The Palace Test

Welcome to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. Today we're continuing Pastor Robert's series, From Dream to Destiny, where he describes the 10 character building tests from the story of Joseph that we must pass before God allows us to realize our dreams and step into the world. Well, in today's message, we're going to look at the keys to Joseph's success in the palace and what we can learn from them.

Well, there's such incredible insight in this message, so let's get to it now. Hebrews 3. So this week is the palace test. Pride test, pit test, palace test. By the way, the next week is the purity test, then the prison test. Yes, they all begin with P because I am gifted.

So this is the palace test. Genesis 39 verse 1. Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, they both begin with P by the way, captain of the guard and Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites. Now we know they were Midianite traders. Midian was the region they were from. Ishmael was the descendant they were from. From the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. Now watch verse 2 carefully. The Lord was with Joseph and he was a successful man.

I hope you see the connection between those two phrases. The Lord was with him and he was a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him.

Remember his master was an unbeliever. Saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house and all that he had he put under his authority. So it was from the time that he made him overseer of his house and all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph's hand and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

I liken myself to Joseph in the Bible. I think the reason it says that last phrase is because it's about to go into the purity test how Potiphar's wife pursued Joseph. So it's telling us he was a handsome person. And so next week by the way is the purity test. You don't want to miss that. Alright here's what this talks about.

It's an amazing statement. By the way he's in Potiphar's house and Potiphar makes him second in command. And he just gives him everything.

He says just run the whole thing. And then he winds up in prison. The keeper of the prison does the same thing. By the way then he winds up back in the palace with Pharaoh and Pharaoh does the same thing. But look down at the end of that chapter. Chapter 39 verse 23.

This is when he was in prison. It says the keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority because the Lord was with him and whatever he did the Lord made it prosper. I have a very simple question for you.

Would that be okay with you? Whatever you do the Lord makes it prosper. Well I feel like the Lord has given me four simple keys to being successful, to being prosperous, to being promoted in everything that we do. Our job, our health, our finances, our family, our marriage, to being successful in whatever that God's called us to.

Whatever we put our hand to. So here are the four keys. Here's number one. I want you to write these down.

Number one. The key to prospering is the presence of the Lord. The key to prospering is the presence of the Lord. Write that down.

It's very important. And notice how many times it said the Lord was with him so he prospered. Now the first thing we need to talk about here is that the word prosperity is not a bad word. I know that there is a hyper prosperity teaching and I do not agree with it. I know that it's wrong.

I know you cannot support it by scripture. I understand that but the problem is that the rest of us now have heard the hyper teaching and we've even pulled back from the biblical understanding of the word prospering. God wants to prosper you. To make you successful in your life, in your marriage, in your family, in your health, in your job, in your career, in your finances. He wants to prosper you so you can prosper others.

He wants to bless you so you can be a blessing to other people. And prosperity is not a bad word. It's all through scripture. As a matter of fact, the word prosperity in the Hebrew means to push forward.

It literally means to push forward. It's used one time, 63 times in the Old Testament. One of the times it's when Samson, when the Spirit of the Lord came on Samson and he defeated his enemies. In other words, God came on Samson and pushed him forward.

Now again, I want to ask you, would that be alright with you? Would it be alright if in your job, in your career, in your family, God was always, Lord, God, God, just pushing you forward? Well the key to prospering is the presence of the Lord.

And let me tell you why. Because God never fails. God's never failed in anything He's done. So if we walk with the presence of the Lord, if we walk with God, we're going to prosper. Because God's going to prosper.

Find out what God's doing and get in on it. Wherever God's going, and here's the problem, people go out from the presence of the Lord. You know, it's not that God removes His presence, it's that we walk away from the Lord. It says, the Bible says that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. God came to Adam, gave him a chance to repent. He came to Eve, gave her a chance to repent. He came to Cain and gave him a chance to repent. And Cain would not repent. And so Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.

Because God was walking one way and Cain decided to walk another way. When you walk with God, you're successful. When you don't walk with God, you're not successful. So let me show you a few scriptures. You can stay right there in Genesis 39, Genesis 26 verses 12 and 13. Then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundred fold. And the Lord blessed him. Now watch and see if God shies away from using the word prosperity just because of the hyper-prosperity teachers. Verse 13, the man began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous. It looks like it's in the Bible. Deuteronomy 29 verse 9, Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do.

2 Kings 18, 7, The Lord was with him, he prospered wherever he went. And 3 John verse 2 says, Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers. I want you to know that God would like to push you forward in your career. Push you forward in your family.

Push you forward in all that you put your hand to. But the key to prospering is the presence of the Lord. Even an unbeliever, Potiphar, recognized that the Lord was with Joseph and that his house, Potiphar's house, was blessed because the Lord was with him.

Here's a good question. Does your employer, whether he's a believer or an unbeliever, does your employer believe that he's being blessed because you work for his company? That's what happened with Joseph. So the key to prospering is the presence of the Lord. So you might say, well what's the key to the presence of the Lord then? If that's it, I want to prosper, so what's the key to the presence of the Lord? Well, I'm ahead of you.

