Healing the Unaffirmed Soul [Part 3]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. We throw it around as Christians so much. You know, I'm just an unworthy sinner. And I think that a better word is undeserving.

We're not announcing over ourselves we are not worth God dying on a cross for us. You are worth it. What we're saying is I was undeserving of it. I never did anything for God. I didn't deserve or earn this in any capacity.

But I was worth it. 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 today's message in a series titled The Power of Blessing as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the 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.

As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching in the series Praying with Power. Here is Alan Wright. At verse 18, Joseph has been sent by his father to come and check on his brothers.

Don't miss that. A father sends a favored son to go see on the well-being of his brothers. And what his brothers did at verse 18, they saw him from afar. And before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.

And they said to one another, here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. And then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him and we will see what becomes of his dream. Thankfully, verse 21, Reuben, when he heard it, he rescued him out of their hands saying, let us not take his life. And Reuben said, shed no blood, throw him into this pit. And what happens is that they strip Joseph of that robe. They strip him of the symbol of his affirmation. They strip him of the symbol of his blessedness. And they take the robe and they do an absolutely unimaginably wicked thing. They dip it into blood and take it and present it to their father. Now their payback comes.

You didn't affirm us. And so here weep over the son that you presume to be dead. And Jacob lives his life inconsolable thinking that Joseph is dead. But what has happened is that Joseph has been sold by these brothers for some shekels of silver. And he's taken off into slavery in Egypt where he works in the household of Potiphar.

And everything he touches is just turning to gold. And Potiphar puts him in charge of his household. And this causes him to be not only the object of Potiphar's appreciation, but becomes an object of desire for Potiphar's wife. And when she tries to allure him and Joseph flees, she grabs him by the robe.

He flees. She falsely accuses Joseph. Joseph gets thrown into prison. And while in prison, God is with Joseph. And Joseph shows that he has a prophetic capacity to interpret dreams. And the cupbearer knows of this.

And he says, Remember me to the king. But the cupbearer forgets Joseph. And there he is just seemingly forgotten until the time comes that he is remembered by the cupbearer because Pharaoh has had a dream. And someone needed to interpret it. And so they get Joseph to come to interpret the dream.

And it is through this that this figure of Joseph who is presumed dead, assumed lost forever, becomes the the prime minister of Egypt. So that's the story that's going on. And the brothers don't know it.

Here's what I want you to see. The contrast. Joseph, who is going through extreme poverty, extreme adversity, and unthinkable abuse and false accusation, and yet flourishes. Brothers who are in the home of their father and yet have no rest, no peace, and no joy because they were unaffirmed. Do you see the magnitude of the difference between the unaffirmed and the affirmed soul? When the process of finding yourself with this unconscious belief that I'm not really valuable, what happens when you come into contact with God? And I find this in the Scripture over and over that there's a pattern of what happens when the seemingly unworthy soul comes into the presence of this beautiful pure God. Like Isaiah chapter 6 where this call of the prophet Isaiah is so powerful.

One of the most magnificent call experiences recorded in the Bible. The prophet Isaiah in chapter 6 says, In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. And the train of his robe filled the temple. And above him stood the seraphim, and each had six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. What's Isaiah saying? He's saying by some other translations, I am ruined. He is saying, he is saying, I cannot be in the presence of God. This is, this is, I, I am, I am so, so unworthy, so, so sinful that I cannot stay here in the presence of God.

I in fact am now in mortal danger. And so what does the Lord do? Does the Lord say, uh, no, just quit worrying about it. Don't, don't mind my glory.

No. Instead the Lord at verse 6, and one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he'd taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.

Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. And when Isaiah got that down into his spirit, that I am no longer reckoned by God as a sinner in his sight, but instead in this moment, I find my conscience cleansed by the burning searing power of the grace of God that flew to me when I didn't know how to fly to him. And then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, home shall I sin and who will send me?

And then I said, here I am, send me. The unaffirmed soul, the, the unblest state of condition of our psyche cannot come into the presence of God and cannot receive from God and cannot be healed until it first hears this astounding gospel message. The good news of Jesus Christ is that by grace and grace alone through simple childlike faith, your guilt has been taken away.

