason for joseph's greatness he just had good sense about how you approach somebody who is an authority over you i remember years ago we were interviewing somebody for a position here at the church and they came in not shaven clothes that were unpresentable and i said get rid of them we're not going there and some of the stuff was a little kind of perplexed by that said well you really haven't even talked to them yet i said if he doesn't have any better sense than to dress like that we don't need him on our staff now i know some of you say oh that's on spiritual pastor man looks on the outward appearance but god looks on the heart that's right god looks on the heart and i'm not god i look on the outward appearance as well if people don't have enough respect for your organization and position than to dress in a shabby way they're just not going to make it joseph understood that truth he got up he shaved he presented himself to pharaoh and when he finally came into pharaoh's presence verse 16 pharaoh said i hear you can interpret dreams notice what joseph says in verse 16 it is not i who interprets dreams but god something had happened to joseph in those two years he was a broken man but now like never before he finally understood his life's purpose his life purpose was to give glory to god and so any opportunity he had to deflect attention meant for him to god he always turned people to god ladies and gentlemen your life and the events of your life will never make sense until you come to the conclusion that the only reason you're here on planet earth the only reason god hasn't taken you to heaven already is to turn people to god to glorify god you know what glorify means it means to make god look better and bigger to an unbelieving world that's what we're to do we're to live in such a way that it makes people want to know the god we serve the presbyterians don't get everything right but they get this right and the westminster shorter catechism had asked the question what is the chief end of man the answer to glorify god and enjoy him forever joseph understood that and so he said it's not i who interprets dreams but it is god and then he says and it is god verse 25 it is god who is telling you pharaoh what you need to do now that is what you call bold he said well what's bold about that remember in egypt there was nobody greater than pharaoh and joseph had the auda audacity to tell pharaoh pharaoh there's somebody greater than you are and he's going to tell you what you need to do you know i remember the late chuck colston chuck colson who was the hatchet man for richard nixon wrote in his book born again about how when he served in the white house the people would come to see the president and they'd be in the holding room there in the roosevelt room and they would be talking and the colson would hear them say boy when i get in there i'm going to tell the president like it is i'm going to let him have it i'm going to give him a piece of my mind and colson said every time when they walked into that oval office they folded like a cheap suit i mean it's it's it's an all striking experience to go into that oval office and see the most powerful man in the world and to tell him what he really needs to hear that isn't always easy i always don't tell a lot of stories like this but you know i remember one time being with the former president it was just he and i there and he asked me a very direct and pointed question and very quickly i went through the mental calculation do i want to tell him what i really think or do i want to risk offending him and not being invited back and losing my position but i could rationalize and so i have to confess to you i waffled i didn't say what i knew to be what i should say so we went on to something else and i started feeling convicted and convicted and convicted i said mr president you know earlier you asked me blah blah blah blah i didn't give you my best answer here's what i really think you know amazing thing he didn't have me beheaded or thrown into prison uh for it he's very respectful but i understand the pressure to waffle and i think joseph was under that pressure but the reason he was able to act with such a holy boldness is he had lost everything by this point i mean think about how the story might have turned out had he still been in potiphar's household none of the false accusations had occurred he hadn't been put into prison instead he was still potiphar's right-hand man and pharaoh says in his cabinet meeting that morning you know i had some troubling dreams last night does anybody know anybody who can interpret dreams and potiphar says well i've got a guy working for me he's my chief steward let's bring him in and let him interpret the dream if he had gone to see pharaoh when he was still a high-ranking jew egyptian administration member if he had gone to see pharaoh he could have probably reasoned in his mind well you know i don't want to bring disrepute on my boss potiphar by offending pharaoh i don't want to lose my position of authority with uh pharaoh i'll waffle a little bit on what the interpretation of the dream is but he wasn't in potiphar's house he was in prison he had lost everything and i'm sure part of his thinking is hey what do i have to lose by standing for god i've already lost everything he had a kind of a holy detachment from this world that gave him a holy boldness in this world he was like the apostle paul who years later under arrest would say to the philippian christians you know what whether i live or die is no big deal to me for me to live is christ to die is gain if i keep on living the trial doesn't turn out or turns out in my favor that's okay i'm just going to keep living to serve jesus and if i'm executed what's the big deal i get to go see him sooner than anybody else i win either way there are some of you right now who are having difficulty being a strong spokesman for god wherever you are and the reason is you're afraid of losing something important to you you're afraid of losing your popularity or perhaps your position or your possessions but when you've been stripped of everything and realized they all belong to god anyway it gives you a boldness to say not what people want you to say but what you should say that's what joseph did here he approached him with boldness and he gave this interpretation of the dreams he said you know those dreams mean pharaoh that seven years we're gonna have a tremendous bumper crop of a harvest of wheat here in egypt but those seven years of plenty are going to be