God on the Inside [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

It is your greatest defense is to grow up in maturity of knowing who you are in Christ so that when temptation comes, it has little appeal to you because you know your worth and you know your value in this world, and you wouldn't think of such a thing. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series called Providence as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout today's entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper in your study as we send you today's special offer.

Contact us at PastorAlan.org, that's PastorAlan.org, or call 877-544-4860, 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. Okay, beloved, are you ready for some good news? Sometimes when life feels like it's at its worst, God's up to his best. We're talking about providence. Inside the word providence is to provide. And one of the ways God provides, which means to see beforehand, is to minister grace in the midst of the very times that you think, I just can't wait for this to be over and I would do anything to get out of this.

And yet somehow God is at work in the midst of it. And if you think of providence, God providing like this, your mind must turn to Joseph, who occupies chapters 37 through 50 in the book of Genesis. There's so much real estate in the Old Testament narrative for Joseph because in so many ways he is the picture of the providence of God, of grace and favor at work, when you wouldn't ever imagine how it could work out. And I want to look therefore in this new series on providence at Joseph's story today and next week, and today I want to just focus in on when life had hit its deepest valley for Joseph, how God was at work in that.

These are mysteries that are deep and rich. And I'll invite you to look with me at Genesis 39 for just a couple of verses as we get started. The Lord was with Joseph, this is when Joseph's in prison, and showed him steadfast love, my favorite Old Testament word, chesed, chesed, love, it means covenantal love. It's sort of the New Testament word for that, it's agape. God showed him chesed, say that with me, chesed, it's beautiful.

It's not like love as we know it, this is love seated in covenant, seated in choice, unfailing kindness. And gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Who is this God of ours that will allow somebody to go to prison, but then just shows him all kind of favor when he's there? And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. And whatever was done there, he was the one who did it, and the keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him.

And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed, wow. There was a young man who wanted to get engaged to his girlfriend, and so he politely wanted to go ask the father's permission. And so he did have that awkward conversation in the living room with the dad, and meanwhile the mom was in the kitchen knowing it was happening. And father said, well could I ask you a couple questions? The boy said, sure. He said, do you have a place to live? And the young man said, no, the Lord will provide. Father said, okay.

Do you have money to buy food? And the boy said, no, but the Lord will provide. The dad said, do you have a healthcare plan? The boy said, no, the Lord will provide. Father got up out of the sofa and went into the kitchen to talk to his wife, and she said, how's it going?

He said, well, the young man's nice enough, but there's a problem. He seems to think I'm the Lord. Providence rooted in the word provide, which means to see ahead of time, and to say the Lord provides does not take away the vitality and importance of all of our activity. And this is the thing that's so beautiful and mysterious about the providence of God, is that you're living your life, and you're doing everything that you possibly can, and work as hard as you can, and you're doing the stuff you can, and you're facing your challenges and all of that, and God is providentially at work.

So to say God's providential doesn't mean we just sit back and wait to see what He's going to do. This is the mystery and the beauty of a life with God. And the story of Joseph is one that if you really look at the providence of God, it takes your breath away to think about the amount of suffering that Joseph went through before he actually was promoted to the position that God always had in mind for him. And so Joseph's lived this life, and as we'll see, the story of his life includes from age 17 to age 30, pretty much suffering, and the whole 13 years wondering where is God in this, and yet God was woven into the midst of it.

His story is beautiful. It's one of the few Old Testament characters that you'd say, you know, if you wanted to imitate somebody, that's not really the way to read the Bible. The way to read the Bible is to look for Jesus in every story and how it points to redemption. But Joseph's a guy that you could do a lot of imitating of because no real major sin in Joseph's life, unlike David who had his terrible moments of adultery and murder, and Moses who in many ways also was a murderer and hid out, and Abraham who lied, and Jonah who ran away from God, and you name it. But Joseph, he's remarkable. It's why his story may be as much as any Old Testament figure points us to Jesus himself.

