Pastor Eric Crawford emphasizes the importance of faithfulness and integrity in his message centered on the life of Joseph. He discusses how Joseph's unwavering trust in God, even amidst adversity, serves as a powerful example for believers today. The episode delves into the challenges Joseph faced, including betrayal by his brothers and being sold into slavery, yet he remained committed to his values and his relationship with God. Pastor Crawford highlights that true prosperity comes from a life dedicated to serving the Lord and trusting in His plan, as demonstrated by Joseph’s eventual rise to prominence in Egypt. Through this exploration, the message encourages listeners to cultivate their character and faithfulness, reflecting on how God works all things together for good to those who love Him.

Pastor Eric Crawford delves into the profound life of Joseph, a biblical figure renowned for his unwavering faithfulness and his intimate relationship with God. Through a detailed examination of Genesis 39, he unfolds the lessons that can be drawn from Joseph's experiences, particularly focusing on the trials he faced after being sold into slavery by his brothers. Pastor Crawford emphasizes the importance of maintaining integrity and trust in God amidst adversity, using Joseph's steadfast nature as a model for listeners. He highlights how, even in the depths of despair, Joseph's character and dedication to God led him to prosper in Potiphar's house, illustrating the biblical truth that 'all things work together for good to those who love God.' This powerful message encourages listeners to reflect on their own faith journeys, urging them to trust in God's plan and remain faithful in their walk with Him.

In addition to exploring Joseph's trials, Pastor Crawford draws parallels between Joseph's life and that of Jesus Christ, presenting Joseph not just as a historical figure but as a foreshadowing of Christ's redemptive work. This connection deepens the understanding of Joseph's experiences and the significance of his faithfulness. Pastor Crawford concludes with practical applications for contemporary life, challenging his audience to consider how they can embody Joseph's integrity and reliance on God in their everyday situations. By doing so, they not only honor God but also pave the way for their own spiritual growth and blessings.

Overall, this episode serves as a poignant reminder of the enduring impact of faithfulness and character, regardless of the circumstances one may face. Pastor Crawford's message reinforces the idea that true prosperity comes from a life dedicated to God, and that even in our darkest moments, we can find hope and purpose when we trust in His divine plan.

Takeaways:

• Pastor Eric Crawford emphasizes the importance of trusting God completely, similar to how children trust their parents, illustrating Joseph's unwavering faith during his trials.
• In discussing Joseph's life, he highlights that God's hand was upon Joseph, leading him to prosperity despite being sold into slavery, showcasing God's providence.
• The message stresses that rejection of God's word, as seen with Joseph's brothers, does not thwart God's plans but rather propels them forward, emphasizing divine purpose.
• A key lesson from the podcast is the need for character and integrity in one's life, which enables individuals to rise above their circumstances, just as Joseph did.
• Pastor Crawford draws attention to the need for parents to avoid favoritism in their children, as it can lead to jealousy and division, reflecting on Jacob's relationship with his sons.
• The pastor encourages listeners to meditate on God's word and walk closely with Him, asserting that this leads to true prosperity, evidenced by Joseph's faithful life.

Amen.

Of course, one of the greatest things in life is having children and to see them grow up.

But there's that stage in life of a child whenever they just think dad and mom can do anything.

Now that's certainly not the teenage stage, but way before that, way before that.

There's a time when you could literally get most of the most of your children, not all of them.

Some of them are pretty smart, so some of them get it sooner than others.

But there's a time when you could get your child to jump off a house to you.

Come here.

No need to be afraid.

Daddy will catch you.

You know, I watched Johnny at the football game last Friday night take his little boy Arthur and just throw him up.

Wait two seconds.

Catch him.

It was so awesome.

Throw him up there in the air.

And then I used to do that with our boys.

And I just remember again, that child, no fear at all, just trusting daddy to catch him.

And one time I was throwing Joshua up in the air, catching him up in the air.

Catch him up in the air.

Ceiling fan, catch him.

