Pastors Brian and Jacque Lother
Pastor Brian: Well, thank you for being here on Labor Day Weekend. A lot of people are trying to take advantage of the last vestiges of summer. In Minnesota, if you blink, sometimes you miss summer, you know, but they take advantage of this weekend. I do want to give a special welcome to some of Tammy's family. God bless you. It's wonderful to have you here today. Hopefully, you feel welcome. And this'll be your home out west. How about that? We moved to California back in the middle eighties, and I'd never known that I had an accent. But when you go to California, people said, "Where are you from?" I said, "Why are you asking?" "Well, your accent." I said, "Accent?" I thought only people in the south had accents, so I guess it was how we said oofta and all that kind of stuff, I guess maybe.
Well, we are from Minnesota. And they'd say, "Oh, you are from out east." I thought out east we are right in the middle of the country, crying out loud. But maybe to someone who's in California, we are out east and maybe to someone who's from New York, this is out west, so you can come out west anytime. We'd love to have you come. God bless you.
How many know that each of us is unique. You know that? Each of us is unique and each of us has something very special to contribute to the world. We don't often think that way. A lot of times we can think that our lives are insignificant, that the world wouldn't miss a beat if we were gone. But that's just not the truth because God has made every single one of us with a purpose, and there is something special to contribute to the world and all of the people around us. We make that contribution by doing our very best. That's how we make that contribution by doing our very best.
We can do that, we can do our very best because each of us controls our time. We may not think we control our time. We may think our time is getting away from us, but, but in reality, we make choices that control our time, don't we? We make choices that control our attitudes and we make choices that actually control our behavior. When we control our time and we control our attitudes, and when we control our behavior, we really do have a large amount of control over our destiny and how we can bring blessings and what we can contribute to the world. It's up to us. It's our decision.
I remember back in the sixties, psychology was making some giant leaps forward back in the fifties and sixties. I remember psychologists saying at one time, when a man murders his wife and his three kids, let's not blame him for it, but let's look into what caused him to do that. And I thought to myself, if we embrace that idea, we are going to live in a world where there is no accountability for what anybody ever does. And the fact of the matter is, we can change all of God's rules in a sense, or God's principles. But it doesn't mean those principles go away. And we are living in a world today where people don't want to accept responsibility. They don't want to accept accountability for their choices, and therefore, they begin to blame everybody else for their situation in life.
I'm not saying that there aren't outside causes and that do influence our lives. There are. But the fact of the matter is we still control our attitudes. We control the choices we make, we control our thoughts. And here is something that probably can be discouraging to all of us. We don't have control over how other people respond to us. We can do the right thing, and they can respond wrongly, can't they? We can do everything right. We can give our very best, and sometimes we may give our very best and still get kicked in the teeth, so to speak. But that is no reason to be less than we can be. Just because somebody doesn't appreciate it, just because somebody responds incorrectly or metaphorically speaking, someone kicks us in the teeth when we do our very best, it doesn't mean that we should stop being what we can be.
The scriptures say something very interesting. It says when a man's ways, please the Lord, even his enemies will be at peace with him. But how many know that not all of Jesus' enemies were at peace with him? I'll tell you what some people would say theologically today, though. Well, that must mean that some of the ways of Jesus didn't please the Lord. It's not true. We have to understand the difference between an absolute truth and the word of God. For all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved: that is an absolute truth. When a parent raises up a child and the way he should go, he shall not depart from it. That's a general truth. Because God doesn't override our free will. So even when a man's way pleases the Lord, maybe not all of his enemies will be at peace with him, but generally speaking, if your way is always to please the Lord, your enemies will come around. Eventually, they'll come around.
We see a wonderful example of this in the Old Testament story of Joseph, not, not the New Testament Joseph, who is married to the mother of Jesus. But the Old Testament story, Joseph. Joseph is a wonderful story about giving your best even when you get kicked in the teeth. It's a wonderful story about that. I want to share just some of the highlights today.
Jacque: Okay? Should I read?
Pastor Brian: Not quite yet. Not quite yet. I want to take a drink first. Joseph was the youngest son of Jacob. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham. Joseph was pretty closely connected to Abraham. He was the great grandson of Abraham. We know the story that his father gave him this beautiful, colorful coat. This gift made all of Joseph's older brothers jealous. And because of that jealousy, they formed a hatred in their hearts towards Joseph. Joseph had a wonderful gift, a spiritual gift from God. He had dreams and he could interpret dreams. He had a dream, and he interpreted this dream to mean that his family, his brothers, and so forth, father, would ultimately one day bow down to him.
