The Temptation of a World Changer - I

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by some special friends of this ministry. Pastor Greg? I wanted to say a special word of thanks to the Harvest Partners who make this ministry possible.

Next time you're online, check out Pastor Greg's personal blog at blog.GregLaurie.com. And more to the point, that can be an indication that you're a threat to the devil and that is why he is setting his sights on you. Some may think of the opposition between the forces of light and the forces of darkness like a friendly game of basketball.

They choose up sides and play the game. But in reality, this is war and the stakes are eternal. It's truly a matter of life and death. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie continues his provocative series, World Changers.

We're examining the lives of our spiritual forefathers for insight on how we can change our world as they change theirs. I heard a story about a guy that loved Krispy Kreme donuts. How many of you love Krispy Kreme donuts? How many of you have had hot Krispy Kreme donuts? How many of you have never been before? You've never been to Krispy Kreme. It's ok. Go sometime.

I think you will like it. But anyway, he on his way to work drove by Krispy Kreme every time. And it was hard because he was gaining weight and he wanted to lose some. He was on a diet so he made a determination that he would not go the normal route past Krispy Kreme.

And that went well for about a week and a half. But then he absentmindedly took the old way to work and there was Krispy Kreme and the sign was lit up. Now you know what that means right? So in the window if you have never been to Krispy Kreme this is going to be helpful to you. If that sign is lit up in the window it means they are making fresh donuts. Hot glazed donuts.

The best ever. And the most I have eaten I think is six. Is that bad?

It sounds like that is bad. Yeah. They are smaller though.

Come on. They are smaller. Have you noticed that? Hey don't judge me man.

Judge none unless you be judged. I love how people always misquote that. But anyway so he you know absentmindedly drove by and the sign was lit up. And he thought maybe this is a sign from God. Maybe the Lord wants me to have a Krispy Kreme donut. But then he said well you know it is always so crowded there especially when the sign is lit up. Lord if there is a parking space right in front I will know it is from you.

And the eighth time around the block one opened up. So right? And I am that man.

This is. Ok so that is how temptation works right? It is like I don't know why I always get tempted but we unnecessarily put ourselves in the way of temptation. That is what I want to talk about today. Because we are going to look at the life of Joseph.

You remember his life could be divided into three sections. Start. Struggle. And Success. Start basically birth to age 17. A pampered young man favored by his father over his brothers having his amazing dreams. Which actually were given to him by God. Then struggle.

That is age 17 to 30. And that is what we are going to be looking at in this message to some degree. The struggle he had. And then finally success 30 years to death. And so this was a young man who faced some heavy duty temptation.

And why? Because the devil always sets his sights on those who are the greatest threat to his kingdom. So if you come here today and say, Greg I can't remember the last time I was tempted that actually said something about you. That doesn't say to me you are a spiritual person. That says to me the devil looks at you and says, why bother? But if you come here today and you say, Greg I get tempted all the time.

And I have these things hit me in my mind and these thoughts and these other things. Does that mean I am not spiritual? No. Au contraire.

That is French for I have no idea. But no. To the contrary. That could be an indication you are spiritual. And more to the point that could be an indication that you are a threat to the devil.

And that is why he is setting his sights on you. You might be surprised to know that testing and temptation can have a positive effect on the life of the believer. Well we think these are horrible things but God can use them. It has been said Christians are a lot like tea bags.

You don't know what they are made of until you put them in hot water. So maybe you are in the hot water of temptation or trial right now. Now let's pick up the story of Joseph. You remember he would strut around maybe in that coat of many colors as King James calls it.

That beautiful long sleeve tunic dad gave to him. Effectively saying you don't have to work in the fields like your brother's son. And he would send his son Joseph to check up on the brothers. And so one day Joseph was checking up on them and they said, here comes the dreamer. We have had enough of him.

Let's kill him. Wow. Talk about sibling rivalry. But then a group of traveling slave traders happened to be passing by. So they sold their brother for 20 pieces of silver. So Joseph is now a slave. I mean from overnight he has gone from a comfortable bed to a life of uncertainty. From security to shivering and shackles.

It is horrible. And this is where the story picks up. Genesis 39 verse 1. Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders. He was purchased by Potiphar the Egyptian officer. Potiphar was the captain of the guard for Pharaoh.

You might underline that phrase or come back to it. The king of Egypt. The Lord was with Joseph.