followed by seven years of famine that's what the skinny cows and the skinny ears of wheat represent seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine and therefore here's what we should do during the years of plentiful harvest we should set aside 20 percent of the harvest every year and store it to use for the future by the way did you know that is a basic principle of finances you find throughout the scripture did you know the bible says every one of us in this room at one point will have a financial famine in our life there'll be a time in your life when your expenses are greater than your income when your outgo is greater than your inflow it may be your retirement when you no longer have a regular paycheck coming in it may be an emergency a medical experience or some other kind of experience you have it may be trying to fund your children's education or something in the future but there will be a time when your expenses are greater than your income and the bible says the way to prepare for that yes trust god but follow god's principle god's principle is to take some of your present earning and set it aside for the future remember proverbs 21 20 there is precious oil and treasure in the dwelling of the wise but the foolish person swallows it all up it is a fool who says let the good times roll i'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow the wise person sets aside income now for the future that's exactly what joseph was saying and then he added now of course you'll need somebody to oversee this massive operation to try to help everybody put aside 20 percent of the grain to have the silos in which to store the grain you're going to need somebody to help you oversee that now there's no reason to think joseph was recommending himself for the position the fact is he had given up any hope of being released from prison but pharaoh had another idea look at what he says in verse 37. pharaoh thought this was a fantastic idea he said where can we find a man like this one who is possessed by rua elohim the spirit of god isn't that interesting a pagan like pharaoh realized there's something different about this guy he is possessed by the spirit of god and so he put joseph in charge look at verse 41 pharaoh said to joseph see i have set over you all the land of egypt then pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and he put it on joseph's hand and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck now that signet ring was a ring that pharaoh used to stamp official documents if a document an order came from pharaoh it would be sealed in wax and pharaoh would take his signet ring and put it in the wax with the insignia of pharaoh on it you know today we have different levels of credit cards depending on how much you spend you know american express has their green card and then their gold card and then their platinum card and then their titanium card and then the black card is the highest one it's secret you don't even know who has one but it's supposed to be the top card well the signet ring was the black card of joseph's day to have the king's ring means you could do pretty much whatever you wanted to and know that you had pharaoh's backing look at verse 43 and pharaoh had him ride in his second chariot and they proclaimed before him bow the knee and he set joseph over all the land of egypt moreover pharaoh said to joseph though i am pharaoh yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of egypt wow just think how far he had gone from prison to pharaoh's palace it all happened in the space of a few hours what a difference a day can make what does this story tell us well certainly it's a reminder of god's sovereignty over the entire world pharaoh put joseph in a place as we'll see in a few weeks god used joseph to come up with a plan that would not only save egypt it would save the nucleus of the nation of israel through which the messiah would one day come you and i wouldn't be saved today had there been no joseph in the right place at the right time because without joseph there would have been no israel without israel there would have been no messiah you see how god is working to accomplish his purpose in the world but this is also a story that reminds us about how god vindicates how he rescues his servants in psalm 13 1 the psalmist cried out how long o lord will you forget me forever forever have you ever wondered that before god don't you remember me don't you know where i am aren't you aware of my situation how long are you going to continue to forgive me remember your day of deliverance is coming it was written on god's calendar before the beginning of the world your day of deliverance has already been scheduled how do you know when it's coming let me close today with three ways to know when your deliverance may be on the horizon first of all when we have reached the limit of our own strength it doesn't always happen this way many times god uses our efforts to achieve his purpose for our life but many times god waits until we have completely exhausted every option we know everything we know and can do it's only then that he reaches down and he delivers us why does sometimes god wait until we've exhausted our own strength and wisdom because when our day of deliverance comes god wants to get the glory for it first peter 5 6 says therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of god that he might exalt you at the proper time a second way you know that your day of deliverance may be coming is when someone else pleads your case now there's nothing wrong with using connections and people to try to help you out joseph asked the cup bearer to remember him and pharaoh's court but then isn't it interesting the cupbearer forgot joseph and the only reason he remembered him is because god reminded him of him and i have found again in my own life many times that somebody you may or may not know working behind the scenes to accomplish god's purpose in your life now i know what some of you are thinking you're thinking well i don't know anybody who can help me i don't know anybody to plead my case i don't have any great connections that doesn't matter god has the biggest rolodex in the universe he knows everybody and he can move in anybody's heart to accomplish his purpose for you and never forget when you don't think you have an advocate anybody to stand up for you you've got the most powerful advocate of all the lord jesus christ first john 2 1 says for we have an advocate before god the father the righteous one jesus christ you know