in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."
Isn't that something? How in the world can you have
any peace unless you believe that? That God's on His throne,
that this world is not a runaway, and that He's working everything
out according to the counsel of His own will. Do you know
that He knows the exact number of hairs you have on your head?
That's how big God is. I see some of you don't have
that many, but God is an all-knowing God and a powerful God. God is
good. And I want you to feel that and
know that today. God is sovereignly good to His
people. And God is at the helm of life
and all things for the good of His people. God has a plan for
His people. And it, like Him, is a good plan. Do you believe that? That God
has a plan for your life. Now, it is true there are going
to be bumps in the road, but do you know that this God of
this Bible, our God, is so big, He can take the worst things
that happen in life and turn them to your good and use them
to His own glory. God took the worst sin that man
could ever commit. When God invaded time and history,
they took Him and nailed Him to the cross. And it's worked
pretty good for you and me, even our salvation. Can I get an amen
on that? Do you understand that? So the
worst things that happens, God uses to our good. Now, I want
to tell you the story of Joseph now, and I hope to just continually
drive home this. Do you really believe that all
things work together for good? So Joseph had a dream. And his
father, he told it to his father and his father said, don't be
thinking like that. His father kind of played it
down. You mean I, as your father, am going to be submitting to
you one day? And then his father said, you
need a little break. Go out to where your brothers
are in Shechem. and see if everything's all right
with the flocks out there, where they were keeping the flock.
He got out there and told his brothers about this dream that
they were all going to bow down to him. His brothers were filled
with envy, what I call jalousy, jealousy, and they said, let's
kill him. That's what we call human depravity.
One of the brothers said, as they were talking about killing
Joseph, let's throw him in a pit. We'll let him starve to death
down there. And so they did. But they said, let's take his
coat of many colors. You remember the story that his
father had given him a coat of many colors? And let's kill a
goat and dip it in the blood, and we'll take it back to our
dad and say, you know, some kind of roaring lion or bear, something
has got a hold of him and killed him. But they decided At one
point, let's take him out of the pit and sell him to the Amalekites. God is not a God of accidents.
I don't believe in luck or accidents. I believe in God, and He's a
God of purpose, and He ordains certain things to happen for
our good. and for his glory. So they took
him down to Egypt and they sold him to Potiphar. But as I was
reading Genesis 30 through 50, it kept saying over and over,
and God was with Joseph. It says, and God was with Joseph
when he was in the pit. You ever been in a pit? Well,
you will be eventually. We all have our pits in life. on our way to the heavenly land. We have times of depression and
we wonder. But God was with him in the pit.
God got him out of the pit. God had the Amalekites come by. And then a lot of other bad things
began to happen to Joseph. He got on there, a lot of good
things happened. I mean, he was an outstanding
businessman. And I mean, Pharaoh just kept
exalting him and making him head over things. And then Potiphar's
wife, she liked the way Joseph looked. And Ashley tried to get him to
go to bed with her. Did you know that was in the
Bible? And Joseph, being the honorable
man that he was, said no. But she got a hold of his cloak
and called Potiphar and told him, look, this guy raped me,
basically. And you know what happened? He got put in jail. Potiphar
had also put his baker in jail with him and Butler, two guys,
two guys that had dreams. And they dreamed these dreams
And Joseph was able to interpret the dream. And that was on purpose
too. So Joseph's in prison. He meets
these two guys. He tells them, the king's going
to cut your head off in a few days, three days. And one of
you is going to go back to the king's house. And when you do,
don't forget me. And guess what he did? He forgot
all about Joseph. Looking bad for Joseph. Except
Pharaoh had a dream. You know, dreams can be of God. And Pharaoh dreamed a dream. And it had to do with there being
seven years of famine and seven great years of prosperity. So Joseph was able to interpret
Pharaoh's dream, and Pharaoh made him head over all of Egypt.
He even gave him his ring off his hand, put it on his finger.
That ring was predestined to be on Joseph's hand. And he had
great authority. And he stored things up for the
coming famine of seven years. And way down there in Canaan,
Jacob and those brothers ran out of food. Isn't that something?
You say, well, what are you saying? I don't get what you're saying.
I'm saying the famine was predestinated. I'm saying it was all God at
work every single day in the life of Joseph. You meant it
for evil, but God meant it for good. If you can see your life
that way, You'll be much happier when you can really believe Romans
8, 28, that everything's working for your good. That's when you
begin to shout and sing, and there's rejoicing in your heart
and life, and you have abundant life. God is at work in my life.
God's got me covered. Well, sure enough, Jacob sent these boys down to
Egypt to get food. And guess who they had to go
before? And they didn't recognize Joseph, these brothers, but he
recognized them. And he began to bless them and
sent food back, and he kind of set them up. They brought every
brother except the youngest boy, Benjamin. And Joseph was truly
Benjamin's true brother. They had the same mother. And
Joseph said to them something like this, they ought to begin
to catch on. When they came before him for food, he said, are there
any more of you? Do you have any more brothers? So we got a young one and he
sent him back with food and he said, the next time you come,
bring him with you. In fact, I'm going to keep one of you
here until you bring the young boy back. He set him up. So they came back for food. They
soon ran out of food and the father sent him back. Jacob sent
him back. Are you getting that all of this stuff that you're
going to read in chapter 30 through 50 is God working in Joseph's
life. His eyes on the sparrow and he
watches over you. Isn't that something? I'm glad
God does that. So they brought Benjamin back
with them, and Joseph sent him back home with lots of food and
money. But in Benjamin's sack that was
on the donkey's back, he put a silver cup from his house.
God ordained that silver cup. to be put in that bag. And then
when they got about a day's journey away from Joseph's place, he
told his servants, go catch up with them and check their bags
because I think they stole. He set them up. Oh, God will
set you up to bless you, not to hurt you. And so they brought
them back. And you know the story. Finally,
it says that Jacob revealed himself to his brothers and he wept and
wept and wept. And then told them to go back
and get the old man. And I don't mean that in a slangish
way. He said, is dad still alive?
I said, yes he is. Go get him and bring everything
that he has and everything you have and your wives and children
and sheep and bring everything you have. I'm going to give you
the land of Goshen. I'm going to give you a place
that's going to... I'm going to take care of you
all the days of your life. And here's what he said to those
boys at the 50th chapter. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good.