He was a son who knew his father's favor, and that becomes a symbol of the Christian life. He was the youngest of 11 boys, eventually would have a younger brother, so there'd be 12 sons of Jacob, which become the famous 12 tribes of Israel. Joseph was born, is the 11th, he was born to his mother Rachel, and Rachel was the woman, the only woman Jacob really loved. But Jacob was messed up, he had two wives, Rachel and Leah, two concubines, and was having children by all these people, it was a dysfunctional household. And Joseph, if he had a fault, he was naive in his faith and the wonder of who he was as a person, he was a little naive and didn't realize that his brothers already hated him because their father showed Joseph favor. But then Joseph, not only did his father give him this beautiful multicolored tunic that he wore around, you know, maybe he shouldn't have, I don't know, but the brothers hated him all the more, like clearly dad loves Joseph way more than us. But then Joseph had these dreams, it was very prophetic, and he had dreams and he could interpret dreams, but he had these dreams, he didn't know the meaning of them. And the dreams were parallel, the first was these sheaves of wheat and they bowed down to this sheaf of wheat that was clearly like as if his brothers were bowing down to him. And the second dream was about stars and it was the same, and his brothers just grew even more jealous and hateful and they said, are you saying that we're going to bow down to you? Well Joseph wasn't saying that, and maybe he shouldn't have shared the dream, but now they hated him all the more.

So he was abused, they emotionally abused him, and then one day Joseph was approaching them and they, the brothers, conspired to kill him. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Unlock the power of blessing your life, discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. God's love, you've heard about it with your ears, you've believed it in your mind. Now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book, Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you, to win you and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman, you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like. For any woman who has searched for true love, what you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman, renowned author of the five love languages, says, the incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart. Accept Christ's proposal, enjoy his embrace, revel in his love.

After all, it's a match made in heaven. It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. So unless you have had your own family conspire to kill you, you haven't suffered as much as Joseph. Reuben, the firstborn, out of some God instinct said, don't kill them. They threw him in a pit, threw their own brother in a pit.

Don't rush by this. He cried out from the pit. I want you to see him in that pit. Don't leave me here, brothers.

Why have you done this? Some Midianites happened by, and they decided to sell Joseph into slavery, human trafficking. To make matters worse, after they had fetched their few shekels of silver to sell their father, they took his multicolored tunic and dipped it in animal's blood and presented it to their father, leading him to believe that Joseph had been devoured by a wild animal.

And for 13 years, they would let their father believe that his favored son was dead. Carted off to Egypt and became a slave in the household of a man named Potiphar, who was an Egyptian official. And while he was enslaved there, the Lord blessed him, favored him, and everything he touched was productive in his master's household. So the master just put him in charge of everything. Whatever this man does, seems like it becomes more productive and fruitful than it was before. And Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph, and he refused.

Have you ever thought of how remarkable that is? If ever there was a man who could say, I deserve to indulge myself a bit because I've been abused and broken and forgotten and sold and enslaved, and I deserve a little bit of some kind of pleasure in my life, if ever there was a guy who could cave into temptation it would be Joseph. But he said, no. And the reason he said no was he said, my master has put me in charge of everything in this household. He said, how could I do such a thing and dishonor him?

You know what he was saying? He was saying, I am too important, and I am worth too much, and I am honored too highly, and I am too highly favored to give in to this temptation. Listen, great resistance to temptation does not come via great self-will. It comes by great self-identity in Christ. You are made for more than sin.

It is your greatest defense is to grow up in maturity of knowing who you are in Christ so that when temptation comes, it has little appeal to you because you know your worth and you know your value in this world, and you wouldn't think of such a thing. That was Joseph. In anger and resentment, the wife falsely accused Joseph of attacking her, and so Potiphar has him thrown into prison. It's interesting, scholars talk about the fact that you probably would have expected Potiphar to have Joseph executed.

That would have been normal, but he wasn't. His life was spared. Just like when Reuben said, let's don't kill him, when he was in the pit. God has a way of allowing, allowing these hard things, allowing even the evil of these brothers and the evil of Potiphar's wife, allowing it, but only to a limit. He preserved his life. He's not going to let something come to pass that he's not going to give you grace for.

That's a promise from God. So his life is spared, but he's thrown into prison, and it's the prison where the king's officials were imprisoned. What's so fascinating is that in prison, he's also favored.

