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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. In 1939, the groundbreaking movie, Wizard of Oz, hit the screens. You remember the film.
Almost about everybody knows it. I started seeing it when I was just a wee chap. I remember the scene opening up with Judy Garland playing Dorothy singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
The lyrics are classic. Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I dreamed of once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. But, alas, there is no Wizard of Oz.
There is no Emerald City like in the movie. There is no tin man who needs a heart, scarecrow who lacks a brain, talking lion who's looking for courage. It was a great movie, but it was just a tale. But now we turn to a Bible story that is not just a tale.
It's a true account. It's an account of a man, a young man, who dreamed dreams. His dreams really did come true. We saw those dreams a while back when one night he dreamed that 11 sheaves of wheat representing his brothers all bowed down and did homage to his single sheaf of wheat. The mistake he made is not getting the dream. That was of God.
The mistake perhaps he made is in naivete. He told his brothers about it the next day. Expecting them to be all excited, well, of course, they wouldn't be. He's already Dad's favorite. Look at the coat he wears. Now this dream. He had another dream. He told his mom and dad and brothers, and that was a dream that the sun and the moon and the 11 stars all bowed down to his star in the dream. At this point, Dad got upset with his son. What kind of a dream is that?
Do you think that your mother and I also are going to bow down? Well, his dream really did come true, but not in the way that he anticipated it. For he was sold as a slave to Midianite traders going down to Egypt. He went to Potiphar's house, but God was with him, gave him great status, so that Potiphar, because of his managerial skills, put him in a high position. It didn't take long until Potiphar's wife noticed the young man, and casting longing eyes at him, tried to get Joseph to commit sexual relations with her. He denied.
She accused him of rape. He was placed into prison. That's where we find Joseph tonight, in prison. What an interesting life Joseph had.
It seems that Joseph would take two steps forward and three steps backward. One day he's the favored son of his father. The next day he's sold as a slave into Egypt. One day he's the head of Potiphar's house. The next day he's placed into prison under false accusation.
Two steps forward, three steps backward. All the while, God is working something very deep in this young man's life and shaping him. And the amazing thing is Joseph seems to be aware that God is doing something, though he certainly doesn't know what.
But we never read of him complaining. Now while he was suffering, he was isolated. That is, there were no believers around him, none of his family, none of his friends. He had no copy of the scriptures.
There wasn't one. He had pagans who were watching him. And Dr. F. B. Meyer once said, perhaps one of the reasons God calls his child or children to suffer is because onlookers, in viewing the life of a believer, see the reality of his or her faith when they suffer. And they're drawn to that kind of a steadfast endurer of trials. I'll tell you what, it makes an impact when an unbeliever watches a Christian suffer and give glory to God and say, I see God's plan.
I may not see it clearly, but I know it's there. Huge impact. And that's the impact that he has made and will make. But how many sudden reversals happened in his life? Just when he's working his way up in Potiphar's house, now in prison.
Just when he gets a dream from heaven, sold as a slave. When our lives have sudden reversals, how do we handle them? Well, when they're going good with our lives, we love that. Oh Lord, thank you.
I love you. I knew you would come through because it's in your favor. You see the blessing is coming and you feel it, you see it, it's awesome. But what about a reversal, a setback? How do you treat God then? What do you say to God then? When the marriage seems like it's just being restored and then there's a setback, a reversal, so to speak. Just when you're conquering the addiction, it rears its ugly head and you fall or fail.
When the cancer was in remission, but now it's back. When the child, your child, is starting to grow spiritually and you see signs of hope, then they go off the deep end. Let's see how Joseph handles this. By the way, before we jump into verse one, there's a key verse of scripture that sort of gives away why and what accounts for Joseph's good behavior. You'll notice in verse 21 of chapter 39, but the Lord was with Joseph. He was in prison, but the Lord was with Joseph.
You may want to underline that or at least remember that. In verse 23, 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. Now, it came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker and the candlestick maker, oh, that's not there. The butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their Lord, the king of Egypt. And the Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker.
So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. The word baker, we get what a baker is. He bakes bread. He makes food for the king, for the Pharaoh, but butler isn't perhaps the best translation.
We think of a guy with a little bow tie and a tuxedo opening and closing the door. The NIV translates it cup bearer, a better translation. He was the ancient equivalent of secret service agent, making sure that whatever went into the king's presence was secure, that his food or drink wasn't poisoned so he would taste it first. Nehemiah had that position in the Persian court of Ahasuerus. Something happened in this court of Pharaoh.
