The Teenager Who Changed the World - I

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. To find out how to know God personally, go to knowgod.org. K-N-O-W, knowgod.org. Hey, would you do me a favor?

Share this message with someone who needs to hear it. When's the last time you saw movies celebrating forgiveness? It's more likely we've seen movies where someone is settling a score. Pastor Greg Laurie says that cuts cross grain to what the Bible teaches. In our uptight and angry culture of road rage and cyberbullying and frivolous lawsuits, we prize revenge as a virtue.

But that's not what we see in the life of Joseph, because Joseph shows us a better way, the way of forgiveness. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Oh, can you hear when the angels are singing?

This is the day, the day when life begins. What captures attention in our culture? It's those who are brash, outlandish, bigger than life.

It usually isn't the smart kid who quietly grows up and discovers some new cell structure or proton particle. No, it's the rock star who trashes a hotel room and slugs a photographer. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us focus on a young man from long ago whose life gave us all an admirable pattern to follow. He's a teenager who changed the world.

This is the day, the day when life begins. I think we're in a day where we're really looking for real heroes. You know, I saw that film, Hacksaw Ridge, to a story of Desmond Doss. Now, that's a hero. A man that risked his life saved 75 other men.

Some even think it may have been as many as 100. That's a hero. But nowadays we throw the word hero around a lot.

We use it to describe a sandwich. I'll have a hero sandwich. We use it to describe a video game guitar hero. If you can hit five chords in your electric guitar, you're a guitar hero. If you can sink a ball in a basket, you're a basketball hero or a sports hero. But really, what is a hero? One definition of a hero goes as follows, and I quote, A person who in the face of danger combats adversity through impressive feats of ingenuity, bravery, or strength, often sacrificing his or her own personal concerns for some greater good.

That's a good definition to be a hero. You know, we're living in a time where we have a lot of celebrities. People who are famous for being famous. Oh, they have more Instagram followers.

Or they have more friends on Facebook. Yeah, but what have they done? I mean, is it heroic? One person contrasted a hero and a celebrity as follows. The hero is known for achievements. The celebrity for well-knownness. The hero reveals the possibilities of human nature. The celebrity reveals the possibilities of the press and media. Celebrities are people who make news. Heroes are people who make history. Time makes heroes, but dissolves celebrities. We need more heroes. Listen. You can be a hero.

You can be a world changer. That's what we're talking about in this series that we're calling World Changers based on Hebrews 11, which is sometimes referred to as the Heroes Hall of Faith. And there are some characters that made it in that, quite frankly, are surprising. From Lot to Jacob and others. But the young man we're going to look at now, who is related to Jacob. In fact, it was his son.

He is more than a worthy recipient of this award, if you will. In fact, he was just a boy when God revealed to him his future. He was the teenager who changed the world. And I'm talking about Joseph. I mean, you want to talk about someone overcoming adversity.

Joseph, against all odds, faced the worst circumstances imaginable. And as you look at his life, it has all the earmarks of a real page turner. You know, a summer read. A great novel. It's a story of an overindulgent father, a somewhat spoiled son, jealous brothers, an international food crisis.

But it's more than that. It's a story that shows the hand of God at work in every scene, ruling and overruling the decisions that people make. And in the end, God builds a hero. He saves a family and creates a nation that becomes a blessing to all of the earth.

The nation Israel. You see, Joseph wasn't just a world changer. Joseph was quite literally a world saver. Because of the decisions he made, thousands of people had their lives changed and saved.

Joseph's story is a classic rags to riches tale as he rises from a complete obscurity, facing constant setbacks to become the second most powerful man on the face of the earth. And you know, the theme of Hebrews 11 is world changers using their faith. You don't just talk about faith. You use your faith. As we've told you, faith is like a muscle.

It needs to be put into practice and applied. And he certainly did that. In fact, as we look at some of the other world changers, the heroes of faith, well see, some of them struggled with doubt. Abraham certainly had his doubts when he lied about his wife Sarah saying she was his sister because he was afraid of what would happen to him if he was discovered. We know that others had momentary lapses of faith.

