What it really means to be obedient to the Lord in all things. Next, on Leading the Way Audio with Dr. Michael Youssef.
When you are along with God, is your obedience complete or is it partial? Thank you for joining listeners all around the world for Leading the Way, the Bible teaching of Dr. Michael Youssef. This episode is part of the classic series, Portrait of a Winner.
It's a listener favorite that will become one of yours too. So get ready for a deep dive into the life of Joseph and how he overcame a traumatic family life experience to later be used by God in amazing ways. So if your situation allows, grab your Bible or your mobile device, find the book of Genesis and listen as Dr. Michael Youssef begins this Leading the Way episode, Winners Know How to Obey. The secular bookstores are bulging with motivational books, books about winners and winning. In most of these books you find the psychology of winning, the psychology of winners, what makes winners, how you can be a winner. Now most of this talk about winning of course has to do with reaching the height of your corporate ladder or reaching the height of your profession or making vast amounts of money.
None of these of course are bad or wrong in themselves as long as they use for the glory of God and helping others. However, the Bible gives us a portrait of a winner, a different kind of winner, God's type of winner. He gives us that portrait in the life of Joseph. Turn with me if you please to Genesis 37 beginning at verse 1, but I want to tell you as you're turning, flipping your Bible to chapter 37, that the preceding chapter from 29 to 35 is what you find there is the family album. You know when you get your family album and you look at the nice pictures in them and then somehow somebody sneaked a picture that you really don't want to remember and they said now who's this? Oh no no you don't want to ask me about that. Where was this?
Well you don't really want to know this. Now that was the family album here in Joseph's father's family. It was like that. There were lots of skeletons, but they were not in the closets.
They were out in the open for you and me to see. Thank God for that. In fact, Jacob's family in my judgment would produce one of those cheap soap operas.
It really would. I mean when you think about it, he has two wives, two concubines, children, stepchildren, siblings, step-siblings. In fact, between Genesis 29 and Genesis 35, you are struck if you have any sensitivity as you read those pages with conflict and selfishness and hatred and revenge and lust and rape and incest and deceit and even mass murder. But I want you to remember this.
Listen carefully please. When Jacob and his children have lived, at that time there was no revelation except when God personally appeared to Abraham and then to Isaac and then to him, Jacob, who changed his name to Israel. Back then they did not have 2,000 years of Christianity. Back then they did not have the Ten Commandments. Back then they did not have what we have today. But I'm going to tell you this as a sound of warning because I believe this with all my heart that as our society gets away from the Word of God, gets away from the revelation of God, gets away from the precepts of God, gets away from what God tells us his ideal for society is, his ideal for family is, we're going to get back to that mess of 2,000 BC, to the detriment of our civilization.
I got to tell you up front, look at my face and you know that I'm not a sunburned Swede. But what made the Western civilization to be the Western civilization is the gospel of Jesus Christ. You take that away and you'll be as barbarians as the next guys.
And I believe that with every ounce of my being. What Joseph had to face was more than just his brother's jealousy. He had to face his father's favoritism. Now some of you young people saying what's wrong with that?
It's a good deal. If he's his dad's favorite, he probably gives him more money, lets him take the car and family car and all these good things. But I want to tell you that that was not the greatest thing that Jacob ever done.
We parents unwittingly show favoritism to want to out more of our children, to the detriment not only of all of our children but especially the favorite one, especially the favorite one. Joseph was the firstborn of Rachel, that is the favorite wife. He loved her dearly. He had to work his fanny for 14 years to marry Rachel. I mean you can tell that this guy loved Rachel.
Leah and all the others were just fillers in. Rachel was the one and Joseph was the firstborn of Rachel and he loved him dearly. Benjamin was born later on but in his birth Rachel died. So it was Joseph who gave him that strong aroma of the memory of Rachel after she died. He was very special and chapter 37 of the book of Genesis opens when Jacob is about 108 years old.
So you figure out he's got 39 more years to go and he was settling in the area where his father Isaac lived in the area of Hebron, about 35 miles south of Jerusalem. At that time Joseph was 17 years of age. Joseph developed the reputation of being daddy's boy. Verse 2, being loyal to his father Joseph snitched, that's basically what he did, he snitched on his brothers.
They were rotten and he wanted to let his dad know that his boys are rotten and that did not endear himself to his brothers. It endeared him to his dad but not to his brothers. Now to add insult to injury, verses 3 and 4, Jacob made no bones about the fact that Joseph is his favorite.
He loved Joseph more than he loved the others. Jacob gave Joseph, his favorite son, verse 3, an ornamented robe. This was not just a colored robe, it doesn't mean that.