Your sin has been atoned for, and therefore you can, with a clean conscience, receive from him. It was a great example of this in the New Testament in this figure that appears over and over in capricious and in unusual ways. In one moment, just Simon Peter is eager to just have everything of God.

In the next moment, just pulling back is like this. And one of the instances in Luke chapter five, where Jesus has chosen to go out in one of their boats to teach, and the acoustics are good, over the water and people gathered, and he sought down and taught the people from the boat. And at verse four of Luke five, the text says, when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

And Simon answered, master, we told all night and took nothing, but at your word, I will let down the nets. And when they done this, they enclosed a large number of fish and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners and the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats.

So they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees saying, depart from me, get away from me. I can't be around you, see, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. This is what's really diabolical.

And I want to just lay it out in the light. Those who have been least affirmed, the ones that have the most difficulty in receiving affirmation. It is because if you look upon your life is not worth much, as soon as someone tells you how much you're worth, you begin to say, no, you don't really know.

Depart from me. And when God begins to speak to you, at first, everything within you says, it can't be. And here enters the gospel of Jesus. When you were at your worst, God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, knowing everything about you. He loved you and valued you at the price of his own son, of his own heart being put on the cross, such as the love of God.

It changes everything. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Before God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful, he blessed them. Before God called Abraham to father a nation, he blessed him. Before God called Abraham to be a nation, he blessed him. Before God called Abraham to father a nation, he blessed him. Before God released his son into ministry, he blessed him.

Why? Because blessing is God's secret strategy to empower you to be all he made you to be. When others affirm you, most of the time it's because you've proven your worth.

Maybe you did well on a test, accomplished a goal, or proved yourself competent. Such affirmation is nice, but it's not the way of God. God's strategy is to declare your worth before you have done anything to prove it. In the kingdom of God, blessing is the fuel for your productivity, not the reward for it. Maybe you need your heart to be healed from old wounds caused by others withholding their blessing, or maybe you're ready to shatter that invisible ceiling that keeps you from soaring. Either way, Pastor Alan writes, the power of blessing will change your life. Change how you interact with others as you discover the ancient skill of the Hebrew patriarchs as they bless their children. Learn how to tune your heart to accept blessing and reject curse.

Most of all, drink in the unquenchable blessing of God in Jesus Christ. Get motivated God's way with Alan Wright's seven message CD album, The Power of Blessing. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages in an attractive CD album or through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. 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. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. You know, words matter a lot to me. I love words. I like etymologies of words. I like roots of words.

And so when I see a word, I see the word in what its root is, and I think of it that way. And I think I've come to just not like the word unworthy. We throw it around as Christians so much. You know, I'm just an unworthy sinner. And I think that a better word is undeserving because you know what's at the root of the word unworthy is worth.

We're not announcing over ourselves we are not worth God dying on a cross for us. You are worth it. What we're saying is I was undeserving of it.

I never did anything for God. I didn't deserve or earn this in any capacity. But I was worth it. You are worth.

You are worth the Son of God's death on a cross. Well, the story of Joseph from this point moves into something absolutely amazing and glorious that prefigures the whole of the gospel. The brothers continue living their lives not having any idea of all this providential powerful grace stuff that's going on. Joseph has been made Prime Minister. And Joseph had seen prophetically into the future that there was going to be seven years of famine that were going to follow seven years of plenty.

And so he wisely administrated the government so that they would save up during the years of plenty so that there would be enough for themselves and for the surrounding world during the years of famine. And when the years of famine came Joseph's brothers ironically have to come to Egypt and they have to come before their own brother and they don't know that it is Joseph. And Joseph at first tests them and he says you need to leave one of your brothers here because he learned that now Joseph has a baby brother named Benjamin and he wants him to bring Benjamin back. And so he says you need to leave one here incarcerated and then the others of you go and bring back the younger brother. And after hearing all of this the brothers are at chapter 42 are talking to one another right in front of Joseph. And at chapter 42 of Genesis verse 21 they said to one another in truth we are guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us and did not listen.

That is why this distress has come upon us. And Reuben answered them did I not tell you not to sin against the boy but you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood and they're just carrying on this conversation that is absolutely 100 completely wrong.