We don't exactly know what it was. Something bothered him and so these guys were thrown in jail but not by accident by appointment because we see in verse four, the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them and he served them. Joseph is now in charge at prison. What a guy. You know, give this guy any mundane task and he'll say, I'm up for it. I'll be faithful at that.
He won't say, well, that's not my job description. You're a slave. Then I'll be the best slave there is. You're a prisoner. I'll be the best prisoner you got. So everywhere he goes, whether a slave in Potiphar's house, Potiphar says, this guy's so trustworthy, so faithful. I've had my eye on him.
Give him more until he's over his house. Now in prison, same thing. He's in charge and these guys come under his custody and he served them.
So they were in custody for a while. Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt who were confined in the prison had a dream. Both of them, each man's dream in one night and each man's dream with its own interpretation. In ancient times, especially the countries of Egypt and Babylon, dreams were a huge deal.
They were highly significant in their theology and cosmogony. They believed that the gods, the pantheon of gods, communicated with people through dreams. They had a dream in one night. It wasn't the gods communicating. It was God singular, Joseph's God communicating. Joseph came, verse six, to them in the morning and he looked at them and he saw that they were sad. So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody of the Lord's house saying, why do you look so sad today?
Frankly, I'm amazed that Joseph even noticed they were sad. We're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, the 1960s promised us an explosion of love and brotherhood, but instead they delivered a nation in turmoil, confusion, and moral decline. Fortunately, God has the solution for our damaged families and in Beyond the Summer of Love, Relationships in the Real World, Pastor Skip Heitzig gives a biblical guide for marriage and families that can help restore relationships which have been damaged by sin. Beyond the Summer of Love is our thanks for your gift of at least $25 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your resources when you give $25 or more today to help reach people around the world with the good news of Jesus through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. There's an interesting thing about your own personal suffering. Whenever you're suffering, whatever the hardship might be, it tends to be very self-focused.
It tends to make a person consumed with it where you don't really care about much else or anyone else. This is your deal, man. This is your personal suffering. The fact that Joseph noticed it and then second, the fact that he asked them about it. He didn't say, what's up with you?
He just noticed and politely said, why is it that you are sad? I think there's a principle to be learned here. I think that one of the keys to enduring your own hardship is to push the pause button on your hardship and go find someone who has it worse than you have it and serve that person. You are deliberately now taking the focus off of your own needs momentarily to minister to someone else's needs who is in far greater need than you are.
And it has amazing results of lifting you out and giving you a fresh perspective in suffering. I had a friend years ago. We went to the same church in California and this guy was going through a very difficult time in his life.
He was a Christian musician and he was very artistic and he had ups and he has downs and he was going through a very down time, a rough spot. He was dealing with his own depression and he went to one of the assistant pastors at our church. The assistant pastor said, Eric, this will cure you. Tomorrow I want to send you to one of the nursing homes that we work with and he gave a list of the names of the patients I want you to visit. And then come back and tell me what the Lord said to you and what he did with you.
Eric did it and came back a few days later and he said, I'm not feeling like I felt. I'm sort of cured. I ministered to people who are dying. I ministered to people who are in advanced stages of a certain disease and I looked at their problems and I considered my own problems and yeah, I still have them but it's just like a perspective check, a reality check.
That made such an impact on me that some years later when I was here and we just started pastoring, I tried this with a girl who was in a ward in a local hospital, a metal ward. She was on suicide watch. She attempted suicide and I visited her and I listened to her and she was really down and I said, now when you get out of here, there's something I want you to do but I'm not going to tell you what it is until you get out.
I want you to come and see me. So what I did is I gave her a small task, not much. The only task was you have an appointment with me when you get out. It's all she had to do but when you're depressed, that's huge. Little task becomes huge task but that was the only task I gave her. Then when she came and saw me, I employed sort of the same thing.
I said, there's some people I want you to visit. She came to me and she said, she smiled, she said, your strategy worked. She goes, I know what you're doing. She's been in these joints enough to, I know what you're doing and it worked.
And she goes, now I'm helping other people in their depression. So here's Joseph. He's in prison. He's not supposed to be there, falsely accused and he notices the sadness of prisoners and he stops and he asks them why they're sad. And they said to him, we have had a dream and there is no interpreter of it.
So Joseph said to them, do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please. Please, how polite, please. To a fellow prisoner, please.
How often does that happen? Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph and said to him, behold, in my dream, a vine was before me. Now we would not have fault.
