and for lives. Now we went through many weeks looking at the life of Jacob. Now we're going to see Jacob's favorite son Joseph. We touched upon in chapter 37 where he begins with, he has a dream and he shares it and his brothers don't like it.
And so the dream itself cost him dearly by sharing that and holding on to that. Now we're going to look at chapter 39. Genesis 39, I will read the entire chapter and then we will begin to look at some of the things that I believe are certainly pertinent to our lives. Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt.
Pothar for an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Pothar for put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
From the time that he had put him in charge of his household and all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Pothar had both in the house and in the field. Verse 6, so he left Joseph's care everything he had with Joseph in charge. He did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
So Joseph, or now Joseph, was well built and handsome. And after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, come to bed with me. But he refused. With me in charge, he told her, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house.
Everything he owns, he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?
And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, come to bed with me. But he left his cloak in her hand and he ran out of the house.
When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. Look, she said to them, this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport to us. He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and he ran out of the house.
She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story, that Hebrew slave that you brought us, that you brought us, came to me and made sport to me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house. When his master heard the story, his wife had told him, saying, this is how your slave treated me.
He burned with anger. Joseph's master took him, put him in prison and placed the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. Father, help us this morning to recognize that the favor and blessing of your hand upon us is one of the greatest and richest rewards we could have in life. We pray that we might recognize the beauty of a relationship with you that indeed has been promised to be blessed.
But forgive us for the times that we assume that your favor always equals an easy life. Help us as we journey through life to recognize not only the beauty of walking with you, but the satisfaction of knowing that by trusting and patiently being faithful to you, it will in fact give us strength and courage to live a different kind of life, equality kind of life. And one that certainly is of influence to others. We pray, Lord, as we continue to recognize the beauty of not only the life of Jacob and others we've looked at, but also the life of Joseph.
We pray not only that we might be able to understand all the right answers today, but bring our heart to the right place in Jesus' name. Amen. God's favor was all over Joseph as we recognize not only in the previous chapter or in chapter 37, but we see over and over again the mention of this favor of God upon this young man from a young boy all the way through his adult years, the favor of the Lord was not only present simply to Joseph himself, but it was very evident to all those around him. They recognized this favor.
They could see it manifesting itself in so many different ways. If you notice it once again in Genesis chapter 39, I would like to read verse 2 to reinforce this concept. The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. Verse 5 goes on to emphasize again from the time he put him meaning Joseph in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph.
It's the blessing of the Lord was on everything that Potiphar had both in his house and in the field. Notice down verse 23, the ward and paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. Joseph was favored by God and this favor was transformed not only on Potiphar's house but even it became evident as he's in prison among the ward. As we look back to Genesis 37, I want us to try to connect some of these pieces together as we try to relook at this flow of God's favor all over this young man, Joseph.
Genesis 37 will read verses 3 through 5. Now here in chapter 37, it looks more like he is simply favored by his earthly father but the principle we're trying to understand and hold dear to a heart is this favor that God has upon us is something that we all experience to some extent or another. Some of us may be more keenly aware of it. Some of us have recognized God's hand in blessing on our lives and we see it not only in big events but we see it every day in the little details of life.
This favor is God's blessing upon us who belong to him. Genesis 37 verses, we'll start with verse 2 and read down through 5. Now this is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man, a 17 was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilha and the sons of Zilpa, his fathers wives and he brought their father a bad report about them.
Now Israel and verse 3 loved Joseph more than any of his brothers because he had been born to him in his old age and he made a richly ornamented robe for him when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them. They hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Verse 5, Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. We think in terms of the favor of God.
We sometimes interpret that of one type of form or another. We may see or recognize somewhat through the experiences of our life that God's favor has been on us many times until we have disciplined our minds and we have a lot of hearts to be sensitive to God's leading. Many times we miss the favor of God. We don't discern that.
We lose our gratitude in life and our appreciation for his goodness and his blessing on our life. The big question we may certainly ask is not whether or not we would like this favor or blessing upon our life but matter is whether we are willing to walk humbly before God and trust that this favor at some point will become evident to us. Our goal in pursuit is not a dream from God. Our goal in pursuit is not simply the favor of God.