Underline that for sure. So he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph giving him success in everything that he did. This pleased Potiphar and soon he made Joseph his personal attendant. He put Joseph in charge of his entire household and everything he owned. And from the day Joseph was put in charge of his master's household and property the Lord began to bless Potiphar for Joseph's sake. All of his household affairs ran smoothly and his crops and livestock flourished so Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. And with Joseph there he didn't worry about a thing except what he was going to eat. Joseph was a very handsome and well-built man and Potiphar's wife soon began to look at him lustfully. Come and sleep with me she demanded.

We will stop there. So Joseph's world changes overnight. But he was going to find in time his dreams were going to come true.

His dreams were others would bow before him but there was going to be some tough sledding first. He was sent to Egypt. Egypt was a godless place.

A completely pagan country filled with religious superstition. The Egyptians would worship up to 2,000 gods and goddesses. They would worship animals and insects. And they would worship the Nile River. And of course they worship the Pharaoh himself. They were also given over to gross immorality.

And they would build these incredible structures and they would utilize slave labor and their own citizens. So here in this teeming metropolis. This city of wickedness and idolatry comes Joseph who has really lived a sheltered life. He is only 17 years old.

He is effectively the country boy coming to the big city. And he is purchased by a man named Potiphar identified in verse 1 as captain of the guard. This meant that he was a high ranking Egyptian official. He was head of the military police. We might also call them the Gestapo to kind of illustrate the kind of power he would have.

He was also over the royal bodyguard which is sort of the secret service of the day. They say he is the chief of the executioners. In other words everyone who was killed the order had to be given by Potiphar. In fact Potiphar's name says it all. Potiphar comes from the Hebrew one badadudo. And it translates one bad dude.

No I made that up. But that is the kind of guy he was. A man to be fair. But Joseph wasn't intimidated at all.

Why? Verse 2. The Lord was with Joseph. Do you know that the Lord is with you too?

If you are a Christian he is with you. Elijah was able to walk courageously into the court of Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel and speak the words God gave him because the Bible says he would say as the Lord God lives before whom I stand. Elijah recognized wherever he went he was standing before God.

And Joseph understood the same. Wherever you go Jesus is there. And Jesus wants to bless you. And he blessed Joseph.

I mean Joseph is a classic example of someone. It says blessed is a man that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly or sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in God's word and in it does he meditate day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters.

Listen. His leaves shall not wither and whatsoever he does shall prosper. Blessed be that man. God does want to bring prosperity into the life of the Christian. Here is the problem. There is a segment of people that have what is sometimes called the prosperity gospel.

The word faith movement is sometimes called where they have taken the truth and they have exaggerated it so much that sometimes we are afraid to talk about it. The prosperity gospel says you are always going to be healthy. God wants everyone to be wealthy. He only wants you to have prosperity. Never any kind of sickness, etc.

Never any kind of suffering either. Well Joseph prospered. But in that prosperity that also included spending some time in prison. So even in God's prosperity there can be hardship. But ultimately God wants to bless us and he certainly did with Joseph.

Coming up, Joseph faces perhaps his most challenging test. It comes in the form of a lovely lady with temptation on her mind. That part of the story next. 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. We are tracking the life of Joseph today.

It had many ups and downs. And Pastor Greg is showing us how to emulate this young man's character. It is a message called The Temptation of a World Changer.

Available at harvest.org. Joseph was a model of how a Christian should function in the workplace. I mean Potiphar man he was a hard guy to work for. But Joseph worked with complete integrity. In Colossians 3 22 to 24 we have these words about how we should do our job.

This is from a modern translation. It says don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from your heart for your real master for God. Confident that you will get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind that the ultimate master you are serving is Christ.

I love this part. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work.

Hey you want to be a good witness? Be a good worker. I mean before anything else that earns you the right to share your faith. But if you go in there and you clock out early and you are not a responsible worker and then you share your faith people won't listen to you. But if you work with integrity if you work hard realizing that your ultimate boss is not the guy or girl who signs your paycheck but it is the Lord and you do whatever you do is unto the Lord it will change everything around you.

And by the way that is when you will get advanced because when people are employers they look for hardworking employees. Not people that just phone it in. Not people that give the bare minimum. Not people that go the extra mile. People that maybe have ideas.