I'll tell you what it means. It means it is a robe that a prince would wear. Not every family had one of those. It is a regal robe, flowing robe that been held at the wrists and the ankle and Joseph wore it with pride everywhere he went. It's just like a high school senior who puts on his slick leather jacket at a hundred degree temperature, want to show it off, you know, and Joseph was wearing it all the time. But this robe was more than that.
It's more than favoritism. In the Middle East, when you have so many sons but you give one this particular robe, here's what you're saying to your family. You're saying to your family, this is the heir apparent, this is the one who's going to inherit my state and here's the one who's going to make the decisions on who gets what and how much.
Now you understand. The bitterness that was building at his brother's hearts as they saw the robe was handed to Joseph. Jacob was not favoring Joseph only because he reminded him of Rachel. But I think Jacob was doing something that many parents mistakenly do. Listen carefully. What we want to do is give our children what we've never had, right? That's a mistake.
That's a mistake. Jacob was giving Joseph what he never had from his dad and that is love and attention. You see, Jacob had an older brother.
It was only about a few minutes but he was older. His name is Esau. Isaac, Jacob's father, loved Esau more than Jacob.
It was clear. Esau, Jacob's older brother, was a rugged individualist, an outdoorsman type. Esau drove a truck and a shotgun in the back of it, you know. He chewed tobacco and sang country music and his dad loved that. Where was Jacob?
He was in Rachel's kitchen. He's mama's boy and he resented it and he was repeating his father's sin. What Jacob was doing with Joseph was the generational sin being transmitted. Before all of this happened, before all the dreams, Jacob has set him up as the object of his love, as the object of his favoritism and consequently was the object of his brother's hatred.
Please hear me right. Generational sin have the habit of repeating themselves with such preciseness it's almost scary. If you suffered like I have, I was the rat of the family, young of eight, and I know how Joseph felt except I didn't have any dreams until I left home. But I want to tell you with all seriousness that I believe with all my heart that that generational cycle of sin can and will be broken by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. I have seen it and I have experienced it and I believe that with all my heart if you come under the power of the Holy Spirit of God and I said father please chop the chain, he will. Now these brothers watched the daddy's favoritism toward Joseph and they were bitter.
Look at verses 5 all the way to 11. When Joseph was recounting his dreams what that was is really the straw that broke the camel's back because there were seething with hate to begin with. Do you know what a mental hate ledger is? A mental hate ledger is much stronger than journaling or note-taking or diary or anything that you record down.
It is much more powerful, is much more potent. Some of you are going to identify with this, I would doubt it if not all of you going to identify with this. Up there in your brain there is a little computer chip and what is happening in that little computer chip is storing and building up a hate ledger towards somebody. So every time your husband or your wife or your brother or sister or whomever or daughter, son, whenever they do something to irritate you stored in that hate ledger is good and there was such preciseness is unbelievable.
And then the day you blow up that laser printer moves fast and furious. You've been through one of those have you? On such a such date and in such a such place you said and you did. On such a such date and in such a such place you said and you did.
And you know what there's such preciseness with such details you don't even think you're capable of keeping. But that's what was happening with those boys. So when they saw their brother they had to kill him.
You get rid of him. Hatred built up that hate ledger got to such a degree that they had to do something. They said to him on such a such day you snitched and told our daddy about what we did. On such a such day father has given you the royal robe and we had to wear these stinking clothes. On such a such day daddy gave you the best of the camels and we got the sick ones.
On such a such day you were the spokesman for the family and we had to go to the barn. You know you don't have to be a genius to be able to interpret the two dreams. You don't have to be a rocket scientist you don't have to be that spiritual. So much so that they said to him in verse 8 he said do you intend to rule over us to reign over us?
That dream basically raffled their feathers. Who does this kid think he is? This miserable arrogant pompous fool?
This kid? The sun and the moon that's his parents. Eleven stars that's his brothers. What do you mean we're gonna bow? Even Jacob in verse 10. When Jacob his father heard this he rebuked him he said will your mother and I your brothers actually gonna bow down to the ground before you? Poor old Joseph he was enthusiastic, he was sincere, and oh you're so naive he's got few things to learn in life. But you know what I don't care how old you are I want to share something with you that I learned the hard way. When God gives you a dream when God gives you a vision it is best kept between you and the Lord.
Because people will never understand it especially if it's God's revelation, if it is God's Word, if it's God's dream. I read the story of how Abraham Lincoln when he was a boy he husked corn for three days just to save enough money to buy a secondhand book entitled the life of Washington. The lady for whom he worked Mrs. Crawford asked him after he read that book he said what do you want to be? He said well I don't intend to spend all my life delve grub and chuck corn. What do you want to be? He said I want to be president and she laughed.