Everything they're saying is absolutely completely the opposite of what's actually taking place. But they assume the worst of God and the worst of themselves not knowing that in fact God is in the business of saving their lives. When they finally are reconciled to their brother it is one of the scenes of greatest beauty and pathos and all of the Bible.

And they come back and they have they have been nearly starving to death is the only reason that they come. And when they are finally before Joseph and Joseph reveals himself at chapter 45 Joseph said to his brothers at verse four come near to me please. And they came near and he said I am your brother Joseph whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life. At verse seven and God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me but God and he's made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and a ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Hurry and go up to my father and say to him thus says your son Joseph God has made me lord of all Egypt come down to me do not tarry you shall dwell in the land of Goshen and you shall be near me you and your children and your children's children your flocks your herds and all you have and there I will provide for you. And on that day something begins to shift inside the souls of those 10 brothers. Something begins to to change and get rearranged in them. Something happens when grace comes rushing into the unaffirmed soul and this is different than any other experience. This isn't somebody merely paying them a compliment.

This isn't somebody just telling you look good and and you know yeah I just spent two hours in front of the makeup mirror you don't really know me. This is their brother who they had thrown into the pit and they had lived with their conscience always plagued by the thoughts of the worst thing they'd ever done. They lived like that and now they were in the presence of the one the only one the only one on the face of the earth who knew them in their deepest most reviled nature. He knew the absolute worst about them but not only did he know the absolute worst about them he had experienced rejection at their hands. This was a favored son loved by a father but rejected by his brothers stripped of his robe and sent forth and left for dead and he knew everything about them and if anybody ever had more of a right to get them back it was joseph and if there was anybody whoever was in a position to take vengeance upon them it was joseph because he not only knew everything wrong with them but he was the ruler over all and at his command he could slay them he could torture them he could do anything he wanted to and instead looking into the darkness of their hearts he said i love you i forgive you and i am going to provide for you and i'll tell you if you want to have healing for an unaffirmed soul you come into the presence of the son who was favored by his father but was rejected by his brothers and stripped of his robe and put into a position as if he was left for dead but then exalted over all the earth come into his presence and find out that the one who knows the darkest secrets of your life the things that plague your conscience day in and day out and make you feel so unworthy the one who knows all of that and has the right to extinguish and punish and condemn your life who instead says i love you i forgive you i died for you because you are an infinite treasure to me hear those words from the savior the son of god and your soul begins to change hallelujah that's what we have we have a son who was affirmed by his father this is my son in whom i'm well pleased who was then rejected by his own he came into his own his own received him not but he never ever forgot his worth only when you know your worth could you ever ever turn to those who hurt you and say i forgive you only when you know your worth could you ever ever believe that all of the blessing that god had spoken to abraham and all of the affection that the father had for his only begotten son he also has for you you can forgive those who have treated you carelessly you can forgive those who have not praised you and you can be changed because there's a greater and higher voice who has the privilege to tell you just who you really are if it got lost in translation somewhere in life it doesn't change the fact you're god's treasure and that's the gospel allen right it's today's teaching in the series the power of blessing and we invite you to stay with us allen is back here in just a moment with additional insight on today's teaching for your life and today's final word Pastor Alan writes power of blessing will change your life when you make a gift this month we'll send you the power of blessing is our way of saying thanks for your partnership and when you give the power of blessing and when you give you'll not only be nourishing your own soul but you'll help broadcast the good news to someone else when you make your gift to allen right ministries today we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages in an attractive cd album or through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our pastorallen.org and allen i think if you think about it as silence the silence is deafening to the soul that has not received any kind of affirmation any kind of blessing either spoken in their lives or even from the point of view of receiving it yeah hopefully what we've been able to demonstrate anybody's been listening today is that it is possible that just because of the absence of blessing the absence of the affirmation of your life that you could believe something that's absolutely untrue and that is that i'm not really that valuable god wants to change that completely in your life this is not the same thing as the modern self-esteem movement where it's just like look within yourself and find yourself this is where you understand that you are highly favored in god's eyes so much so that he came knowing the depths of your sin he came for you in christ and he took your place and because of this you can truly recognize for your own life you are of infinite worth and once you see that daniel um it begins to change absolutely everything else i am valuable because i'm valuable to god 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 right ministries