Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Sermon Broadcast

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Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Podcast. I am good with a bow. I think.

I don't know. You know, I could tie a bow tie. Anyway, I um... But I like to, but I was like, I'm not an expert. I couldn't, I have been in services where evangelists set up targets in the back right above a person's head and get back here and they sit right there and they, you know, kind of thing.

I wouldn't do that. It would be horrible to find out you can't do that, right, in the morning service. Oh, I'm so sorry, ma'am.

I'm sorry. You know, that would not be good on a Sunday morning service. But I can shoot a bow, but there are archers and these are people that are trained and know exactly what they're doing and they can hit a bullseye just about every time. And so God literally here is not describing that this is just everyday life and there's just things that came at Joseph. God was saying that there were some very skilled people that came at Joseph. Joseph faced an onslaught above the average individual. He had archers shooting at him.

He had a lot of enemies. What's interesting is you won't find in God's word hardly any reference where Joseph ever did anything wrong to somebody. Now, he wasn't a perfect individual, but he had archers coming in.

Second, I want you to see Joseph's arrows. Verse 23, God describes the things that came at Joseph in his life and it might be, it might describe some things that have been coming at you or have come at you at seasons of your life. Notice verse 23 says the archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him, two different things. They've grieved him, they've shot at him, notice this third thing, they have hated him. So Joseph literally dealt with in life the fact of people grieving him, the fact of people that were literally shooting at him, trying to cause harm, and the fact that he had to deal with people that hated him. Now, dear friend, even if you have done anything to cause it, it's not fun to know there are people that hate you. It's a hard thing to bear.

And Joseph took all this. Let me discuss if I can, if you can picture if you're the target in life and sometimes if you're like me, sometimes you kind of feel like you're the target. You almost feel like in life you're either an arrow or you're a target and preacher, I feel like I'm the target. Maybe your life looks a little bit like that or feels a little bit like that target over there.

You've taken some hits along the way. Let me, if I can, just describe a few of the arrows that Joseph took on in his life. First, there were arrows from family. Arrows from family.

And by the way, these hurt. He had a very dysfunctional, we could call it, relationship with his brothers. His brothers were very spiteful towards Joseph. They mocked him, they stripped him, they threatened him, they sold him. They thought that he had literally died. They thought that they were rid of him. They were jealous of him. And this is just his family.

Imagine when you go into the real world. I mean, don't you think if there's anywhere you ought to feel protected from harm, it would be family? Am I the only one who believes that today? And yet some of you sitting here have taken some arrows from family. Joseph dealt with that.

They sometimes feel like they go deeper than any other arrow because of the source. Second thing I noticed is that Joseph took arrows from accusation. Joseph had found his way to work in Potiphar's house who was obviously in leadership there in Egypt. And here he's working for Potiphar. And Potiphar's wife who was obviously, as we can tell from Scripture, a very, very attractive woman. And Joseph is up doing some business obviously there for Potiphar. And Potiphar's wife literally tries to seduce Joseph and she wants to do that. And I'm sure that Joseph first, he felt the personal temptation of that. But second, he wanted to keep himself right. And the Bible says he said no, he got out of there. He grabbed him by the garment and he literally got out of the garment to get out of there because she was trying to snatch him.

And after he had literally refused her and decided to do right and had shown character and moral purity, she accused him, said that he had come at her, Potiphar believed him, and he ends up in jail. Now can I tell you something about arrows of false accusation? There's really not much you can do to protect yourself from that. There's really no way you can stop that. The only thing you can do for that is to be right towards God to have a clear and clean conscience. And leave it up to the Lord.

I will tell you this, that it's not always easy having arrows thrown at you of false accusation. Now, I live, I believe, a very, very undeserved blessed life that I get to do what I do and I get to do it where I get to do it. This is, I think, the greatest church in the world. There are some times I tell my wife, I say, I don't understand why everybody in Kernersville, Walkentown, Winston don't want to be at this church. I mean, if people felt the way I felt, we would have to build five buildings. I just think it's the greatest place in the world. Now, I should because I'm the pastor, I guess. But sometimes I think, you know, how could anybody visit here and not stay here?