She said yeah you'll make a pretty president with all your tricks and jokes end of the court. But Abraham young Abraham the age of 10 said the following he said I will study and get ready when the chance comes end of court and he did and after a great deal of failure a great deal of pain he fulfilled that dream. The most important thing that I think I can leave with you today is this and we look at this portrait of God's winner verses 12 to 18 that all of God's winners have something in common between them.
What is that? Is that they all got the extra mile. They all give 110 percent. They all winner those winners are obeyers.
They know how to obey inwardly and outwardly. Jacob obviously sent the boys to Shechem. That is 60 miles away from Hebron where they lived.
60, 60 miles. Probably and I'm speculating here Jacob thought well if I send him so far away some old-fashioned hard work may help cool off the jealousy and their bitterness toward their brother. Maybe if I send them so far away that they have some fondness their hearts will grow fonder of their brother. But in this case nothing was cooling off the fire of jealousy. Nothing was cooling off the fire of bitterness. Nothing was cooling off the fire of envy. After a while when Jacob hasn't heard from the boys he said Joseph go over and see the boys. Bring me a good word.
I want to see what happened to them. And in those days you don't go just by yourself and your camel. You got to carry some coolers with you.
A lot of iced tea and coca-cola, hot dogs and hamburgers and figs and dates. He has to carry all that stuff on it and then carry it to his brothers. He would not go empty-handed.
After he got all the way 60 miles to Shechem he couldn't find them there. But before I get to this I want you to notice verse 7 look at his attitude. The attitude of absolute obedience.
It is incredible. He could have said and justifiably so. He could have said father the road is dangerous you know that.
I shouldn't travel alone. He could have said father you know how these brothers of mine hate me and you know they might do harm to me. And he would be justified. He could have had another excuse and say father the wild beasts are on that road and you know that. But Joseph said nothing of a sort because God's winners are obeyers.
Absolute obeyers. Not only that he gets to Shechem verse 17 and he finds that they moved. Well I mean we're always looking for an outer right?
We're always looking for an outer especially we're doing something that really not all that exciting. And Joseph had his outer right here. He could have turned around and gone back home and he said father I went exactly that you told me I went to Shechem and they went there. Joseph could have satisfied himself by saying look I've done what you've asked me. I fulfilled my mission.
I went to Shechem and they went there. He could have convinced his father that although somebody speculated and said they may have gone to Dothan but I have really no evidence that he they went to Dothan. And he would have been justified. He could have said all of this. He could have said that I've exhausted myself going over there.
I want to keep some energy reserve some energy to get back. I didn't want to keep going. But Joseph took the risk of continuing on to look for his brothers. Because when he has to obey his father he has to obey him to the end. Father said didn't go just to Shechem and come back. He said go and find your brothers. So Joseph lugs all the provision and who continues 12 more miles in the dust and the dirt and the danger of the road to find his brothers. I wonder how many of us really perform our jobs as if it is unto the Lord and not unto your boss, unto the Lord.
That's what Paul said. I wonder how many of us perform our jobs beyond our job description. I have this job description.
Man I'm not supposed to touch this. I wonder how many of us go beyond what is expected of us, beyond the call of duty, the second mile. What about your obedience to the Lord? Is it complete? Is it holy? Is it inside as well as outside? Is it inward as well as outward?
What about it? Do you obey the Lord wholeheartedly or partially? I was a teacher who kept on telling the boy in the back of her classroom sit down, sit down, sit down. No boy wouldn't sit down.
And finally she walked to the end of the classroom and she plopped him down in his seat and the boy with fury said to her I may be sitting down on the outside but I'm standing up on the inside. How many of us that this represents our walk with God? Is your obedience outward obedience or inward obedience? When nobody's looking, when nobody's seeing you, when you're alone with God, is your obedience complete or is it partial? Some Christians go around said I'm obedient, I'm obedient and they're gritting their teeth so hard they're locking their jaws.
God's winners obey joyfully. Did Joseph's obedience give him a million dollars immediately? No. Did it put him in the castle immediately?
No. It got him into the pit. You would think that when he found his brothers they're gonna be so glad to see him but that was not the case. God's winners ultimately win even if they may not look like winners. Let's pray. Father God, I thank you that we have read the last chapter of the book and the book says we win. Thank you, Father, that the Lord Jesus Christ has won the battle for us and is only in ignorance that we see defeat because even in defeat he already won the victory for us.
Father, I pray that you are convictus of partial obedience and that you'll strengthen us to continue to be faithful regardless of the circumstances. Thank you for being a part of this episode of Leading the Way Audio. We know that you'll be encouraged as you listen through this collection of messages from Dr. Michael Yusef on Leading the Way.
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