It's that we pursue God as the dream-giver and we pursue God as the one who promises to bless us as we faithfully follow him. This favor of God may at first sound extremely desirable at least unto the dream God gives you and the blessing that rests on your life causes you to be sold by your brothers. The lesson we need to learn from Joseph is just because God's favor is upon our life. It doesn't mean everything is always going to be so sweet and precious as we might interpret.
It doesn't change the fact that God's favor there. God knows how to bless and he knows how to reward whether you and I are on a seemingly good experience of life or we go through the hardships of life. Joseph's life was blessed whether he's not a prison, in prison, sold as a slave or he gets to live with his brothers. It's important to know that that favor should become precious to us.
It should become dear to us. You and I must humbly consider not only how that favor or blessing is promised to us but how to keep our eye on God instead of simply the favor. We've begun diligently studying the scriptures as probably for three or four months talking about some of the things that God uses and how we cooperate with God in the life of being transformed by God, particularly utilizing some of the Old Testament stories in which we may not be keenly aware about all the transformation that's taking place in the lives of these people. We see Jacob, it becomes clear over the long haul that God really did a huge transformation in his life and he went through some very unique challenges and difficulties.
Being transformed by God is God's way of preparing you for tomorrow and that's important for us to understand. Many of us, again, might believe that somehow being changed by God is a great thing until God puts the heat on and we go through some of the trials and the testings and the hardships to get there. Once again, we all love the idea that God would give us a dream like in Joseph's case until the dream takes us to Egypt and we might wonder whether or not we really like the dream that God has. It's important to know when we think about dreams, it's not so much that one night we're going to have this great dream in all color that just shows us great things and everybody's going to bow down to us.
The dream really isn't about his brothers bowin down to him. The dream is that God's going to move him and his people to the place that God wants him and his people to go. And the dream is that God has a purpose and plan not only for Joseph and for his people, the purpose and plan is for you and I. We have a purpose, we have a ministry potential, we have an opportunity to impact other people and the way that God moves and utilizes the circumstances, the situations of life and even the hardships of life is to move us into a place so that tomorrow we can be right where God wants us to be.
It's tough to keep being a follower of God, it's tough to learn to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, it's particularly tough when the path that God may take us through might seem to take us at least on the road that heads down towards Egypt for a season. Those seasons of challenge and struggle that God allows us to go through is really for our ultimate good and certainly for God's glory. God's way of preparing us quite often is not only through the opportunities that you and I take to respond to him to desire that favor upon our lives but to live in a way that allows God to work and involve himself in those areas that might seemingly be not so pleasant. God's favor never exempts us from the seasons of testing.
I believe that's one of the hardest lessons for us to grasp because we like to believe that at least after Jesus came, everything is great, everything is going to turn out exactly the way we want and you could ask whatever you wish and be given to you. As true as these principles and promises may be, you and I must recognize that the theme of struggles and tests and trials and suffering is important for us to experience the change that God wants us to experience. The question is never about whether or not we desire God's blessing upon our lives. The question always remains and will always remain.
Can we learn how to love God with all our heart, our soul mind and strength regardless of whether it feels like we're his favorites or not. The experiences of life will lead us through many experiences. Quite a number of them can be certainly something to get testimony and praise about and some of those will happen later on. We learn through the experiences of life that I became a better person.
I became a stronger person. I became a much deeper person in my walk with God as God continues to shape. If we search the scriptures and we find just about any individual that God began to work in their lives and manifest himself, it becomes very clear as we study the scriptures that almost every single one of them was tried, was tempted or taken advantage of. It's hard to try to consider the favor and blessing of God when we put together those trials and those struggles and temptations.
Transformation, God's way, is a very challenging way. God wants to move us from a childlike faith to a faith that has maturity and has stability, it has strengths. Look at Hebrews 2. Once you have utilized the example of two key portions of scripture that give reference to Jesus and how that his suffering prepared him for his ministry, how the trials that he went through prepared him for what he was going to continue to do.
And certainly if Jesus went through these experiences for our benefit, I trust we can humbly say, Lord, you can take me through certain experiences for your own benefit. Hebrews chapter 2 verses 14 and down to 18. Hebrews chapter 2 verses 14 down to 18. Now since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him holds the power of death that is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death for surely it is not angels he helps but Abraham's descendants.