How could they not want this? I'm blessed to get to be here. And I really feel that way. But you would be fooling yourself if you thought that I've never been falsely accused of some things. I get it all the time, oh, we hear Kirwan's gone liberal. And then I have people here that think, goodness gracious preacher, can't we do a little something? Then I hear from the, oh, they're liberal, oh, they're this, oh, they're that, oh, they're doing this now.

Oh, I've heard some good ones, I ought to tell you some of them. What I find out we're doing in the services. But I'm the one in the services and I don't see it. You know, and I don't feel it. But, oh, you wouldn't believe all that I hear. But you know what? You say, ah, it's just people, it's just this, I know, but it's still arrows. Sometimes you're misunderstood. Sometimes you have nothing but good motives. But you're going to get some arrows thrown at you and shot at you of false accusation. Some of you might sit here and you've just had so much of it in your life.

At times it's just gotten the best of you and you've had it. I noticed the third thing that Joseph got arrows from the failures of others. You say, what do you mean? Well, there was two individuals that ended up, and I know you know this, but I'm just covering this briefly. Two individuals that ended up in Joseph's life.

Joseph ended up in jail for something he didn't do. And he meets a baker and a butler. And between this baker and the butler, they had both worked for Pharaoh. And Pharaoh was very moody.

And if he got mad at somebody, just threw him there in the dungeon, you know. And he ended up meeting both of these men. And both of these men had dreams. And Joseph was known to interpret dreams. And so he kind of helps these guys out thinking, if I help them out and interpret their dream and God helps me this, maybe God could use this to get me out. And he interprets the dreams for both of these guys.

And both of them forget Joseph. What's interesting is the baker got out finally and then Pharaoh killed him. If you're going to make biscuits, you better learn how to make biscuits.

Give me none of this diet junk. That's probably what happened. Probably the baker made a gluten-free bread or something. And Pharaoh was like... Let's get Paula Deen back in here. Goodness gracious.

I'm sorry I get lost talking about food. I'm sorry. So the butler got out and he forgot Joseph for two years. I mean, both these guys, hey, I'm going to remember you. Hey, I'm going to mention you.

Hey, thank you. I'm going to make this up to you. And they all forgot him.

While he's sitting in there for something he didn't do, Joseph had not only people fail him, but he had to sit in that jail, remind that he was even there because of his family and he was still there because of his friends that failed him. You're going to have some people fail you in life, by the way. Guess what? You might have a preacher fail you every once in a while. And it might be me. I've had time sitting down at the house. I can't even describe my week and I finally sit down and all of a sudden, so-and-so had something done Tuesday. I forgot it.

I've written everything down that I could possibly write down that I forget where I wrote it down and I don't read it. And it just, you fail people. You know what?

That's just part of life. We're going to take some arrows. May I say this, that fourthly, quickly, that Joseph took some arrows from followers. You see, Joseph ended up in a leadership position.

He ended up literally the one in charge of food in Egypt. And as God began to honor him when God honors you and you end up in positions of leadership, not everybody's going to like that. It's not easy being the leader because everybody behind you is going to find something wrong with what you're doing.

So everywhere that Joseph went, somebody was mad at him. Now, I know that doesn't sound encouraging, but it is encouraging to me. That, you know what, sometimes you end up in situations, it doesn't matter who you do, somebody's going to be upset at you. You're going to have arrows coming from family and you're going to have arrows coming from false accusation. You're going to have arrows coming at you because people have failed you. You're going to have arrows coming at you from people that don't like that you're in charge or don't like where position you're in and they wanted that, all these things and these things can happen in life.