But from the story of Joseph, we cannot find a single shade of doubt. And man, you want to talk about a guy with little promise. He was a simple shepherd boy, 12 of 13 children. A spoiled young man in some ways, given to visions of grandeur.

He didn't seem to really like hard work. Like many teenagers, he liked to sleep. And he had dreams. But in the case of Joseph, these dreams came from God. In fact, in the beginning, Joseph's dreams got him into trouble.

But 13 years later, other people's dreams would get him out of trouble. In the story of Joseph, we learn how to overcome adversity, how to face envy from others, how to resist sexual temptation, and how to lay hold of and have faith in the promises of God. But the most significant lesson of the life of Joseph is how to forgive those who have hurt you.

Oh yes. There is not a better example of forgiveness in all of the Bible except Jesus. He's a sterling example.

But apart from our Lord, Joseph shows forgiveness on an epic level. How many of you have been hurt by people in life? Raise your hand. It's okay.

If you don't, raise your hand. I'm wondering, are you human? We're all hurt. We've all been taken advantage of. We've all been insulted.

We've all had people wish us ill. So Joseph faced all of that and actually was able to extend forgiveness to his brothers. And what a unique thought that is in our times in which we're living. In our uptight and angry culture of road rage and cyberbullying and frivolous lawsuits, we prize revenge as a virtue. When's the last time you saw a movie celebrating forgiveness?

I don't know. But I can tell you the last time you saw a movie celebrating payback because that's a story we like to see. But that's not what we see in the life of Joseph because Joseph shows us a better way, the way of forgiveness. And he was able to say to his brothers later on who had actually sold them into slavery, it was not you that sent me here but God. As wicked as you guys were and as horrible as your plan was, God was in it and he was ultimately in control. In fact if Joseph had a theme in Scripture it would be this one, Romans 8.28.

Let's read it out loud together. All things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose. Oh I love that. I hope you've committed that to memory.

If you haven't maybe this would be one you start to. But that is really the theme of his life. Whatever happened God used it for His glory. I mean he lived in the strangest family. He was a part of the strangest family dominated by lying, deceit, immorality, manipulation, even murder. He could have turned out rotten and he could have blamed it on his mom and dad and certainly his brothers.

If anyone could have played the victim card it was Joseph but he never did. In fact we read in Psalm 76 10, human opposition only enhances your glory for you use it as a sword of judgment. So if you live in a messed up dysfunctional home, take heart, it can't be any worse than Joseph's home and God preserved him and blessed him and God can help you. God can take your setback and turn it into a setup. God can take your mess and turn it into a message. God can put the fun in dysfunction if you will.

He can turn your situation around. Look I get tired of people always wanting to blame their bad behavior on their family. I was raised in the strangest family ever if you even want to call it that. No dad around and my mom I would say she did the best she could but I don't think she really did.

But I think she tried somewhat but in many ways I was just sort of taken along for the ride and sent here and sent there for long periods of time. But as I look at my life I can see God's hand in it. I wouldn't wish my childhood on anyone but at the same time it made me into the person I am.

For better and for worse. I find that I have a compassion for people that come from broken homes. I have a compassion for skeptical people because I was once that person by nature. I still am somewhat but not about my faith and not about the word of God. But I understand how a lot of people think and Joseph's life was changed at 17 and my life was changed at 17 as well.

But you know I am able to look back on my life and see how God has had his hand in it. And so whatever you are going through it is time to stop making excuses and blaming it on mom and blaming it on dad or blaming it on your siblings or blaming it on the dog. I mean if you are going to blame anyone blame the cat. Just blame the cat. They won't care. I know you think I hate cats.

I only say that because people react actually. We have a cat we have kind of adopted in our neighborhood that comes up to our porch. He is a cool cat because he comes when you call him. That is all I am talking about.

Just come every now and then. And he comes up and so I put milk out for him. Kathy says, what are you doing with that milk? I am feeding the cat. What are you crazy?