For this reason note in 17 he had to be made like his brothers in every way in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest and service to God and that he might make a tournament for the sins of the people. Verse 18 because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being attempted. Our prayer ought to be Lord forgive us for the times that we wanted to bypass these trials or hardships to simply get to the land of blessing or favor. We want to follow God and we trust that the dreams he gives us will always take us to a better place, a higher place, a more appealing place and yet even Jesus was taken through a path of suffering and that suffering was not for his own good it was so that he might be in a position to minister to us.
Chapter 4 in Hebrews verses 14 through 16 Hebrews chapter 4 verses 14 through 16 Therefore since we have a great high priest meaning Christ who has gone through the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold firmly to the faith we profess but we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are that was as just as we are yet was without sin. Now we get the connection going back to Joseph let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we might receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Joseph is a type. He's an individual in which God had taken him through a series of events and types of circumstances that prepared him for the days which lie ahead.
If our desire is to be transformed by God if our desire is to be where God wants us to be if our desire is to allow the dream giver to give us the dream that he intends to give to us it might sound good in the beginning it might have a ring of appeal that God would give me a dream. Well he has he wrote it in black and white to give us the scriptures and he promised that through the Holy Spirit he will guide us into all truth so that dream may not come at nighttime it may not come in full color it might be black and white it might be filled with all kinds of things or most likely it probably won't tell you very much. You just know that God is a purpose and plan for your life he is a calling upon your life and it begins by following it begins by a devotion to Christ and trusting that God in fact will fulfill his dream even if he never tells us what it is. There is a emphasis sometimes to delight in the fact that we'd really like to know all the details before we get there we would like to know what this dream looks like it's important to know the dream giver has a plan for your life and he has one for mine and so we learn by a lifestyle a relationship with him and choosing to obedient be obedient to his calling and his voice we will get where God wants us to be if we keep following him the way he has prescribed within his word.
Now as to this unique blessing of God and his noticeable favor I find that rather intriguing I don't know how long it takes for people to pick up there's something about you or me I don't know how long it takes when you're involved with people to say you know what God's hands on your life I don't know how long it took Joseph for a pot of for to figure out you know I've got a huge advantage by getting this guy in my team I've got a huge advantage by having him in my house and being in charge of my house I've got a huge advantage because when Joseph's around things get better I don't know how long that takes I know one thing that the favor of God is not only going to be a blessing to you and I it's got your family covered and it's got your neighbors covered it has an influence that is very difficult to describe but by faith we receive it God will take care of the favor you and I have a responsibility to do the following we can get the two backwards and we can might find ourselves saying boy I just want the dreams and I want the favor I want the blessings I want the good things of life and we can worship the hand of God rather than bow before his face we must allow other scriptures at this point to bring together the concepts because we really get a story in in kind of fast pace it doesn't take long ends up in Potipras house and he becomes a blessing and then all of a sudden you know he becomes in trouble because of his wife it's easy and attempting to find all the Bible blessings and various promises as we search the scripture that are desirable to us but it's it's kind of difficult to try to take the suffering ones to get there we we would love the concept of the dream but being sold as a slave by your own brothers I'm sure that would irritate the best of us but we're trusting that somehow we might be able to connect with these scriptures and to humbly realize that wow how much do I want this favor and blessing of God and how far am I willing to follow God and trust him when the pieces don't seem like they're working so smoothly God's favor is never to be interpreted as some lucky role of the dice and I think that's important for us to realize because there's certain teachings within the Christian community that God has his favorites and the rest of us too bad I think it's important that we realize that though God has a unique people group called the electric he has a unique identity placed upon his favorite ones or his chosen people but the first thing we need to recognize is in Deuteronomy chapter 26 Deuteronomy chapter 26 because when we think in terms of the favor we may have a tendency to get some things in front of the other or worship we might simply assume that when I look at my life I don't see this favor all over me or I look at my life and I don't see the blessing of God on me or I've been faithful to God and it doesn't seem to be working it's important to understand when we look at scriptures that that God has indicated in his word that you and I and how we respond to his leading as he's knocking on your heart how we respond to that and how we devote ourselves to the principles he has for us that this opens the store for God's life simply praying for the favor of God maybe one thing and it might work for you and I for a certain season in life but we find that the scriptures teach a principle I believe that is much deeper and more profound than simply just praying that it somehow lands upon us Deuteronomy 26 verses 16 through 19 the Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul you have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in his ways you will keep his decrees commands and laws and that you will obey him and the Lord has declared this day that you are his people his treasured possession as he promised and that you are to keep all his commands he has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God as he promised probably the most difficult thing as we think in New Testament terms is the concept of a covenant that might be a commitment to God with all of his teachings and all of his principles and laws we love the promises quite often where we would just simply ask whatever you wish and to be given to you and we could spend a lot of time even on Wednesday night as we've been studying the context of prayer that the danger is that we might get the idea that you can bypass this covenant of commitment or devotion to God we need to recognize that as much as God blesses us when we cry out to him in the day of trouble or we call upon him in prayer or we agree together with two or three gathered together my name and we miss the importance of a covenant relationship with God that really is deep it's profound and it's our whole lives this kind of favor that God promises notice in verse 19 he has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations or peoples he has made you he has made and that you will be a holy people to the Lord your God as he promised you and I must recognize that's a pretty lofty promise and we need to recognize that because of Christ we have brought him to this covenant opportunity laid before us the important thing is our commitment to God and his teachings or his commands or his principles is directly connected with this favor upon a person's life look back at Deuteronomy chapter seven Deuteronomy chapter seven and we want to read verses seven through thirteen once again we recognize that what's important is that you and I enter into a vow of commitment in other words the teaching in Deuteronomy 26 that you have declared he's your God God has declared you belong to me we see this cooperation of this connection between a relationship of commitment and devotion to one another in Deuteronomy chapter seven we see in verse seven through thirteen the Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples for you were the fewest of all peoples but it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand he redeemed you from the land of slavery from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt know their fore in verse nine that the Lord is your your God is God he is the faithful God he keeps his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands we not only see that ultimately we make this commitment we make a vow we make a pledge of our lives to commit ourselves to the ways and principles of God but also we can make a commitment that comes out of a heart that loves God with all our hearts soul mind and strength part of that commitment and devotion is our love commitment to the lordship of Jesus Christ it's important to understand that that favor is a love that God gives as we walk in love and obedience to him let's look at one more Joshua chapter one I was talking with somebody recently and they mentioned that they really love God with all their heart and I didn't respond a whole lot at that particular time I just thought yeah that's that's right that's right and as they were talking about that later on it was still working in my mind thinking about what did it look like to love God what does it look like to love God with all your heart soul mind and strength and how does that fit together in the flow of life if there's ever an example I would look at the life of Joseph it's one thing to love God when the favor is favorable it's another thing to love God with all your heart soul mind and strength when the favor of God takes us through a path that costs us and so we look at these examples and we understand that we all go through seasons when it's easy to love God because it's obvious that everything is just coming your way it's coming in big doses and coming in truckloads we'd almost be crazy to not love God when everything is lovable but when life takes us through its unique challenges the journeys of life take us in one direction or another the real depth of our love is when things aren't so great obviously in every relationship we know with you know even in a life of being being married there's there's a time when the feeling of love isn't what's going to carry you through it's the fact and commitment of a love that is deep and it's lasting and abiding this is where the favor of God begins to truly express itself and manifest itself is in an obedience not only an obedience to God but now particularly notice in Joshua chapter 1 that there is a love for the very words of God there is a rise and an increase among many people that I talked to that the idea of loving God is being disconnected from a love for what he wrote there's there's ideas that are floating around more and more where the the idea of love is is more about well that's what you do when you sing songs and praise and and we like to clap or we like to raise our hands we like to feel our love relationship with God and really the the depth and quality of love isn't just when everybody around us are loving God in that public setting but it's it's how we operate on Monday through Saturday. Joshua chapter 1 notice in verse 3 here's a favorable promise I will give you every place where you set your foot now we all love that I think verse 4 your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon from the great river the Euphrates all the hit tight country to the great sea of the west no one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life as I was with Moses I'll be with you I will never leave you and certainly never forsake you therefore in verse 6 be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land by swore to their forefathers to give them verse 7 be strong and very courageous be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses you do not turn from it to the right or to the left that you may be successful wherever you go notice in verse 8 do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth meditate on a day of night so that you may be careful to do everything written in a den you will prosper and successful. The favor is translated into foot stomp and faith that the favor and blessing of God in God's people here is transferred into a blessing that God gives because God has a purpose and God's people are called with a certain plan in the place and the way that that love is expressed is not so much the land that I might inherit or the blessing that God gives the love is in the secret private place where we don't let this book of the law depart from our mouths and we meditate on it day and night you can't create enough laws and you can't create enough you must do this kind of thing to create that kind of response there's only one way that you and I will meditate upon God's law day and night isn't so much that you got your eye on the blessing you've got your eye on the one who promised that blessing and it's so important to recognize the beauty of a love relationship with God that carries us through whatever comes our way in life because we love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and when we love God we will not only obey His commands we're going to even love the commands themselves that's the beauty of what Joseph's life is about is here is an individual without it clearly saying where the favor came from and how the favor works this guy had integrity all the way to the core we could go back to Genesis and we need to look at this because my message this morning is not intended to to teach us how to escape temptation but the message if I don't make any sense up to this point is all about what happens when you and I love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is you and I are able to overcome temptation there are so many self-help programs out there and ways that people are attempting to give ways to kind of patch ourselves up after we have fallen to pieces with all kinds of sexual temptations the statistics are absolutely horrible when you find out how many people are involved in such catastrophes pertaining to sexual problems we were at a Christian counselor's association my wife and I at this huge hotel the Grand Opry Hotel in national Tennessee and the owners released some information because some of the people at the counselors were talking about integrity and found out that about 50% of the rooms occupied at the Grand Old Opry Hotel had tapped into internet porn you talk about it wam the speaker comes out says I have some information and he laid it out and he said we're going to talk about integrity I mean you talk about a punch that has a punch what's important to understand is our love for God is connected to the integrity of our lives and that's something we must hold dearly too as long as we have separated the two or have allowed ourselves to think that the two don't go together then there's going to constantly be a turmoil of conflicting interests and certainly the quality or depth of our love relationship with God is going to become extremely confusing God wants to raise up people like you and I to be transformed in a way that the quality of our commitment to God translates into the quality of the integrity in our lives let's go back to Genesis chapter 39 Genesis chapter 39 I want to read verses 6-9 and once again we want to just humbly consider the situation that Joseph was in it's one thing to deal with the trial and temptation of being sold out by your brothers here's another trial that certainly is challenging as we think about it so in verse 6 39 verse beginning with 6 so he left in Joseph's care everything that he had with Joseph in charge and he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate now Joseph was well built in handsome and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said come to bed with me but he refused with me in charge he told her my master does not concern himself with anything in the house everything he owns he has entrusted to my care no one is greater in this house than I am my master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife how then could I do such a wicked thing in sin against God verse 10 and though he spoke to and though she spoke to Joseph day after day he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her it's interesting when we think about this particular story of dealing with temptation and dealing with sexual sins most people are a lot more familiar with David and Bathsheba because somehow that got fixed most people do not quote Joseph's story and as we think in terms of this we need to be careful which category we tend to lean towards or how we intend to interpret this it's important to know that our love relationship with God is the real strength that will carry us through to love God with all our heart soul mind and strength is an amazing kind of energy and motivation when we consider the beauty and the fullness of scripture if we simply look at that and say well some of us have a greater resolve than others and and the truth is while we're not currently human and pretty soon the story means absolutely nothing when God is in the transforming business of changing our lives there are some things that have to remain sacred and some things have to remain a secret there are some things that you and I will never be able to fully understand and appreciate but this particular story if you'll bear with me kind of teaches that this is a point for Joseph does that make sense in other words we got to understand there's something about the beauty of this kind of life that either we are beginning to be transformed into that direction or maybe David and Bathsheep is a better story to use it is not really about how to escape temptation the story is to teach us what loving God and cherishing that favor of God actually looks like in the midst of horrible temptation and trials of life our love for God is the real power the real strength it's where the real favor of God rests upon our life if our favor is measured simply by the things we have or the way that things just magically work out in life that's entirely different than seeing the favor upon your life is your man of integrity no amen the first and greatest commandment that God gave to us and was verified and testified by