Jacob, literally this old patriarch of God, is laying there looking at his second from last son that he loved so much that he thought was dead and God brought back into his life and he looks at him and he says, the archers, including some of these young men that were standing there with him, his own brothers, the archers have shot at him. Dear friend, you and I sometimes we're going to be the target. Sometimes we're going to be what the others are aiming at. It's just going to happen in life sometimes. You say, well preacher, this is a wonderfully encouraging message.

Thank you so much for this. I feel so much better about life. Not. If you'll notice in this verse 23, he says grieved, shot at, and hated. Did you notice this in verse 23? Jacob looks at his son, he says that the archers have grieved, shot at, and hated.

So preacher, what does that mean? This implies mental, physical, and emotional attacks. They grieved me mental. They've shot at me physical.

They've hated me emotional. Joseph had literally taken on mental, physical, and emotional attacks. Arrows coming at him from left and right.

Jacob describes it. Can I give you just a couple quick things before I let you go in just a minute about arrows? Can I say this first, that arrows surprise. Arrows surprise. You can't hear an arrow coming. Arrows show up when you don't expect it.

Arrows seem to come out of nowhere. They're hard to see coming. And Jacob describes all that his son went through that literally, he literally had to bear this from individuals that he never thought would do this to him.

He never saw it coming. Who would think your own brothers would try to kill you? Now that I have three sons, I can see the possibility. I was an only child. I got all the food, all the presents, all the everything. What's there to argue about? Life's good.

I got three sons. They're fighting all the time. I'm like, what's going on? What's going on with life?

What's wrong? My 14-year-old is 14 today. Daniel, my oldest, this is his birthday.

And as your sons get older, you begin to think as a dad as you pray for them every day. What kind of arrows are going to come at them? I got a six-year-old that's had a lot of arrows at him already. Arrows surprise.

There's going to be some things happen to you in life you didn't see coming, you didn't expect it, and it's going to happen from people sometimes, circumstances, whatever, and it just all of a sudden hits you. Second thing, I say this, arrows stick. Arrows go deep. That's what they're made to do. They're made to pierce and go deep.

They're made to do as much damage after they enter as when they enter. Arrows are hard to get out. Do you know that oftentimes you can hurt yourself worse by getting an arrow out as you did when the arrow went in? It's because they stick. Some of you in church, I'm not trying to overdo this here, but I'm saying some of you in church, you're sitting here, you look like a regular person to me, but if the heart was seen, that's what you look like. You've got wounds everywhere because arrows stick.

Things that have happened to you 20, 30 years ago are still in your mind. That's just what arrows do. Isn't it amazing how wise Jacob was in what he was saying?

Notice the third thing, can I say this? Arrows sting. They hurt. They hurt. Things in life hurt. False accusation hurts. Family doing your wrong hurts. Friends that fail you, it hurts.

There's no way to get around it. You're going to face some things in life that are going to hurt you. And may I say this lastly, that arrows sever. You know why arrows hurt you? Because as they enter, they begin to divide and separate organs.

They separate blood vessels. You shoot a deer, he'll keep running all day unless you pierce him in a certain area. And it severs things. And when you take on arrows sometimes, it hurts and it stays and it begins to sever relationships. It can sever friendships.

It can begin to, listen to me, separate your relationship with God. I've seen people take on some arrows and guess what got separated? Them and God. God didn't shoot the arrow. Arrows sever. So number three, I say, all right, preacher, you made me feel really good.

I'm going to be attacked mentally, physically, and emotionally. These arrows go deep. The arrows stick.

The arrows sever. Okay, thank you for the good news of the gospel. Number three, I want you to see Joseph's accomplishments. By the way, one day God will know all that you've been through. Don't think that all the arrows you've taken over the years that you aren't aware, Jacob laid there as his father and knew exactly what he had been through. And may I tell you that your heavenly father, you might not always see him and you may not always feel him, but he's there and he knows what you've gone through. The first thing that Joseph's dad brings up, I love this.