I've got it all figured out here. The key to the presence, here's number 2, the key to the presence of the Lord is obedience. The key to the presence of the Lord is obedience.

Let me read you some scriptures. 2 Chronicles 17 verse 3, now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because, here's why he was with him. Because he walked in the former ways of his father David, he did not seek the bells. In other words, because he obeyed.

He walked in obedience. 1 Samuel 18 verse 14, and David behaved, we could stop right there. And David behaved wisely in all his ways and the Lord was with him.

Now we know that David didn't do everything right, we know that, it's in the Bible. But when he did mess up, he repented. He came back to the Lord, he humbled himself. When the prophet came to him, he humbled himself.

And he came back. 1 Samuel 18 verse 12, now Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him. But had departed from Saul.

Here's a very, very simple couple of questions. Why was the Lord with David? Because he obeyed. And why had the Lord departed from Saul?

Because he disobeyed. Let me show you another scripture. Deuteronomy chapter 11 verses 26 through 28. Behold, I said before you today, a blessing and a curse. Now here's God saying, I'm going to let you choose.

A blessing and a curse. The blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today. And the curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God.

Listen to me carefully. This is not a works doctrine. We are saved by grace through faith. We go to heaven by grace. But if you want to succeed on this earth, you're going to have to obey. If you obey and walk with God, you will walk in success.

Doesn't mean everything will go right for you. Doesn't mean you'll never go through a storm. But it means God will take you through those storms successfully. Let me read you another scripture. Job 36 verses 11-12. If they obey and serve Him, God, capital H, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures. But if they do not obey, they shall perish by the sword and they shall die without knowledge. Proverbs 28-13. He who covers his sins, in other words, walks in disobedience, will not prosper. But whoever confesses and forsakes them, turns from them, will have mercy. You know that I believe in grace. I believe so strongly in grace that we're saved by grace. If it's based on works, you've already lost it.

You're already in trouble. I'll assure you of that. Grace is a gift.

If it's a gift, it can't be earned. I believe in grace. But I also believe in obedience. And I have seen that when I walk with God in obedience, I'm blessed. Everything I put my hand to is blessed. And when I walk away from God, there's a curse.

Now listen to me. It's not God cursing me. It's like we live in a curse.

It's not like. We live in a cursed world. We live in a cursed world.

It's like, this is what I was going to say. There's a hell storm going on around us with huge chunks of hell about that big, falling all over the place. And there is this steel umbrella over God and whoever walks with Him. So we walk with God and this thing protects us. We are protected and blessed and covered. But when we choose to walk away from God, we choose to walk out there in this hell storm and hope we can dodge Him.

But we're not going to be able to dodge Him. So the key to prospering is the presence of the Lord. The key to the presence of the Lord is obedience.

Now here's what some of you are thinking. Well, I just don't obey. I'd like to obey, but I just don't obey. And I just don't.

I just. So Pastor Robert, I'm going to need the key to obedience. I got that covered. The key to obedience.

Here's point number three. The key to obedience is faith. Do you know why a farmer plants? Because he believes that he's going to receive a reward. Listen, many of us have more faith in the hot water heater than we do in God. Because what happens when you turn the hot water faucet on? It's not hot. It's cold. And we just stand there.

Waiting, right? I lived in one house. The house I lived in before I lived in the house, they located the hot water three houses down. The hot water heater.

I could turn the hot water on and go write a sermon and come back. Still not be hot. But what we just said. You know why? We know. We know we turn that faucet on. It may feel cold. It's going to get hot. Listen to me. You turn the faucet of obedience on, it may feel cold. It's going to get hot.

It's going to. Because you just, you got to believe. And here's the problem. We don't believe that there are rewards if we obey and there are consequences if we disobey. If we believed that, we would obey. But many times we feel like we can disobey and get away with it.

You don't get away with it. The reason children obey is because they believe they'll be rewarded if they obey. And they believe they'll be, they'll suffer consequences that they don't. Ephesians 6 verses 1 through 3. Children obey your parents in the Lord.

For this is right. Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with promise or with a reward. That it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.

I've asked people before and somehow they forget part of it. I'll say, what's the promise if you obey or honor your mother and father? They say that you may live long. That's the only part of it. The promise is that things may go well with you.

I don't even know if you want to live long if things aren't going well. That things may go well. There's a reward. And if children believe that they'll be rewarded if they obey and if they believe there are consequences. And Proverbs tells us those consequences are spankings. If they believe that if they disobey there's a consequence, they will obey. We had these people in our home one time and they had a two-year-old son and he was tearing our house up. He's just running all over the place doing stuff and they're just sitting there talking. I mean, have you ever been around parents like that?

Doesn't that bother you? They're acting like they're just oblivious to this and we're watching this child tear up our house. And so I said to them, excuse me just a moment, do you know that your son is tearing up our house? And they said, well, boys will be boys.

And I said, not in my house. And so I said to them, I didn't think they would respond the way they did, but I said to them, if you don't spank him, I will. And they said, be our guest. So, in a moment, right after they said that, this kid comes over beside me.