where jesus is right now he's at the right hand of god the father in heaven hebrews 7 25 says he lives to plead our case to make intercession before us he is praying for you and he is pleading your case before god the father finally your day of deliverance may be coming when god reaches you apart from any effort on your part he reaches you without any effort on your part again nothing wrong with effort sometimes god uses our effort but think about joseph for a moment the first time he was in that cistern that pit that his brothers threw him in how did he get out of there it's not anything he did there was no rope ladder he could climb out of instead god moved in the brother's heart to rescue him same thing here how did he get out of two years of prison how did he get out he was powerless to do anything god is the one who lifted him out of the prison you know as i read the story this week i thought about another prisoner who had a similar experience he lived a thousand years after joseph his name was barabbas do you remember his story he was the leader of an insurrection in jerusalem was a murderer he had been arrested sentenced to die he was being held waiting for his execution in antonio's fortress right there in jerusalem many of us have been there the prisoners were kept below the street level he was waiting for the moment when the guards would come and take him for his execution a crowd had assembled above him in the courtyard pontius pilate the roman governor was in town that day barabbas didn't know this but standing before pontius pilate was a man known as jesus of nazareth he had been arrested he had been tried he was awaiting his execution and pilot was talking to those in the courtyard barabbas couldn't hear what pilate was saying pilate said to the crowd he said because it is it's your passover today we're going to institute a custom i'm going to release one of your prisoners and you get to choose which prisoner i release would you like me to release jesus and free him or barabbas and the crowd shouted in unison barabbas barabbas barabbas bravos could hear that below he could hear the crowd shouting out his name barabbas barabbas and hope began to swell and barabbas's heart were the people coming together finally in his defense were they ready to overthrow the roman governor and lead an insurrection were they coming to free him so that he could lead the insurrection that's what he heard barabbas barabbas barabbas then pilate said to the crowd again bravest couldn't hear it barabbas pilate said to the crowd then what shall i do with jesus and the crowd yells out crucify him crucify him crucify him i think here is barabbas all he can hear is the crowd shouting barabbas bravos bravos crucify him crucify him crucify him shortly after that he hears the footsteps the boots of the roman soldiers marching against that pavement and those footsteps are getting louder and faster as they approach barabbas's cell he knows his day of death has come the chief soldier flings open barabbas's prison cell door and says bratis you're free someone else is dying in your place today barabbas was the first person in history who understood the substitutionary atonement of jesus christ somebody else is dying for you today you are free god rescued barabbas without any effort on baravis's part he rescued joseph without any effort on joseph's part he knew exactly the address of joseph and bravos and never forget he knows where you are right now as well when you're tempted to say oh lord where are you will you forget me forever don't forget the words of the psalmist psalm 139 where can i go from your spirit o god where can i flee from your presence if i ascend to heaven you're there if i make my bed and shield behold you are there if i take the wings of the dawn if i dwell in the remotest part of the sea even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me god one day will lay hold of you and on a day that begins like any other day that day will be different for it will be your day of deliverance let's bow together in a word of prayer i'm asking no one to move or leave for any reason this is the most important time of our service our invitation time i'm speaking to some of you who are here you're watching this service perhaps you feel far away from god you'd like to know god but there's a distance between you and god that barrier is what the bible calls sin we've all sinned we've all fallen short of the glory of god and if that's true you realize that's true of your life the bible says there's only one thing we can do and that is to call on the name of the lord whoever calls on the name of the lord will be saved the bible says today if you would like to know god if you would like to know with absolute certainty that your sins have been forgiven that you're going to be welcomed into heaven one day and that god is a god who will be with you right now until that day he takes you home with him that he has a wonderful plan he's working out in your life right now if you would like that assurance that your sins have been forgiven and that one day you'll be welcomed into heaven i want to invite you wherever you are here or watching online to pray this prayer with me knowing that god is listening to you right now would you pray this with me dear god thank you for loving me i know i have failed you in so many ways and i'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but i believe what i've heard today that you love me so much you sent your son jesus to die on the cross for me to take the punishment i deserve to take for my sins and right now i'm trusting in what jesus did for me not in my good works but in what jesus did for me to save me for my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to live the rest of my life for you in jesus name amen today if you're watching online and you prayed that prayer with me i want to encourage you to go to the top of the screen and check on that box click on the link that says i prayed the prayer to trust in christ as soon as you do that i'll be notified of your decision and i have some free material i want to send you today about what it means to live as a christian so don't wait another moment click on that link i prayed to trust in christ today then for those of you in our worship service let me encourage you to take this card right now if you have it in your bulletin and today if you prayed that prayer i'd like for you to check that third box i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress we'll send you the same material we're sending