That is a waste of milk. No he likes it. And I sit there and I watch him and I pet him. I will tell you what.

I will take a video of it and post it to prove it. You see. That is just because he is a cat that acts like a dog. That is the only reason I like him. In just a moment Pastor Greg examines the family dynamics in Joseph's household.

We will see those dynamics may have actually worked against the young man. More in a moment. Well Pastor Greg we have something exciting to mention. We just tallied up the numbers and this year just since January we have now seen 100,000 professions of faith through Harvest Ministries. Which is absolutely incredible. Yes David it is incredible.

And the way it came about is even more incredible. Because at the beginning of 2020 we went before everybody in our church and our ministry and said we have a goal this year. Some of you may remember this.

I have seen 100,000 people make a profession of faith. I will be honest with you. I had some doubts. Like are we going to really hit this number?

But I thought well why not shoot for it. We will see what the Lord does. Well COVID-19 hit so we went exclusively online with our weekend program that we call Harvest at Home.

It is basically a church service that you watch in your home. But each week I have been inviting people to come to Christ. And on one particular Sunday we had 7,000 people make a profession of faith. So now as we tally the numbers we have reached the 100,000 mark. We have reached it in an unexpected way. So what that says to me is well we had the right idea but the Lord had a different way of bringing it about. So we just say hey to God be the glory. Let's just keep going. Because we are passing that number now.

And listen to this. The Bible says there is joy in heaven over one sinner that comes to repentance. And we have seen 100,000 people in just months make this profession of faith to follow Christ. So we join the angels in rejoicing. Well today Pastor Greg is presenting a study of Joseph. He is calling him the teenager who changed the world.

And you can hear this message again at harvest.org or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify. Now we are looking at two passages together. Hebrews 11 and Genesis 37. So first let's look at Hebrews 11 verse 22. There is not a lot about Joseph in Hebrews. By faith it says Joseph when he was dying made mention of the departure of the children of Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones.

So we are introduced to Joseph in Hebrews 11 at the end of his life. Here he is in a foreign country and he didn't want to be buried there. He wanted to be buried in the land of Canaan. He had walked in faith. Now he is dying in faith.

So he wants to go home again. But how did Joseph end up in Egypt to start with? That is where our story begins. Turn over to Genesis 37. I am going to read verses 2 to 4 from the New Living Translation where we are introduced to Joseph. When Joseph was 17 years old he often tended his father's flocks.

He worked for his half-brothers, the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things the brothers were doing. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph.

A beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. And they couldn't say a kind word to him.

We will stop there. So as our story begins we have Jacob as an older man favoring one son above the others. Jacob had many wives, which is always a bad idea. And this is one of the reasons why. Some of you who have had parents who are divorced multiple times have, you know, your half-brothers, your half-sisters and all the rest that goes with it.

And it makes life difficult many times. And so Jacob had this same problem. Now you remember that Jacob fell in love with a beautiful girl named Rachel.

Right? He wanted to marry her but her father Laban was a worse conniver than Jacob was. And he said, I will tell you what man.

You worked for me for seven years. You can have Rachel. Jacob is like, game on.

I am ready. And he worked for seven years on this honeymoon night. Instead of waking up with Rachel he woke up with her less attractive sister Leah. And then they even said, oh you know we all know the rights of the firstborn here and Leah is the firstborn.

Sorry. I worked seven more years and you can have Rachel. The fact is he worked fourteen years to marry this beloved girl and she was so important to him. And they had the child Joseph. So he favored this boy. Now you would have thought that Jacob would have known it is wrong to show favoritism to one child over another. Why? Because his father favored his brother Esau.

Remember? And his mother favored him and this created a harsh rivalry that continued well into their adult years. So if Jacob had learned anything you would have learned don't favor one child over another. You know when I buy a gift from one of my grandchildren my wife always says, you have to buy five. So it seems like a good idea. I am going to get this for this grandchild. So my wife says, are you ready to buy five?