People that want to do it even more effectively. That is true in work and that is true in ministry as well. Yes Joseph was being tested. And maybe you are being tested right now. You are working somewhere in obscurity. You know you have an entry level job. You are making minimum wage. You are washing dishes. You are bussing tables.

You are framing houses. You are flipping burgers. Whatever you are doing do it for the Lord. As if Jesus Himself pulled up into the line and ordered a double double animal style.

That has got to be the most awesome burger you ever made. Do it as though Christ Himself was going to eat it. And I know if Jesus walked among us He would eat a double double animal style.

I am not so sure about the Krispy Kreme. But do it as unto the Lord. It will change the way you see work when you get up in the morning. You see that is how Joseph saw it. Now he is successful. In fact he is so successful that Potiphar has made him his executive assistant.

He is second in command. Potiphar is saying, look son you are over the books. You are over the house. You are over everyone that works for me. In fact all I am worrying about today is what am I having for lunch.

So just keep doing what you are doing son because you are doing a great job. And sometimes when things are going well we become more vulnerable. You know when maybe we can't always make ends meet or when we are sick or when we are having challenges we are dependent on God.

Oh God we say help me. But then when things are going well and we have a little extra money maybe in the bank or our health is super good or there is fruit in our ministry or whatever it is we can become complacent and lazy and sloppy and slothful and ultimately susceptible. And that is when temptation will hit. And here is what happens now to Joseph after great success the devil attacks. Genesis 39. Read with me. Starting in verse 7.

By the way I am reading from the New Living Translation. Potiphar's wife began to look at him lustfully. Come sleep with me she said.

Well she was far from subtle. But Joseph refused. And he told her look my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you because you are his wife.

Why can't you remember you are married. How could I do such a wicked thing. It would be a great sin against God. Man I would underline that verse.

A great sin against God. But she kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day but he refused to sleep with her. And he kept out of her way as much as possible.

One day however no one else was around. He wanted to do his work. She came and grabbed him by his cloak his coat demanding come on sleep with me. And Joseph tore himself away but left his cloak in her hand and he ran from her house.

Well stop there. She is so ticked off that he rejected her advances. She falsely accuses him of rape. She yells to the servants look at what this man did. He tried to take advantage of me.

I have got his coat. And he fled out of here. And then when her husband got home she told him. By the way I think Potiphar knew his wife was a liar. I think he knew she was a seductress.

I think he knew she was making this all up but he went along with it. You know it sort of reminds us of that movie from years ago. The Graduate. Remember that? Where an older woman seduces a young man and you could almost hear Joseph saying, Well I think you are trying to seduce me Mrs. Potiphar.

Cue the Simon and Garfunkel song. I mean wow. She was the original cougar. She wanted Joseph to be her boy toy. And he was very handsome the Bible says. Very good looking guy. And maybe it was a little bit flattering to have her give so much attention toward him.

But he resisted her. And by the way he is a young guy. He is in his twenties. He is a bachelor. And he has normal God given sexual desires. And not to mention the fact that he has now been ten years in Egypt with all those values around him. He could have said, Hey who would ever know? Maybe it will help my career.

And besides I am in Egypt so I might as well walk like an Egyptian. But he didn't do that did he? I love verse 10.

He kept out of her way as much as possible. You know one of the best ways to deal with temptation? Stay away from it when you can. Now granted temptation can hit us anywhere.

Right? Temptation can hit you sitting in church. It is not always in a moral impure thought. It could be a thought of anger. A thought of hatred. A thought of jealousy.

Or some other thing you are tempted with coming to church or leaving church. It can hit you at any time and any place. But let's all be honest. We know there are places we can go that make us more vulnerable.

Right? Like the guy with the Krispy Kreme. He knew if he drove by and the sign was lit up he was going to go in there and we know where we are weak. We know where we will fall. And the devil is smart. He has been doing this for a while.

So he won't say, Hey you happy Christian. Come here. I want to ruin your life. I want to destroy your family. In fact I don't want to just destroy your family. I want to destroy your kids and your grandkids and your great grandkids who aren't even born yet. Because I am going to mess you up so bad it is going to be passed on from generation to generation. In fact I would like you to become an addict.

Become an alcoholic. You know maybe if things go well from my perspective you will kill yourself. What do you think? What moron is going to respond to that? Ok.

Which way do I go? Not many. The devil is smart. He will come and say, Hey I know you would never do this stuff.