He is put in charge of things by the prison guards, and the hand of God's on him in prison. And while he's there, he meets two former officials of Pharaoh, the cupbearer and the chief cook. Now the cupbearer, yes, you think of presents, Pharaoh the wine, you've got the image of they would taste the beverage and just make sure it's not poison and then give it to the Pharaoh. That was part of it, but really the cupbearer was like chief counsel.

This is someone who has intimate access to the supreme leader of the Egyptian empire on a day-by-day basis, same thing with the chief cook. And they had these dreams, the cupbearer and the cook. And Joseph prophetically interpreted the dreams, and he told the cupbearer, he said, the symbol of three in your dream means that in three days, Pharaoh's going to restore you. It meant the opposite for the other fellow who ended up being executed. But he told the cupbearer, he said, and he was so positive that he knew the meaning of the dream from the Lord, Holy Spirit was just showing him.

He said, I just want you to do this one thing for me, just please do this. When Pharaoh brings you back as his cupbearer, remember me. And he was restored, and he didn't remember Joseph. So Joseph spent two more years in that dungeon. He was 17 when he had his dreams, and when he was age 30, Pharaoh called, 13 years. Because then when Pharaoh had a dream, he couldn't understand, and none of his soothsayers and wise men could understand. The cupbearer remembered there's a man, a Hebrew, who can interpret dreams, and they brought in Joseph. And he interpreted Pharaoh's dream about these lean cows and fat cows and how it represented there'd be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.

And so the way of wisdom would be to store up grain during the years of famine so there would be plenty enough for the known world during the years of famine. And Pharaoh was so taken by the obvious favor of God on his life that we read in Genesis 41, verse 41, Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took his signet ring, the sign of authority, from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him to ride in a second chariot, and they called out before him, bow the knee.

Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Wow, providence of God. So I've been reflecting on this story that I have loved over the years so much, again, this week from the perspective of God's providence when life is at its lowest, when life feels like it's at its worst, and God's doing something that is at the very best. In the blink of an eye, in a moment where, in the deepest valley that Joseph could be, the pinnacle of what God wanted to do and suddenly promoted him, it all came to pass in the midst of that. You never know when you believe in providence and the provision of God and the grace of God and the favor of God.

You never know when that moment might come. You never know what God's doing. You're just walking through it, and you're real, and you're human, and you're earthy, and it's hard, and that's real, and that's who Joseph was, and then God. Alan Wright, our Good News message.

It's God on the inside from the series Providence. I encourage you to stick with as Pastor Alan is back here in the studio with a parting good news thought to share with all of us in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. God's love. You've heard about it with your ears.

You've believed it in your mind. Now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book, Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you, to win you, and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman, you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like. For any woman who has searched for true love, what you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman, renowned author of the five love languages, says, the incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart. Accept Christ's proposal, enjoy His embrace, revel in His love.

After all, it's a match made in heaven. It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. You're now in the studio with Pastor Alan in our parting good news thought for the day. What do you mean by God on the inside?

Well, it's a way of talking about the incarcerated, you know, on the inside. And you know, Joseph's story, which when you think about providence in the Bible, you have to go to Joseph repeatedly because that's what it is, it's a story of providence. And you might wonder, who is this God that would allow Joseph to be falsely accused, put in prison, and yet we're told he was with Joseph in prison and began to show him favor while he was there. So whatever your circumstances are, God's on the inside with you. And He is able to provide to be providential even when things look like they're going in exactly the wrong direction. That's how good God is.

Providence says God's already in the future. So I think it's more like, you know, I've always thought, like when Bennett was little and he wanted to learn to play chess, well, I'm not much of a chess player. But if you're playing with a five-year-old, I could at least be several moves ahead, you know, and so I could win.

The moves that he was making, they mattered. But I was so far ahead. Well, imagine a real chess master.

I'm not sure how many moves the most brilliant ones can think ahead, but it's quite a number of moves. And I think of it like that. It's like God is, yeah, we're in it. We're in the game.

But He's way ahead of us with all His goodness at work on our behalf. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at PastorAllen.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at PastorAllen.org. That's PastorAllen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.