How many know that it's important that we are mindful and careful about who we share our dreams with? Joseph shared this dream with his brothers. His brother's response to this dream was,"You little twit. Do you think we are ever going to bow down to you?" That's kind of like my version of how they interpreted that dream. one day, Jacob, had sent Joseph out to see how the brothers were doing. They were tending the flocks in a place called Sheko. It wasn't so much to check up on them, but just to see how they were doing. And when he arrived, the brothers saw this as an opportunity to get some revenge.
So they took Joseph, threw him in a pit long, and came a caravan of merchants who were on their way to Egypt, and they sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt. They sold him to this caravan. And then the brothers took this colorful coat that Joseph had and dipped it in goat's blood. They spread goat's blood all over it, and then took the coat back to the father, Jacob, and told Jacob that he'd been killed by a wild beast. How many know that lying is always a bad thing? Lying can create a lot of pain and sorrow in people's lives when you are deceitful. But this lie was particularly a painful one because it caused Jacob to believe something that wasn't true.
It kind of reminds me of Satan, how he lies to us, and it causes us to believe some things about ourselves that aren't true. And then when you believe those things that aren't true, first of all, you begin to feel, start feeling really bad about yourself, don't you? You start feeling as though you don't matter, and you start to begin to believe the lies of the enemy just like Jacob believed the lies of his, his sons. And it created all sorts of sorrow in his life.
Let's fast forward to Egypt. In Egypt, Joseph was purchased by a man by the name of Potiphar, who was an officer in Pharaoh's court. I guess you'd call it that. And interesting thing about Joseph is he didn't pout. He didn't even try and bind the devil in this situation that he was in. He was now a slave in another country, been sold, betrayed by his family. I mean, this would be a reason for post-traumatic stress, wouldn't you say? And I'm not minimizing that, by the way. This is a real legitimate reason for someone to have post-traumatic stress, your family betraying you, selling you into some kind of slavery.
Jacque and I went to a sex trade conference here that we had some of our friends put this on at Bethel College a couple years ago. And to my chagrin, I found out that 35% of all young girls who are traded in the sex trade, it happened out of someone in their church. I was astounded. There is slavery all around the world today. It may not necessarily be in the forms that it was in this country, you know, a hundred some years ago or other parts of the world, but there is still slavery. Make no mistake about it, all around the world.
Joseph was in slavery. He was bought by Potiphar, and he was in this man's home. And you know what Joseph did? He did his very best. I don't think I could be like Joseph. I need more Jesus to be like Joseph. I'd just be honest with you. I'd be mad at my brothers. I'd be telling this owner that you have no right to own me. I wouldn't be there to do my best. I have a long way to go. Pray for me. I've got a long way to go. But he started doing his best for, shall we say, his master. And the scripture says that the Lord was with Joseph. Potiphar eventually made Joseph master over his whole home. He gave him rule over his home because of the quality and the character of the person of Joseph.
Now the scenario takes a twist. Potiphar's wife found Joseph very attractive. He is a good-looking young man. Maybe Potiphar was middle aged, getting a little bit of a bulge. Who knows? And she had eyes for Joseph. She tried to seduce him. Joseph, being a man of character, refused to succumb to her advances. And when he pulled away from her, she grabbed his garment. We are not sure if that was kind of an outer garment or shirt. We don't know what it was, but it was a garment that belonged to Joseph. She took it off of him and he fled.
Well, now her ego's been wounded because this slave wouldn't say yes to her advances, so she falsely accused him of trying to seduce her, just reversing the rules. What do you think Potiphar did when he found out? Well, he believed his wife. He didn't believe Joseph. And so the next destination for Joseph was where? Prison. Prison. What did Joseph do while he was in prison? He pouted and he said, "I don't deserve this. God, where are you?" No, that's really not how the story goes, does it? He did his best, didn't he? And what ended up happening is, even in prison, he found favor with the keeper of the prison. And we see that in Genesis 39, 21 to 23.
Jacque: But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love.
Pastor Brian: Well listen to that. And the Lord was with Joseph, where?
Jacque: In the prison,
Pastor Brian: In the prison. Sometimes, we can be in what we feel is an undeserved place. Joseph didn't deserve this place he was in. He didn't deserve it. His character, his conduct, his behavior, none of it warranted him being there. And yet, what did Joseph do? He was faithful to the love of the Lord. He was faithful to the Lord. But the Lord was with Joseph in prison, and God showed him his faithful love. Let's go on.
Jacque: And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison, the warden had no more worries
because Joseph took care of everything.
Pastor Brian: Can you imagine it? I mean, this is like the inmates in charge of the asylum. We've heard that expression in the past sometimes with disdain. But the fact of the matter is the inmate was in charge of the prison
Jacque: Of everything in the prison.
Pastor Brian: What do you think would happen in our country if we put the inmates in charge of the prisons? Wow! I mean, look at the contrast between Joseph and how most people would be.