That'll wise him up, right?

But I'm thankful that God always catches us.

And though our kids finally learn that, you know what, Daddy or mama may drop me, but we all need to understand and know and learn that God will never drop us.

I love that song.

Tonight, no need to be afraid.

No matter what you're going through, no matter what you may be facing, he's promised to be near you, to never leave you nor forsake you.

You know, we serve an all powerful God.

He is all powerful.

He can do anything.

He is limitless.

As we went over Sunday and what an amazing, amazing God.

Turn if you would in your Bibles tonight to Genesis chapter 39 as we continue the life of Joseph.

I am also preaching in chapel at our academy on the life of Joseph.

And these are different sermons, even though there are some of the same content, but certainly we are going in a little deeper.

And there's about two messages for you guys to that, just the one over there in the academy chapel.

And because I did want to, I have preached on Joseph to our congregation a couple of times over the last 25 years, but never have really broke it down.

So really the.

I guess the title of these would be Lessons from the Life of Joseph.

So Lessons from the Life of Joseph because I want to cover more than just the high points.

And we'll see that here tonight.

Joseph, what a wonderful example for us.

And by the way, as we go along here, we will point out Especially the last sermon.

We'll point out that Joseph is a picture of Jesus Christ and you can see in his life many things and shadows, if you would, of the Lord's life, the life of Joseph.

Again, the Old Testament written for our example.

Again, the Old Testament written primarily to New Testament saints.

Again, these historically accurate history of Israel and, and names and lives of the.

Of the patriarchs were given for our learning.

The Bible says in Romans and Corinthians, it was written for our example.

And so we see that here in Joseph's life and what a wonderful example Joseph is for us.

The primary lesson from Joseph's life.

I didn't.

Haven't really.

Because I want to give you the ending.

Right.

So the primary.

All these life lessons we're learning from Joseph, the primary life lesson we learn is Romans 8:28.

That all things work.

That all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the chosen according to.

Chosen according to.

Yeah, good job.

Trying to quote that all things work together for good to them that are united.

Yes.

And I'm still going to misquote it, so I'm going to go read it.

That last little part.

I don't like misquoting it.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Again, God works all together.

One thing I noticed about that verse this time and we pointed it out back during COVID it doesn't say, it does include us, but it says the good.

And here in Joseph's life, it didn't just affect him and wasn't just for his good, but it was for all of those around him.

In fact, the world affected by his life.

Again, his life is a picture of Christ.

Look here in chapter.

We'll begin reading.

Let's look at 39.

1.

And Joseph was brought down to Egypt.

And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither.

And the Lord was with Joseph.

And he was prosperous, a prosperous man.

And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.

And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him, and he made him overseer over his house.

And all that he had he put into his hand.

And it came to pass from that time, from the time that he had made him overseer in his house.

And over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake.

And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field.

And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand.

And he knew not aught he had save the bread which he did eat.

And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored.

We'll stop there.

Just a little running commentary.

You'll notice again sold into slavery.

But I did want to point out that he was put over all of Potiphar's house.

Notice it said in the field.

And as you think about this man Potiphar, just think about a very wealthy man.

And all that he had was under the authority being given under to Joseph.

His cattle, his livestock, his house, his servants, he would have many, many slaves, all put under Joseph, under the authority of Joseph.

Look at verse seven.

And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast his eyes upon Joseph, and she said, lie with me.

But he refused and said unto his master's wife, behold, my master wanteth not what is with me in the house.

And he hath committed all that he hath to me to my hand.

There is none greater in this house than I.

Neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife.

How then, key part here.

How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against.

Against God?

Notice he just pointed out that it wasn't just the problem he had concerning his master and not betraying his master, but it was wickedness in that it was wickedness and sin against God.

And it came to pass, verse 10, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her to lie by her or to be with her.

And it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business, and there was none of the men of the house there within.

And she caught him by his garment, saying, lie with me.

And he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out.

And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house and spake unto them, saying, see, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us.