Jesus as a love God with all your heart soul mind and strength it was Joseph love for God and it was his valued identity as God's favorite one that enabled him to refuse Potiphar's wife we can look and try to analyze many of these things but I'm going to jump ahead for the sake of time and try to understand this kind of and quality of love and how how do we not only understand it but how do we move into the direction of this this kind and quality love of love for God that will enable us to have a much greater growth in that area of integrity God had a dream for Joseph we remember as we looked back in the scriptures and that dream you know once again was seemingly vague we're not given a whole lot of details but I think it's important to know as I mentioned briefly before that that God not only has a dream for Joseph he's got a dream for your life he's he's got a purpose he's got a plan in life and though we may never have been told in the middle of the night that we may never have clearly clearly seen some kind of vision we know from scripture that every one of us are called to be a follower and that calling that he gives us has a purpose it has a direction it has principles to follow it has values to cherish it has priorities in life and as you and I look at the the beauty of scripture the pieces start to fit together that every one of us is in the process of moving from one particular point to another point in life and as we are learning to be led by God God promises to take us from here to there and so whether we believe we have this great dream or we understand that we've got this great purpose and plan we know one thing their scriptures clear every child of God is called by God Ephesians chapter four verse one turn with me there and I want us to to consider this because it's what carries us through a lot of the seasons of temptations and trials is you and I need to remember that you were called by God to follow him you were called by God to be blessed by him so that you and I might be a blessing to the world around us this is the underlying theme of all the work and the beauty of God working in our lives individually is because God is attempting to move us from one place to the next even through some of the most horrible challenges and trials in life the apostle Paul writes in Ephesians chapter four verse one as a prisoner for the Lord then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling which you have received every one of us is called whether we are keenly aware of that or not but one thing that enables us to have more energy and strength in the area of living a life integrity is to know that we not only belong to God but God belongs to us and in that relationship that of a covenant relationship with God because we are called you got to live by a higher set of rules it's so much easier in life I mean the consequences are big but it's so much easier in life to just do your own thing we all know that but as you and I begin to follow God and we begin to realize with a greater sense of clarity that this is the way God has called us to go and this is the promises that ultimately are given to us as we walk in obedience one thing that can enable us to get through those seasons of life is to remember who I am that I am a child of God I've been called by God I've been invited to follow him I've been granted not only the teachings of truth but the the Holy Spirit to give us a conviction and a conscience that's keeping us and guiding us in life it's important to know you got to remember who you are I'm called I'm not simply a person who happened to have a dream that God has for me I am well aware that the dreamgiver has a plan and purpose for my life and though I couldn't honestly tell you what this dream is for my life I can begin to see a little more clearer the longer I follow God that the direction it is is right down there in the way in which I'm walking I would hope that us men who are married that remembering you're married at certain times in life certainly helps you to keep walking the straight the same thing is if I'm in a relationship with Christ and I'm keenly aware that I'm in a relationship with Christ it gives me an energy a focus to say how can I do such a thing like that because I belong to God now part of the unique challenges we might have a tendency to face in our more contemporary approach to the Christian faith is your performance has no bearing on your destiny you with me you really how I can shoot you in the foot let's try that when you're married and say that just because I'm married it really doesn't matter she has to love me because you promise well you'll find out it doesn't work so sweet that way it's important to know that your love for your partner your love for the Lord is what keeps you there not so much the fear of losing your salvation and I it asked that question a lot well what if I sin this way this way this way will I lose my salvation well if I'm still asking those kind of questions I've lost sight of who I am I need to realize and remember that you and I have entered into a sacred covenant relationship with God and it seems that Joseph was clear how could I sin against God how could I let my master down how could I do such a wicked thing as this because he knew who he was and he knew who this woman was he knew all those things and he kept that in mind remembering that because we are called of God because we are committed in the bond of marriage I will choose to keep my life pure and holy before God integrity is the overflow of a heart that is tuned in to be loved with God the second thing we want to consider is in Genesis chapter 39 let's go back there again Genesis chapter 39 verses 8 through 10 I know we've read these a couple times but let's read them one more time Genesis 39 8 to 10 but he refused with me in charge he told her my master does not concern himself with anything in the house everything he owns he hasn't trusted to my care no one is greater in this house than I am my master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife how then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God and though she spoke to Joseph day after day he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her it's one thing to deal with at one time