Jacque: The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed
Pastor Brian: Wow, even in prison. Now while in prison, there are a couple of other guys that got in trouble with the Pharaoh. One was the head butler and the other was the head baker. They had dreams and Joseph, of course, has a gift. He has a gift of interpreting dreams. He basically said to the butler, everything is going to be just fine. He said that the baker, the problem with you is you've been serving devil's food instead of angel food. That's what the problem is with you. The Pharaoh had his head. The butler gets let out of prison, and Joseph says to him, now, don't forget me. I'm down here in this prison, this dungeon. But the butler gets out and he forgets all about Joseph for two more years.
What would have we responded like if we would've been left two more years in prison unwarranted? But Joseph kept doing his best. Two years later, Pharaoh now has a dream. Nobody could understand what this dream is about. We know about the seven skinny cows and the seven fat cows and all of that. You can read it. At the end of the day, the butler says, oh God, I forgot. Joseph, he is in prison. And he says to Pharaoh, there is a guy in prison that can give you an answer to your dreams. He can decipher your dreams. That was kind of the word he used. He can decipher your dreams.
Do you know what the word decipher means? The word decipher actually means to convert into normal language, to convert into normal language. How many know that God speaks many languages? I'm not just talking French and English and Russian and Ukrainian, whatever. God speaks many different languages. And one of the languages, God speaks in his dreams. And most of us are really bad at understanding what God is saying in our dreams. We need people that can decipher what these dreams are. And Joseph had that gift, and he says to the Pharaoh, "Well, I can tell you what your dream means. There is going to be seven years of really plenty, and then we are going to go into a seven-year famine. Well, the Pharaoh is so impressed with Joseph's, understanding what's about to happen. He says this to Joseph in Genesis 41, 41 to 43.
Jacque: Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.
Pastor Brian: Talk about a promotion, right? One day he is in prison. The next day he is a number two man in the whole kingdom of Egypt. Wow.
Jacque: Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothing and hung a gold chain around his neck. Then he had Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for his second in command. And wherever Joseph went, the command was shouted, kneel down. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all of Egypt.
Pastor Brian: He put him in charge of all of Egypt. After the seven years of plenty, then we began the seven years of famine. People from surrounding nations began to come to buy grain from Egypt because Joseph had implemented a seven-year plan to store up grain and to provide enough to last the seven years of famine. How many know that if you don't prepare for famine, you are not going to be prepared for famine? That's profound, isn't it? See, sometimes just common sense is very profound, right?
All these people started coming from surrounding countries, and guess who also came to come before Joseph to ask for grain? His brothers. Jacob sent his brothers. And what did they do? When they walked into the room where Joseph was at? They bowed down this fulfillment of this dream that Joseph had when he was a teenager. Now it's maybe 15 years later, maybe 20 years later, I don't know how long, but it's quite a while later. They didn't recognize Joseph, but Joseph recognized them and they came and bowed before him. They didn't recognize him, but at the end of the story, Joseph told them that God actually wanted Joseph in Egypt.
God wanted Joseph in Egypt and he wanted him there so that many lives could be spared. And one of the ways that Joseph got to where he was at was to be sold into slavery and to be thrown in prison. And Joseph is just an incredible man. It ended up that the family of Joseph for the family of Jacob ended up moving to Egypt. We know the story, how they actually prospered there in what was called the land of Goshen. And their families grew. Jacob himself moved to Egypt and things were going along really well. And then of course, the dad, Jacob, passed. That's on the horizon for all of us. It's on the horizon for all of us.
Jacob had asked his sons when he died, or as he was about to die, would you please make arrangements to bury my bones back in Canaan land, which was the land promised to the children of Abraham. We see that Joseph now takes his father's remains and buries them in Canaan. And then he came back and here is what we see in the scripture. After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father's burial. But now that their father was dead, Joseph's brothers became fearful. Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him, they said.
Pastor Brian: Now, they are fearful because the dad is now gone and now they think Joseph is going to exact revenge upon them now that the dad is gone. Kinda like the Godfather if you remember that part of the movie. And as I was reading this, I thought to myself, sometimes, it's really a challenge to remain in the place of being forgiven. Sometimes, it's really a hard thing. It's a challenge to remain in that place of knowing you are forgiven. Joseph forgave his brothers. They felt forgiven; they felt fine. Then along came an incident, the death of their father that changed how they thought. And now they thought Joseph's going to exact revenge upon us for what we did to him. They created this story up that--- let's just read it. It's phoned in Genesis 50 verses 16 to 21, that created this story about their father.
Jacque: So they sent this message to Joseph: before your father died, he instructed us to say to you, please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you for their sin in treating you so cruelly. So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin. When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph, look, we are your slaves. They said, but Joseph replied, don't be afraid of me. Am I God that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. No, don't be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children. So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.