He came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice.

And it came to pass when he heard that I had lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled and got him out and she laid up his garment by her until his Lord came home.

And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, the Hebrew servant which thou hast brought unto us came in unto me to mock me.

And it came to pass as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me and fled out.

And it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife, which he spake unto him, saying, after this manner did thy servant to me, that his wrath was kindled in verse 20.

And Joseph Master took him and put him in prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound.

And he was there in the prison.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, again we thank you for your love.

And we thank you again for this wonderful example of the life of Joseph.

And Lord, may we glean from it tonight.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Joseph was the second youngest son of Jacob.

And I point we pointed out a couple weeks ago that he was the.

But he though he was the second son, the second to youngest son of Jacob, he was the firstborn of Rachel.

And Rachel was Jacob's favorite wife.

And it's kind of interesting to point out because we find that Joseph was the one that Jacob used to be the, you know, the overseer of his brothers who were all older than him.

He was the one who was to go check on them.

He was the one following up on them.

We know in chapter 37 that he sent Joseph to check on his brothers and his brothers didn't like that.

Again, Joseph was Jacob's favorite son.

Maybe there's inferred here that Jacob gave Joseph the firstborn rights because he was the firstborn of his favorite wife.

Maybe that was taken away from Reuben, who was truly the firstborn and given to Joseph.

Maybe there again we know that the brothers hated him because of the favoritism that Jacob showed him.

We know that they hated him because of that and was jealous of him because of the again the overseer role that Jacob, their dad had given to him.

It was Joseph who would go back and report about his brother's wickedness.

It was Joseph who would go back and report to dad about the awful things that their brothers were doing.

And they were jealous.

Joseph was favorite in that also that Jacob made him the coat of many colors.

And we learned about that story when we were in Sunday school as little kids.

There's a lot more probably to that than we would have here amongst our day, you know, in our culture.

But in that culture there was many different things that could have been the reason why he wore this particular coat.

And I used the example that some of my boys have been in a position of, you know, being the foreman and being over people and sometimes over their brothers.

And there was, at some point, one of some of my kids were calling one of my kids papercut.

In other words, he just never got out of the truck.

He was just ramroding everybody, telling everybody what to do.

And they began to make fun of one of them.

And I'm, you know, anyway, I'm waving at him.

And that's possibility here, that there is a tradition in that day that the, you know, the one who was over and seeing everything would wear the coat because he wasn't going to get down and really have to work.

And he'd wear a fancy, fancy clothes.

Whatever the reason is, it was absolutely.

We know for.

Because the Bible tells us that they hated him because of the favoritism that Daddy showed Joseph.

They hated him because of his character.

So I don't want to make it clear that all that I've just said about Joseph did not in any way indicate he was a man of bad character, because he was just the opposite.

One of the reasons we infer that Joseph was put over maybe the authority over his older brothers, because they were all wicked, and they really were.

And Joseph proved in his own life he was a man of character, a man of integrity, that he was a godly man hated by his brothers.

They were so jealous of him, so jealous they conspired to kill him as he approached to check on them.

They did conspire to kill him.

And thankfully, Reuben stepped in and said, let's don't kill him.

Just throw him in the pit.

Then they sold him to some Midianite slave traders.

Most of you know the story.

So I'm trying to skip over some of it back up and understand that this jealousy not only came because he was his father's favorite, but because of the dreams that Joseph had.

Joseph had two dreams.

One of his sheaves bowing.

The sheaves of his parents and his brothers bowing down to his sheaf.

In other words, his stack of hay.

The other stacks of hay bowing down to his stack of hay.

Texas way of saying it.

Sun, moon and stars.

Most of y' all know the story.

The sun, moon and stars bowing down to him.

And they said, what do you.

The brother said, what do you mean?

Mom and Dad's gonna bow to you?

We're gonna bow to you.

And they became very jealous.