I do the math. No it is not that nice really. You know you have to be even because kids know. They know. They know when they are the favored one and the siblings know. And sometimes even into the adult years an adult sibling will say to their brother or sister, you are always mom's favorite.

Right? Dad loved you more than the rest of us. Really in many ways Jacob is setting Joseph up for failure not for success. And we see the same thing happening today. Kids who were always told they were the best when actually they weren't. They got participation trophies for just showing up.

Their helicopter parents as they are sometimes called hovered over them. The parents drove around with that bumper sticker, my child is an honor student. Do you have one of those stickers on your car?

I mean really? Isn't that kind of bragging little? Maybe we should have some honest ones. Instead of that have a sticker that says, my child is an average student with little ambition. Or how about this, my daughter has no rhythm and dance class is a struggle. That is honest.

All of our kids are not honor students. But in many ways when you over praise your kid and certainly if you praise him at the expense of your other children you can create this very hotbed of jealousy and rivalry Joseph found himself in. And to make matters worse dad goes out and gets him a special custom designer coat. A multicolored jacket. The more familiar phrase is King James Version. A coat of many colors.

Right? What does that mean? It means it was a richly ornamented robe. Now there is more to this than initially meets the eye. One commentator said this was a tunic that was sleeved and it was extended to the ankles.

So here is the idea. The brothers would have work clothes on. They would be in jeans.

Right? They might have had their sleeves cut out so they would have freedom of movement to work in the fields. Dad gave to Joseph the equivalent of like a tuxedo or this super cool designer jacket that would have cost a lot of money. Which effectively said he did not have to work.

The other brothers had to work in the hot sun but Joseph did not have to work. It would be like buying your kids clothes at the outlet stores and then taking your favorite child to Yves Saint Laurent on Rodeo Drive. You have heard of Yves Saint Laurent. It is French for too much.

Cost too much. So he gives them this beautiful garment. They are resentful. Why does he get that and we don't get that.

What is going on? And it was clear that Jacob was planning on giving firstborn status to Joseph. And so Joseph actually threw fuel on the fire himself. Verse 2.

One day Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things the brothers were doing. The word reported here from the Hebrew is snitchido. You have heard of that word? It doesn't exist. I made it up.

But it is implied. He was snitching on his brothers. He was a rat. He was an informant.

That is how they saw him. You know when kids fight there is always one child that is a troublemaker. And there is always one child that is a little miss or mister off a miss. Goody two shoes that rats them out.

Right? So the one child makes it trouble. The other child rats them out. And then you will say to them now stop being bad to the naughty child. And that never has any effect on their behavior. And then we say to the other don't be a tattletale.

Right? Nobody likes a tattletale. Well that is what Joseph was in some ways. He was a tattletale. But having said that let me also add he really was a godly man.

I mean he really was in every way. And here is the bottom line. If you call out sin in the lives of other people they are going to get upset. Sometimes all you have to do is show up as a follower of Jesus and you are just a light in a dark place. You just say hi.

How is it going? They are all like here we go. Here we go. Why?

Because you represent Jesus Christ. Now they have to mind their P's and Q's. Now they have to think about what they are going to say next. In fact the Bible tells us in Ephesians 5 11 take no part in the worthless deeds of evil but instead expose them. So that is what Joseph was doing. Maybe he could have been more diplomatic. I will concede that point.

But he was a godly man and he was telling the truth. You know sometimes this is just a trait of youth. You know when you are young especially a teenager you know you are thinking I am an adult now man.

I know what is going on you know. And you start to form views about different topics. And often it is not nuanced. Often it isn't really completely thought out.

But you have your views. And I remember after I became a Christian at 17. You know I had been so radically changed by Christ that when I ran into Christians who were compromising it made no sense to me. Because I had just lived that life. I had lived that life they flirt with. I had done everything they think about and more. And I saw how empty and miserable it was.

And I could not understand why a follower of Christ would want to still try to live in two worlds. Ok. So I was a little harsh with people. Some told me, man you were really critical when you were a brand new Christian. And I said, I disagree.