it's another to deal with it every single day that's integrity integrity is what gives you the strength the ability to keep going for the long haul it's one thing to say what was that close it's another thing to say you know what I've decided I know who I am I know that God has called me he's given me a dream for my life he's given me a ministry he's given me an opportunity to serve him whether it's in a full-time type of ministry or it's simply full-time following Jesus either way we know that because we belong to God the second thing that's important is that kind of predetermines the strength you have to to deal with temptations is what you call it now it's interesting here that in this particular situation you'll notice in verse 9 Joseph says in the latter part how then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God again we're dealing with a change of thought process we probably wouldn't call a little extra fair a wicked thing unless we really want to follow God and we see following God as a holy and sacred thing we live in a culture where everybody has issues we've got you know little weaknesses we've got struggles we've got you know but call sin and particularly call it a wicked thing important thing is integrity has a way of describing and defining what's wicked and what's not and until we become clear on the depth of that sin or how big that sin is or the consequences you and I might fall for all kinds of things it's so no wonder why we live in a generation that the pornography wave is just exploding because it's not called wicked it's not called sin it's a struggle it's a weakness it's it happens and in touch I can clearly remember 30 some years ago I was in the military as most of you know and we were involved in a Christian fellowship there and there was there was a guy there that he was pretty clear about the fact that he can shop all he wants as long as he doesn't buy you with me he was allowed to look at all the way he say that right for him his wife and everything else and and it's like we're in the world that one come from but anyway make a long story short he's not married anymore does that surprise us okay and and it really because it relates to the thought process the important thing is integrity thinks differently than simply trying to figure out how to not break the rules and that's something that you and I must humbly consider is our love for God with all our hearts so mind and strength it changes those things and as we keep growing in our relationship with love to God what often happens is we become more and more willing to humbly consider that sin is really a bad thing it is a wicked thing it's something that I cannot allow to breed in even small form or in traces or tendencies that are in our lives we must realize the beauty of where integrity comes from is a heart that's willing to clearly identify that some things are down right wicked you know think about it so he probably could have pulled this thing off he probably could have got away with it he probably could have went on and is happy way you know looking for the dream someday that's all going to come out and or he probably could have quoted David and Bashibah somehow it begins to come into that I I'm just amazed at how many people you know when when they're struggling with things they would say well David did it and it's like that is not the point of the story and we need to recognize that anyway let's one more thought when we think in terms of integrity and how God takes us through some of the toughest trials and temptations in life is turn with me to James chapter one and verse 12 now I realize that this scripture is talking about ultimately a whole lifestyle of going through the trials and temptations but when we look at James chapter one and verse 12 we need to know that it is worth it to be faithful and the favor of God not only is something that you and I cherish possibly today and tomorrow and the next day but I hope we ultimately understand that this favor ultimately has a future prize not only the favor and blessing of God will alter the circumstances of your life and bring meaning and Richmond and testimony to your life today but the ultimate favor and blessing of God is well done now good and faithful sir that's the ultimate of ultimatest to know that we have not only fought the good fight but we finished and we've ultimately come to a place in which we are fully confident that the reward that God has for us is indeed our greatest pursuit of blessing and favor James chapter one and verse 12 blessed is the man who perseveres under trial or that word could be used temptation because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those notice at the end we love him love is connected to living for God your love for God is connected to the integrity of your life we realize that we all have a lot of areas to grow in life we have a lot of transformation that needs to continually take place in our lives the beauty is the way that that transformation takes place in this particular chapter is you're probably going to go through a season or many seasons in life that your dreams are not so colorful that the direction that God wants to lead you the place he wants to pull us is going to take us through some very bizarre and difficult challenges but it's our love for God the integrity of our lives that not only will get us through but it comes with a huge reward that's what keeps us moving ahead of knowing that not only who I am it's not only knowing who God has called me to be it's knowing that the promises and the blessings and the rewards that come they're going to be worth it all. Father help us in the journey of life to recognize not only that you have taught us how we ought to live but you promise that you get us there and we are grateful that you are continually shaping us you're transforming us in such a beautiful way we pray that we might have seasons like even today where we humbly invite you to be our strength and to allow our love for you to be strengthened even in the midst of some of the bloods our storms of life take us onward Lord we pray give us courage give us strength let's your confidence speak into our lives and we praise you for all this in Jesus name.
God bless you have a great day.