I mentioned when we were teaching on that a couple weeks ago that understand that in the Old Testament, God spoke through dreams and visions and of course, through appearances with the theophanies when he would literally come and speak to them face to face.

And when God gave Joseph this dream, it's as if he gave him the word of God.

It's just as divinely inspired as what you hold in your lap.

It's the same thing.

Jacob, his dad would have known that.

In fact, the Bible says that Jacob pondered this.

He thought about this again.

His brothers would have known this truth as well.

My brothers had a dream about my hay bowing down to his hay.

And the sun, moon and stars bow down.

Either he's crazy and he's a pompous, arrogant younger brother, or God spoke to him.

And it was very evident that Joseph was a man of character.

It was very evident that Joseph was a man of integrity who was a godly young man.

He was 17 years old and there was zero doubt that that word had come from God.

And it was Jacob and the brothers who rejected God's word.

They rejected God's will for the family.

And what God was telling Joseph and the family was that Joseph was going to lead the family one day.

And not Reuben, not the oldest, but Joseph would lead the family.

It would be Joseph who brought peace to the family.

Boy, that family needed peace because that was a, that was a terrible bunch.

It was Joseph who would bring contentment to the family.

And yet again they rejected God's Word.

They could have had rest and peace, but they rejected the word of God.

So much so again, that they thought, hey, we'll sell him.

We'll sell him to these Ishmaelites and that dream won't come to pass.

They said that it's in the Word.

The Bible tells us that that'll sure put a stop to his dreams.

No, no, no, it didn't do that.

It didn't put a stop to his dreams.

It actually propelled it forward.

It's what propelled it forward.

It was God's will.

It would put Joseph riding smack dab in the middle of God's will.

Understand too, that had Jacob, his dad believed and trusted God's word, he would have known when he was handed Joseph's coat of many colors with all that blood on it, instead of saying, yes, that's my son's coat, yes, looks as though he has been killed by some animal, he would have said, yes, that's his coat.

Yes, that's blood.

But I know my God has said that Joseph one day will rule this family.

And I'm just going to put my Trust in the word of God.

But that's not what Jacob did.

That's not what his daddy did.

He did not believe.

He the Bible said he mourned.

So much so that they could not the sons and those could not get him to stop.

We need to rely upon God's word.

We need to trust God's word.

Trusting in the word of God will bring peace.

Trusting in the word of God and having faith in God's word will bring about purpose and guidance in life.

The word of God's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

We ought to acknowledge again the Lord and he will direct us.

I mentioned about again the applications is be careful about showing favoritism to our children or even grandchildren.

Be careful, parents, about being passive in your parenting.

Passive parenting produces bad kids.

You say, well, what's pacificity?

Well, it is.

I say, number one, being lazy.

Don't be a lazy parent.

See too many of them.

You know what, Training a child is a lot of work.

But I'll tell you what value it brings as they grow older, what enjoyment will bring to you as they grow older.

Take that time and don't be a passive parent.

There are a lot of parents today who don't like to confront their kids.

I'm like, he's little, you're big.

Why is this kid running the house?

Why is this kid determining whether we go to a restaurant or not?

Why is this kid determining whether I go to Kroger and go shopping or not?

Why is this kid determining.

Why is this kid determining anything in my life that should never happen and it doesn't have to.

If you'll train your children, if you will raise them the Bible way, it's an amazing thing.

These be careful again.

Joseph was a man of character.

And the reason why his, his brothers hated him was again because of his character.

Man, his life pricked their conscience.

We mentioned again about how that light dispels darkness.

Light reveals a lot of bad stuff.

You ever gone into a building and it's been dark and you turn the light on and the cockroaches go, you know, the water bugs.

We lived in a house that had a lot of water bugs.

Turn the light on, go in there about 1 o' clock in the morning, flip the light on, there's 20 of them.

Just reveals a lot of nastiness.

And what it does is it pricks the heart, pricks the conscience, it pricks the moral awareness that God has placed on every person who is born into this world.