You are so wrong. But you know how you can be. And I think I lacked diplomacy. And when I was a young pastor at about 22 you should have met me. I was just awesome.

I really was. I had the answer to every question. Nothing you could ask me.

I wouldn't have an answer to. Every argument I would try to win the argument. And you know as time passes you learn to be a little more graceful. You learn to realize that actually you don't have all the answers. You know here is the bottom line.

If you want to win some you need to be winsome. We are learning some practical lessons today from our study based on the life of Joseph. Pastor Greg Laurie is presenting a message called, The Teenager Who Changed the World, here on A New Beginning.

From his series called, World Changers. And a copy of Pastor Greg's full presentation is available. If you want to learn more about the life of Joseph, you can go to our website. And if you want to learn more about the life of Joseph, you can go to our website. And a copy of Pastor Greg's full presentation is available.

You can find out more at harvest.org. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here around the clock to take your call.

That's 1-800-821-3300. And again the title of today's message is, The Teenager Who Changed the World. And then we want to speak for a moment with our in-studio guests, authors Jeff and Shanti Felton. They've written a new book called, Thriving in Love and Money. They've discovered that more than 90 percent of couples have tension over money, or just avoid the topic altogether.

And their book gets to the bottom of the issues and helps people find harmony in the home. Shanti, as you dug deep into the results of this three-year research study, what would you consider the biggest surprise in all the data? The biggest surprise is how much all of us, and definitely me in my own heart, how much I am resisting being one in marriage, and it's coming out in how I handle money.

I mean, that was one of the big findings, and it hit me. Because candidly, a lot of us have kind of gotten into patterns when money isn't something you love talking about. You're one of those people who just, it's not your thing.

It's really easy to kind of go, you know what, your paycheck goes into your account, and my paycheck goes into my account, and we don't have to talk about money. And when people say, well, I don't do that, I ask them the same question I had to ask myself once I realized this is, okay, maybe you don't, maybe you combine everything, but ask yourself, do you ever try to pull the Amazon package off the front step before your spouse sees it? That, in me, was coming from the same exact place of wanting to just do what I wanted to do that causes some people to separate accounts entirely. And during this moment, it's important for us to sort of wrestle with that and recognize this is something we're called to not be you and me. We're called to be we. Oh, that's very good. We're not called to be you and me, we're called to be we.

You're listening to Shanti and Jeff Feldhahn. They've written a book called Thriving in Love and Money, and this is our special resource this month that we want to put into your hands. Folks, you know that when we offer these resources, it's because we want to help you, we want to encourage you, we want to strengthen you, and this is one of the most important that we've ever offered. And I would remind you that I'm offering this to you for your gift of any size.

Whatever you send, large or small, we'll get you your copy. But let me encourage you to invest in our ministry because this is a ministry that obviously teaches the Word of God, but it's also a ministry that calls people to Christ, and every year we see literally thousands of people make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ because we'll invite them to do so at the end of our program. So if you believe that people need to come to Jesus, if you believe people need to hear the Word of God, then we would appreciate your investment in our ministry and we'll get you your copy of this book by Jeff and Shanti Feldhahn, Thriving in Love and Money.

Yeah, that's right. It would be our privilege to send this your way to help bring more connection and contentment to your home. The Feldhahn's discovered that money is the number one stressor in relationships, so help is on the way as soon as you request Thriving in Love and Money, subtitled Five Game-Changing Insights About Your Relationship, Your Money, and Yourself. We're sending it to thank you for your donation. It helps touch lives all around the world.

For instance, we read this comment on social media. Pastor Greg, greetings from Dubai. I have enjoyed your old and new studies online. I enjoy your teaching so much with a little twist of jokes in between.

I love it, I love it, I love it. Keep it up. God bless. Your contribution is an investment in helping these studies continue to reach out all around the globe just like that. So get in touch today at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or call us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to Harvest.org. Next time, join us for more from the study of the life of Joseph the World Changer. That's next time, here on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. In the day, the day when life begins The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at Harvest.org.