our online friends maybe you're a guest today check that first box maybe you'd like more information about our church check the second box many in our first service joined the church today i think last night i saw we had 30 people who were ready to check the box today and join our church you can check that final box i'd like to join first baptist dallas today once you've completed the card you can drop it off at the welcome center and they'll exchange your card for a copy of our new devotional a place called heaven or you can deposit this card in one of the receptacles we'll process it and send the information and the book to you this week thank you so much for doing that now today is father's day and it's appropriate that we have some families to dedicate to the lord today and i recognize shelley taylor who by the way just had the largest children's camp we've had in many many years here at first baptist dallas and is getting ready for vacation bible school shelley yes sir thank you we are so excited to celebrate with families this morning as they bring their children to dedicate before the lord this morning we begin with miss langley and krieg langley was born on may 2nd 2020 her parents are justin and brittany krieg and big brother ward next we have damien renee melendez sheffield damien was born on april 21st 2021 his parents are brian and lauren melendez and big sister genesis next we have sweet sebastian molina matthias was born on september 3rd 2019. his parents are rolando and isela molina and big brother rolando next we have sweet callie kincaid puckett callie was born on august 31st 2020 and brother levi mckinley puckett was born on february the 2nd 2015 their parents are jacob and astrid puckett and big brother colin next we have our sweet abigail k ray cough abigail was born december the 4th 2019 and her parents are tim and ashley rakoff next we have sweet joy kathy shoop joy cathy was born on july 14 2020 her parents are john and emily shoop and big brother jeremiah next we have mr elijah wayne south elijah was born on october 29 2020 his parents are joshua and eminence south and big brothers micah and caleb and finally we have sweet mila joy walker mila was born on november 27 2020 her parents are kyle and april walker and big sister sophia each time we dedicate children and families to the lord we read from the book of deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 5 through 7 and you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul and with all your might these words which i'm commanding you today shall be on your heart you shall teach them diligently to your children you shall talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up families if you would turn and face me for just a moment we're so excited for you on this milestone day in your family's life this is a time we're not only dedicating your children to god but we're dedicating you as their parents and i thank you for being here and understanding that your children are a gift from god and that they're not only a gift from god but there's someone for whom we'll be accountable one day and so today i would like to ask you before this congregation before god himself do you promise to do everything you can to lead your children to know and serve jesus christ with all of their hearts do you promise to do that it's a solemn commitment let's bow together in a word of prayer father i thank you for these families who rejoice in the gift of life the gift of children you've placed under their care but they also understand the awesome responsibility we have as parents the time we have with our children is so short and father i just pray that each parent would have your wisdom to know exactly how to lead their children to know serve you as savior and lord and we pray for each child here today that you would grant them the gift of faith so that early in their life they can trust in christ for their salvation and they can dedicate their lives to serving him not with half a heart but a full heart fully devoted to you help us as a church to continue to encourage them in this all-important responsibility of parenting and we commit them to you now in jesus name amen thank you for coming for this father's day dedication if you'll turn around one more time and i think our church family would like to share their love and encouragement for each one of you thank you so much i want to say good hello to our good friends the thotas from wichita falls who are here and are wonderful supporters of our pathway to victory ministry thank you for being here today on this father's day don't forget you can buy your dad a gift go out and get todd starring's book our daily biscuit he's out front and ready to sign the book and meet you as well hope you have a great week in the lord don't forget next sunday our annual patriotic celebration celebrate freedom we'll look forward to seeing you next sunday let's stand together now as tyler comes to lead us in our final song thank you pastor a tremendous morning of worship let's go out singing praise [Music] this is my story this is my song praising my [Music] this is my story this is my song praising myself god bless you church happy father's day well thank you so much for joining us for worship today on the first dallas i campus it's our honor and privilege to worship chat and pray with you throughout the service if you are local to dfw let me encourage you to come on down we'd love to have you visit us in person we'd love to greet you and show you a great spot in the worship center for you to sit it would be our honor to worship with you in person in the heart of downtown dallas right here at first baptist dallas also if you are new here to the eye campus or have been watching for a while and want to get plugged in let me encourage you to sign up for a free gift we'd love to provide that to you directly in your inbox and then sign you up for pastors daily devotional it's straight from the pen of dr jeffress and you will be encouraged with that great resource each and every day simply visit the link that's provided on your screen and lastly stay connected with us each and every day with our facebook global group there we encourage one another through scripture and graphics but also pray for one another so head on over to facebook and join our icampus global facebook group thank you again for joining us today for worship we look forward to seeing you next week on the first dallas icampus you

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Published: Sun Jun 20 2021