That's why we got a lot of yelling and screaming in our society today because churches like this, people like you, pricks the conscience of a wicked society.

These brothers were envious and jealous resentment in their own lives.

Can I tell you, when it comes to envy and jealousy and resentment that the love of Christ expels it just get closer to Jesus.

Keep your eyes on the Lord and you can overcome envy and jealousy.

Again, as we think about these brothers and Jacob especially the brothers, rejecting God's word will not block his will, it simply moves it forward.

And then tonight we, we have a comparison in chapter 38.

We did not read chapter 38, by the way, chapter 38.

It would be hard to read that in front of children about what Judah did and what Tamar did.

Again, Judah married a Canaanite woman, had sons.

The first son had a second son.

His first son, er, married Tamar.

The Bible says er was wicked.

This is Judah's son.

He was wicked.

And God slew him.

And so the biblical rule, the commandment was that if a son died, the widow would marry the next brother in order that the line or the seed would carry on.

The name of that child, which would be er E R would be carried on.

Well, that didn't go well either.

And God slew Onan, the next kid of Judah.

The third child was too young to marry.

And so he told Tamar, he said, his daughter in law, he said, well, wait till he gets older and I'll give him to you.

And if you know the story, you'll remember that as the next son got older, Tamar was watching.

And Judah had had no intention of fulfilling the law of God and giving her to him.

And Judah had done some work and went into a woman of immorality.

And that woman of immorality, he was tricked, was Tamar.

Tamar got pregnant.

I told you it could be hard to read.

It'd be hard to read this in front of kids.

And the whole.

The crux of this is Judah was a wicked man.

And when Tamar got pregnant, he's like, all right, she's pregnant, don't know about kill her.

That's what the law says.

She committed adultery to kill her.

And Tamar, remember what Tamar does?

He brings him his ring and his staff, said, you're the man.

Kind of hard to kill.

Yeah.

Anyway, wickedness, wickedness.

So that's what you see in chapter 38.

And then in chapter 39 you see godliness.

You see God blessing a man because of his godliness.

Did you get that?

Look at verse two of chapter 39.

And the Lord was with Joseph.

And he was what?

A prosperous man.

A prosperous man.

So again, if you do the comparison between these two brothers, you see how one was so immoral, one was so decadent and corrupt.

Wicked.

What a contrast.

The corruption of Jacob's other sons versus Joseph.

Go back to chapter 34 and read about the corruption there.

What happened at Shechem.

We see again here that Joseph was sold to Potiphar.

Potiphar, who was an Egyptian guard.

Of the Egyptian guard, by the way.

He was the captain.

He would have been the chief of the royal guard, the one who guarded the pharaoh's palace.

He would have been a member of the aristocracies.

In other words, he was not just a captain in the army or whatever.

No, he would have been of royal line.

He would have been a very, very wealthy man.

He would have been.

This was a high office to be a part of.

He would have lived in a vast palace.

I always think about again as you think about Egypt, you know, here's Joseph entering the estate of Potiphar as he turned into the gate.

Two sphinx on the top of the columns of the gates.

Anybody think that way?

No.

And then the gates, as you go down that great pathway to the illustrious palace that Potiphar would have lived in, it would have been that way.

This man was a very, very wealthy man.

I just want to point out that the contrast, too, of how Joseph must have felt coming from the rural countryside, coming from his father's care and his father's favoritism, sold into slavery by his brothers to rough slave traders set up on an auction block in Egypt and sold amongst hundreds of other slaves.

There's no indication that he knew the language either.

Just think about that.

You're part of this.

You don't know what they're saying.

You're 17 years old.

Could you just imagine?

Imagine that.

It's hard for me to imagine.

I read you the verse last week.

When the brothers at the end of the book of Genesis are talking about Joseph, they said, remember what they said?

We are in this spot because we did not heed the cries of our little brother when we sold him and we put him in the pit.

The Bible says he cried out.

He didn't just sit there.

Joseph didn't go, oh, you're going to put me in the pit?