We had one of these plants there, I think it was called the banana plant with these big leaves, you know. He starts stripping the leaves off of our plant. And he's right beside me and I said to him, hey. I said, look at me, son. I said, if you pull one more leaf off of that plant, I'm going to spank you.

Just like that. He looked at me for a minute and then he went like this. Now the great thing was, to get the leaf all the way off, he had to bend down.

It was a perfect target. So, I popped him, just like that. And he was shocked. Like that. And he just turned around and walked out of the room, just like that.

About a week later, they came back over to our home. The first thing he did, we opened the front door. He walked right past everybody. He walked over to that plant and he said, Robert, spank. He obeyed in our house, you want to know why? Because he believed. I helped him believe. I built faith in that young man's life. I also said to him, because I believe not only consequences, I believe in rewards. God is a rewarder.

I did this with our children. I said to him, if you'll obey when you're here, I'll give you a dollar. And every time he'd come and he would obey, I would give him a dollar. And I believe that God, there are not only consequences, I believe there are rewards.

Listen to me. If you believed that if you worked hard for your employer, even though he was an unbeliever, that God would reward you, you'd be a good worker. You know, there are a lot of people that say, you know, when I get a better job and I work for a better person, I'll work hard.

You're not going to get a better job. Because if you're not faithful where you are, why would God give you more? Let me read you another scriptural in this. Colossians 3 verses 22 through 25.

Bond servants, obey. Obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality. Now, turn to Hebrews 3.

I'm taking a little more time on this point because I think it's so important. Because all of us want to obey, we want to do the right thing, but how do you obey? Well, you obey if you have faith. So in Hebrews chapter 3, when I saw this scripture, I thought, that's it.

That's it right there. As a matter of fact, I thought of this scripture when God gave me this point. Hebrews 3 verses 18 and 19. And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest? This is the reward of the promised land. Who would not receive the reward of the promised land? But to those who did not obey. Now, watch this carefully. Verse 19 says, so we see that they could not enter in because of, watch, unbelief.

Where did that word come from? He was talking about obey. You would think it would say those who did not obey could not receive the reward. So we see they could not receive it because they did not obey. No, it says because they did not believe because of unbelief.

Listen to me. Faith produces obedience. If they had believed that God would reward them, then they would have obeyed.

They disobeyed because they didn't believe. So the key to prospering is the presence of the Lord. Because if you're walking with God, God always succeeds. The key to the presence of the Lord is obedience. The key to obedience is faith.

So, some of you are thinking, well, what's the key to faith? Well, this is the most practical one of all and it's simple. And listen to me. All of you can do it.

Everyone here can do it. You'll choose whether you want to, you'll choose whether you want to prosper. It won't be me. It won't be anyone else. It won't be your boss.

It won't be anyone. You have no excuse for not prospering. You'll choose whether you want to prosper. Whether you want the presence of God, to walk with the presence of God. You can't obey whether you're going to have faith. Because this right here is something you can do.

I promise you, everyone can do it. The key, here's point number four. The key to faith is hearing the Word. The key to faith is hearing the Word. Now listen to me.

You might think I'd say doing the Word. I believe in obedience. I've already talked about that. But that's not what produces faith according to the Bible. Romans 10, 17 says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of the Lord. Faith comes by hearing the Word. Listen to me.

You want to have faith? Hear the Word. Listen to as many sermons as you can. Download them.

Get the iPod. Listen to CDs of sermons, of sermons that preach the Word, that teach the Word. Not just the guys give you five points for better health and all that stuff. But the ones that really preach and teach the Word. Get in the Word of God. Read the Word yourself. Memorize the Word of God. Put it on your iPhone.

When you have a few minutes, read it. Put it on note cards. Put it on your mirror.

You know, obviously you can still see what's behind you, kind of to the side. But memorize it. Meditate on it.

Study it. Get the Word in you. Here's why the Bible says hearing the Word builds faith in you. Listen very carefully because the Word has the power to change your life. The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And His name is the Word of God. And the Word of God is not a corruptible seed, but incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever. And heaven and earth will pass away, but His Word never will. And His Word will never return forth without accomplishing what He sent it to do. Learn the Word of God. Know the Word of God. I'm telling you, I don't know how to impress upon you to spend time with the Word, to get to know the Word.

Now, I want you to even think about these last three points, all right? I talked about prospering in the presence of the Lord, but obeying, having faith, or believing, and hearing the Word. And that's what I'm telling you.

It's very simple. You can prosper. You can prosper because you're walking with God. You're going to walk with God because you obey. You obey because you believe. But you believe and have faith because you hear God's Word.

That's how simple it is. We want you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. If you want to connect with us or check out some of Pastor Robert's other messages, visit pastorrobert.com. And if you haven't already, go follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so we can be a part of your community. Thank you so much again for listening in today. We hope you've enjoyed this series. Next time, Pastor Robert is going to share about the test of purity. Until then, we hope you have a blessed week.