I know you would never be unfaithful to your spouse. I know you would never lie or steal but just this once try this out. Just take a little taste. Just take a test drive.

Just try it on once. Just take this thought out for a spin. And that is where the problems begin.

Because it starts with that little thing that becomes a bigger thing. Martin Luther once said, I can't stop a bird from flying over my head but I can stop him from building a nest in my hair. Now in my case the bird better bring its own materials because there is just nothing there to work with.

But you get the idea of what he is saying right? I can't stop the bird from flying over but I don't have to say, Hey come on. Enter in here. And so if the devil knocks on your door don't have a conversation with him. Don't answer the door.

Just leave it closed. The Bible says resist the devil and he will flee from you. It doesn't say have extended conversations with the devil. Nor does it say check out what he is offering just so you know.

Nor does it say invite him in for tea. It says resist him. And that is what Joseph did. He kept out of her way, verse 10, as much as possible. You see Joseph recognized temptation is not a sin.

Rather it is a call to battle. But this woman she was relentless. She kept putting pressure on him, verse 10 says, day after day. But he refused to sleep with her. She just would not give up. And she came back at him over and over again.

And I am sure she used every verbal and visual seductive technique she could think of. She did everything to allure him but in spite of her persistence. In spite of his natural desires and tendencies. In spite of the advancement it could have given his career. In spite of his own miserable background at home. He resisted.

How did he do it? Verse 9 gives us the answer. He says, how can I do this thing and sin against God? He did not want to do this thing that would bring dishonor to the Lord.

So he ran as fast as he could. As it says in 2 Timothy, flee youthful lusts. Pastor Greg Laurie is giving us a guided tour of triumphs and trials of the life of Joseph. It is a message called The Temptation of a World Changer. And there is more to come here on A New Beginning. If you missed any part of Pastor Greg's presentation today, you can hear this insight again by going to harvest.org. Just look for the title, The Temptation of a World Changer. Or you can listen by way of our Harvest mobile app. Or to get a CD copy, call 1-800-821-3300.

You can call any timer on the clock, 24-7, 1-800-821-3300. And then we're so glad to have some special guests with us today. In addition to Pastor Greg's wife, Kathy, we have authors Jeff and Shanti Felthan, who have written a new book, Thriving in Love and Money. It's based on in-depth research into the habits and attitudes of hundreds of married couples. Jeff and Shanti say if money is a problem in a marriage, money is not the problem in the marriage. The book helps spouses come together instead of isolate over the subject. It starts with opening the lines of communication.

Kathy? How do couples come together? We have two separate, one values security and one values just those family memories or creating an atmosphere or a situation that we're going to treasure for years to come.

They're both good things. How do we express our concern to the other without stepping on their toes or saying it in a way that's hurtful or a put-down? Yeah, I think at least for Shanti and me and what we saw in the research was you have to just start with yourself and figure out what's going on inside of you in a way that you can say it compassionately and you can say, you know, if I understand what you want to accomplish with this and you maybe say you value all of these memories that we're going to create with the family, this was thought through by you.

There's some reason that you have for wanting to do this. Can you help me understand what you're feeling inside? And it's just much more respectful toward our spouse when we're asking that.

Can you help me understand? And then it opens the door for you to say, can I tell you what that feels like for me when we're doing this? And I know that sounds like talking solves everything, but, you know, actually, it gets you a long ways there. Well, thank you, Shanti and Jeff, for being on our show and writing this book Thriving in Love and Money. And I hope that our listeners will order their own copy because it can really enrich, number one, your life.

Number two, your marriage and help you know how to deal with your finances in a godly way from a biblical perspective. And so we want to send you your own copy for your gift of any size to our ministry here at A New Beginning because, as you know, we love to teach the Word of God. This is just an illustration of that where we're helping you to see how scripture applies to all areas of your life, including your finances. And we also proclaim the gospel and give people an opportunity to believe in Jesus. So for whatever you send, we'll invest it in this ministry and we'll get you your own copy of this book by Shanti and Jeff Feldhahn, Thriving in Love and Money.

Yeah, that's right. And thanks so much for your investment in this ministry. It's an investment that changes lives. You can write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call around the clock seven days a week.

So dial 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to Harvest.org. Pastor Greg is presenting his series called World Changers. If you're enjoying this insight, drop them a note at Greg at Harvest.org. And join us again next time as we learn more from the life of Joseph 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.