That's awesome.

Here, I'll jump in.

No, no.

Oh, you're going to sell me to the Midianites.

That's good.

Let me go.

No, no.

The Bible says He cried out to them, he begged them, he.

He asked for them not to do what they were doing.

He Imagine the wailing he must have done at 17 years of age.

And now he's been sold to this captain, this mighty man, this man of power.

What a contrast to what he was used to.

But the Bible says in verse two, the Lord's hand was upon him.

In fact, it says he was prosperous, that he prospered.

Why did he prosper?

Why is it that everything in Joseph's hand went well?

Why is it that success followed Joseph number one?

Because of his character.

If you look down at verse six, it says he was a goodly person.

How else could a slave who was sold on the auction block to this man, this man of.

Of prominence, this wealthy man, how else could he, you know, go rise in ranks amongst Potiphar's house?

And so much so that the Bible says that Potiphar didn't even know what was going to be served on the table.

Everything had been given to Joseph.

The authority, the overseer of everything.

That meant his cattle, his lands, his finances, his food.

Only thing he didn't, he didn't even know what was going to be on the table.

Now, it does point out that he withheld his wife and Joseph pointed that out.

Why?

Why would a slave rise to that prominence, by the way?

He would have had to learn the language.

So God blessed him in order that he might learn the language.

He would have.

There would have been so many things a part of this.

He was a man of character, no doubt prompt, no doubt diligent, no doubt obedient, no doubt reliable.

You'd have to be all those things for a wealthy man to put you in charge of everything that he has.

And you're a slave, by the way, a young slave.

You imagine putting somebody you know who may be like 21 in charge of all your stuff.

And you're a multi, multi millionaire here.

No, God's blessing.

Everything you have.

Here you go.

Take all the.

Why?

Because of Joseph's testimony.

It would have been not only the way in which God blessed him, but God blessed him because he was a man of character.

Because he was a man of character.

Because as he did, as he worked, he was diligent, he was obedient to his boss, he was reliable, he worked to please his boss.

But more importantly, he worked to please the Lord.

The true basis of character in any person is a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Again, every prominent survey you find of corporations who are looking for employees at the top of the list if it's not one, it's usually two.

Is integrity.

They're looking major corporations and honestly, anyone who is employing people is looking for people of character.

They want somebody who can run the register, who won't take money out of it.

They want somebody who will.

Who will give them an hour for pay for an hour.

They want somebody who will come in on time and they want somebody who will be reliable and won't call and you find.

Call in sick and find out they're at the Rangers game.

I even.

Okay.

You'd be amazed.

Even I have come across this amongst staff.

You mean preachers don't know?

I'm telling you, it's unbelievable sometimes.

I'm just saying in order for him to rise in prominence in that home.

Yes, it says God gave him favor.

But why did God give him favor?

Because of his character.

Godliness, the Bible says, is profitable in all things.

Can I remind each one of us that we ought to aim with the help of the Holy Spirit?

Of course.

The power of the Holy Spirit to be people of character, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

We're working for others.

The Bible says, as we work for others, that we ought to do it heartily as unto the what the Lord and not unto man.

As Joseph did his job as a slave, as Joseph especially, you got to remember at the beginning, he would have not even known the language.

And as he's learning the language and he's doing the tasks, the little tasks that whomever had given him, another servant had given him.

And then as he did those little tasks, and then as he grew in prominence, he did the bigger tasks.

We know that the Bible speaks about.

Take care of the little things and God will give you the big things, the little foxes that spoil the vine.

And there's so many verses we could turn to.

We don't have time tonight.

But just again.

If you are seeking to be.

If you're seeking, and you ought to be, as a Christian, you ought to be seeking to please the Lord.

And as you please the Lord, he will make your way prosperous.

He will bring about in your life good success.

What does that look like?

Well, it looks like an employee or an employer who has character.

Why are you always arriving late?

That's not character.

Hello.

Why are you taking things on the job?

You know, I could go on and on and on.