Maybe I'm the only one. Look at verse 22, if you would. Joseph is a fruitful bough. First thing Jacob brings up is Joseph's fruit. Despite the fact that he's been shot at his entire life because he didn't let it affect him to the point that he was mad and bitter and angry and quit and all those things. Because of that, God has brought fruit through his life. Can you imagine what a compliment is after all you've been through that you can literally say, my life's been fruitful.

Every reason he had to not be fruitful had been thrown at Joseph. I mean, we have people that quit for far less. Dear friend, the more arrows you take on, the more you keep going for God, it's going to amaze you the fruit that God will bring. Some of you have been through so many difficult things, but you know what? You're still here running a bus route on a Wednesday night. You're still working in a junior church. You're still serving God. You're still teaching an Awana class.

You're still coaching in upwards. You're still involved. You still show up at visitation. You're still trying to disciple people. You're still faithful in church. You're still tithing. You're still serving God.

And guess what? I'm here to tell you, despite the fact that we have a lot of arrows coming at us, if you'll stick with it, God will bring fruit. Jacob said, Joseph, he's a fruitful tree. Notice the second thing, he brings up Joseph's faith. He said he is fruitful because, notice this verse, even a fruitful bough by a what? Joseph wasn't a tree that just grew on his own. Joseph wasn't a tree that just happened to bear fruit on his own. Despite the fact that the arrows came in him, Jacob said, you're fruitful because you've always been attached to the well. Anybody else excited on a Sunday morning?

Or is it just me? Dear friend, I'm here to tell you, you get your foundation right, the fruit will take care of itself. When you're by the well and you're getting fed, arrows can come at you left and right. But why would I move? Why would I leave the well? Why would I leave the very place I need to be?

Excuse me for screaming, but I get excited about it. Jacob said, Joseph, you've been fruitful because you've always had the right foundation. You look at me, you get a tree that's not getting any nutrients, it ain't going to take much, excuse the expression, to knock it down.

It ain't going to take much to blow it over. But you get a tree that's by the well, where the roots go deep. You can take on some arrows and keep standing. Notice the third thing he talks about, he talks about Joseph's father. I love this, look at verse 22. Joseph is a fruitful bow, even a fruitful bow by a well or bow by a well, whose branches run over the wall. I think I said father, excuse me, that's the next one, family.

I meant to say family, but I don't think I did. Here's what he says. He says he's a fruitful tree, fruit. He's a fruitful tree by a well foundation.

But he says his branches run over. He's talking about Joseph's sons. You've heard us talk about Joseph's sons and their names and the meanings of them and all the stuff that God did.

But look at me, do you realize this? Through Joseph's sons, the lineage continued where Christ would come from. And although Joseph, look at me, get this, please don't miss this.

We're almost done. Jacob said although you've had family, throw arrows at you. God's going to use your family to do great things for you. Yeah, your family might not have done you right, but God's going to honor you with a family that will do you right. Dear friend, let's quit getting hung up on maybe what a family member did to us. Let's realize we're part of a new family. We're part of the family of God.

Better hurry, I think I'm the only one excited. Look at the fourth thing here, he brings up Joseph's faith. He said his bow abode in strength.

Now Jacob wasn't standing there with a bow and he wasn't standing there with an arrow. What is he talking about? He's talking about his faith. He said this, that it abode in strength, that is. It means his faith did not fail. He kept his ground. He became a conqueror. He didn't let the arrows coming at him stop him. He had faith in his God. I love how the Bible says this, that the arms of his hands were made strong. That is this, there might have been arrows coming at him, but he had some weapons that could do a lot more damage than arrows could. It was his patience. It was his wisdom.

It was God's mercy. All these things literally, while arrows were coming at him, his hands were made strong. Dear friend, you might have a lot of things come at you in life, but our weapons are not physical, they're spiritual. Our weapon is the word of God.

It's the sword of the spirit. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kerwinbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you.