We would not find fault with Joseph if he were to say right about here, stop right there. Don't tell me about your dream. It was my dreams that got me into trouble to begin with. I hate dreams. I don't want to subscribe to dreams. Rather, this statement is an affirmation of faith. As if to say, tell me more because I do believe in dreams. I've had my own dreams and though they haven't come true, I believe God and I believe they will come true.
So tell them to me. It's a very strong affirmation of his faith that God has spoken to him and though he has not seen any sign of its fruition for years, he still trusts in God. So he says, tell me.
The guy starts to tell him about his dream. And verse 10, in the vine there were three branches. It was as though it butted, its blossom shot forth, its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Then Pharaoh's cup was in my hand and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said to him, this is the interpretation.
He knew it right away. Three branches are three days. Now within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place. And you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand according to the former manor when you were his butler. So the dream is a positive interpretation. It's a good dream. It's a dream of being restored back to the previous place. Your head's gonna be lifted up. That's a biblical idiom of restoration and favor. You may remember Psalm 3, the Lord is the lifter of my head. When you're down and you're dejected like a little kid, head down, the Lord comes and lifts your head up, lets you see things correctly. So you will find favor and you'll be restored back to your former position.
But he says, remember me when it's well with you. And please show kindness to me, make mention of me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. Joseph saw this not only as a chance to serve the prisoners, but he saw this as the first ray of hope in getting out of prison.
This was his get out of jail free card, quite literally. He thought, great, I know this is gonna happen. And when it happens, if this guy puts in a good word for me to the Pharaoh, I might get out. So remember me, put in a good word for me when you're in the Pharaoh's house.
For indeed, verse 15, I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews and I've also done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon. And when the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream and there were three white baskets on my head. The baker's been listening to the butler tell his dream.
He didn't speak up first, he's just sort of waiting. He's troubled by his dream. But in hearing the dream and the interpretation, he thinks, great, that was a positive outcome. And no doubt, he's thinking that Joseph's gonna say, well, you're gonna be sprung out of here and serving it up at the Pharaoh's table in no time. But his dream turns into a nightmare as he hears the interpretation. Verse 17, in the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head. And Joseph answered and said, this is the interpretation of it.
The three baskets are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree and the birds will eat flesh from you. See what I mean by nightmare? The dream turned into the nightmare on Pyramid Street. It's not what he expected to hear.
He thought it would be favorable like the first guys. Notice the difference in the dreams. In the first dream, he sees the Pharaoh's cup in his hands, the Pharaoh's drinking out of his cup. In the second dream, though the bread basket is for Pharaoh, birds are eating out of that basket. Now, let me just throw this out at you so you can keep it in your mind. In prophetic Scripture, in Scripture, parabolic Scripture, prophetic Scripture, birds are often a symbol that portend evil, not good. I'll give you a few examples that come to mind.
There are more. In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus gave the parable of the sower and the seed, and the seed fell upon rocky soil and the birds of the air came and snatched it up. Speaking of how Satan removes the word of truth from a person's heart as soon as they hear it. Also in Matthew 13, Jesus gave a parable of the mustard seed that is the smallest seed in the herb garden, but this huge tree grows from it and the birds of the air lodge in its branches. The follow-up parable to that is the parable of the leaven, and leaven is a symbol of evil and birds was also a symbol of the evil that would lodge within that organized community throughout church history within the church. Then there's Revelation chapter 18, mystery Babylon. Babylon is fallen is fallen, which has become the habitation of every foul bird, an unclean bird. So here's another example of how they don't portend good but evil. So yep, three more days, your days are numbered, your heads coming off and you're a dead dude and birds will eat your flesh off of you.
Ouch. Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all of his servants and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. But in two quite different manners, he restored the chief butler to his leadership again and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. But he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Yet, now watch this, yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph but forgot him. Hey remember me when you get out of here. I shouldn't be here. I didn't commit any crime.
Tell Pharaoh I want to get out of here. Remember me. But he didn't remember him.
He forgot him. There are certain experiences in your life that you cannot control. They happen to you. You wish they wouldn't happen to you but they happen to you.
Jesus said the sun and the rainfall and the just and the unjust. You can't control all the things that happen to you in life. However, you can control your response to all the things that happen to you.
That's in your control. How do you take it? What is your response to it? Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you understand and follow God's plan for your relationships.
Beyond the Summer of Love, Relationships in the Real World by Pastor Skip Heitzig is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $25 or more. Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His Word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