It gets quiet.

I'll move on.

Prosperity comes as we walk close to the Lord, as Joseph did.

He believed God put him there.

You believe that about Joseph?

I believe Joseph.

He understood the dreams and he understood that one day he was going to rule and have authority over his family.

And so that meant that wherever he was at right now, God had put in there.

Can I say tonight that wherever God's put you, wherever you're at tonight, God's put you there and so be all there.

I'm pointing to myself too.

Do all things again to the glory of God.

Our testimony at work ought to be that as Joseph's testimony, we should be valued and people will take notice.

The Lord prospered him.

Joseph.

We see.

And I'm out of time.

We may cover this next time.

Let's just do the application a little more and then we'll cover the purity part next time.

There is a lot to be said.

Turn to Psalm chapter one.

And we'll use this as our conclusion tonight.

We could also turn to Deuteronomy.

There's several places in which God uses the word prosperous.

Not a lot of places, but several places.

And this is one of the areas.

One of the times in which he uses the word In Psalm Chapter one.

Most of you know this chapter.

We preached it many times.

It's a great chapter.

The Bible says verse number one.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.

Think about Joseph as you think about these verses.

Nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord.

And his law doth he meditate day and night.

And what's the result of that?

Well, he should be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither.

And what whatsoever he doeth will what?

Prosper.

You want to prosper?

Walk with the Lord.

You want to prosper?

Don't take the counsel of the ungodly.

Be careful who you're getting your advice from.

Be careful who you're hanging out with.

We say that to teenagers and young people all the time, but that applies to us too.

Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

If you're around somebody who's scornful, be careful.

I'd say if you got something.

If you're around somebody who's just scornful again, that has to do with again, wrong thoughts of God, even heresy as it pertains to the Lord.

You really shouldn't hang around people like that.

But notice what it says.

Delight in the law of the Lord.

Meditating day and night, chewing the cud chewing the word of God will prosper.

Why did Joseph prosper?

Because he walked with God.

Because he walked with the Lord.

Are you walking with the Lord?

I do want just one other thing real quick illustration.

And I promise we're done.

A healthy person is less likely to get sick.

Boy, that's just.

That's profound, isn't it?

And it really doesn't matter your age, it concerns that.

But a person who is trying to be healthy, and I'm pointing fingers at myself, a person who eats right and takes care of themselves and exercises will be less normally less likely to get sick.

Right?

It's the same thing spiritually as we think about walking with the Lord and spending time with him.

Spending time in prayer and reading our Bibles, attending church services like this, attending Sunday school, you know, going to revival meetings and hear Sam Davison holler at us.

It's awesome.

And allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.

And then during the week, we've spent time with the Lord, reading our Bibles and praying.

Maybe we're listening to a podcast on the way to work and listening to Paul Chappell preach or whomever it is you're listening to on your live stream or your podcast stuff.

You're just feeding yourself good spiritual stuff, being careful not to, you know, eat too many cupcakes, not to allow yourself too many chocolate almond bars.

Right.

That's what I mean.

I believe Joseph no doubt lived a healthy life spiritually, and so when temptation came, he was less likely to give in.

Amen.

Man, what a man of character.

God prospered him because of it.

Young person, you want to live a prosperous life, aim to be a person of character.

By the way, you can only do that through the Holy Spirit.

And walking with the Lord as we walk with the Lord, he'll make our way prosperous.

Let's all stand, have a verse invitation tonight.

Hymn 161.

We'll cover the sin next time, the temptation.

I do want to give you some things.

Hopefully that'll help you when it comes to that.

Tonight our song is Softly and tenderly after we pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you again for the life of Joseph, for the example that he set for us.

And Lord, may we strive to be people of character and Lord understanding that to do that we must walk with you, spend time with you, grow closer to you, and that you will make our way prosperous.

Lord, may we as Christians rely upon your Holy Spirit and the power that is given to us through him to live the life that pleases you in Jesus.

Name.

Amen.