Pastor Brian: Boy, if there is ever a picture of God in a human being, it's right here. This is the most incredible picture of how God is in a human being in the life of Joseph. This is such an accurate picture of God. I'm going to read some of this again. They threw themselves down before Joseph. And it's like the Lord wants to say to us today, don't be afraid of me. Don't be afraid of me. Even though there were times in your life where you intended to harm me, you were angry with me, you betrayed me, you did all sorts of manner of evil against me, but I will bring good out of it all. I will bring good out of it all.
Joseph understood that even though he was the victim of abandonment, betrayal of the worst kind, slavery, false accusation of the worst kind, it, it's one thing to be accused of, like in my opinion, being a thief, but to be accused of being a sexual predator, I mean, that's on a whole other level of low. And Joseph was all of that. He was accused of all of that. And yet his attitude and his response was this: even though you intended evil or harm to come to me, God intended it for good.
Can we see the good of God in our hard places? Joseph Steadfastly gave the world the very best he had, and yet he still suffered greatly. He could have certainly suffered post-traumatic stress from being sold into slavery. He could have had a recapitulation of it when he was thrown into the prison and falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. But instead of becoming bitter, instead of pouting and saying, I don't deserve this, God, instead of turning his back on God, instead of saying serving God doesn't work. I've tried that. It doesn't work.
I've done this, I've done that. I've done this and it's not working. He kept trusting in God and doing his very best anyways. And ultimately, the Lord made him prosper. I just want to be candid with all of you today. The race isn't over with yet in your life, no matter where you are at. The race isn't over with. Our Father is bringing us as a church and you as an individual to a place where we can bring relief to those who are hungry and thirsty or in a place of famine. There is a lot of famine in the world today. There is famine all over the world today. And you know what famine does? It kills. It kills the crops, it kills the land and ultimately will kill the people.
There is famine throughout our whole world today, right as I speak, fear is on a rampage in our world today. Hatred is rising to new heights today even in civilized quote unquote countries. Depression is carrying people to an all-time low in our country. And you know what fear does? It kills hatred, kills depression, kills, doubt, kills, anxiety, kills. It's all part of the famine. The scriptures teach us a wonderful thing. And that is this: you and I have a treasure stored up within us, a treasure stored up within us. We read it in 2nd Corinthians four, verse seven. Let's read that.
Jacque: We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as gods not ours.
Pastor Brian: Every one of these clay jars, just picture these clay jars. We are like common clay jars; just picture clay jars. We are these clay jars, and every single one of those jars has a name on it. One of those jars has your name on it, has your name on it, and there is a treasure in that jar. There is a treasure in that jar. And that treasure wants you to repeat. Genesis 50, verse 20. Let's read it again.
Jacque: You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.
Pastor Brian: God has brought you to right where you are today, to break the famine in people's lives, to bring life to people today. You may have thought the enemy was winning victories in your life, and it would've been easy for Joseph to feel the same way. Wouldn't it? When someone throws you in a pit and throws and sells you into slavery, it would be really easy to think, God, where are you? It would be, wouldn't it? It would be really easy to think, "God, where are you?" When I've lived my life as impeccably as I can, I've worked as hard as I could. I've done the very best I could, and someone falsely accuses me and throws me in prison. It would be really easy to say, God, where are you? But the race isn't over with yet. The race isn't over with. And you are that jar with a wonderful treasure called the Holy Spirit within you. You have the answer for the world today. You have the answer for the famine that's in the world today. You have the gift of eternal life in you today.
As Pastor Robert said, just say hi. Just say hi. Every place we go, we find people in fear, in anger, in unbelief, in depression, everywhere we go, we find people who are desperate, are angry, are desperate. I have a newsfeed on my phone. Multiple news feeds a day are telling me how many people are being killed by other people. They are angry. I'm not saying that we shouldn't address, shall we say, the gun laws in our country. I'm not saying those things shouldn't be addressed, but let me tell you something. Making more gun laws isn't going to change people, killing people. We need Jesus. We need Jesus. We need the treasure that's in us to come out and to share people with people that God is good all the time.
It doesn't matter if you are in prison. And it doesn't matter if you've been falsely accused. That doesn't matter if you've been sold into the worst kind of slavery. Let me put it in these kinds of terms: you are working for the worst boss, the very worst boss you could ever think of. God will bring good out of it.
Jacque: Yes. It's so important that we-- I want to go back to Corinthians that glorious treasure within us is immeasurable power. Because God lives within us, his immeasurable power fills us.
Pastor Brian: Which means it can't be measured,
Jacque: Can't be measured. And it makes me think of a picture of an explosion. You know, immeasurable power, just that explosion of power that is within us and all that we are called to do can be done because Christ lives in us.
Pastor Brian: That's right. Christ lives within us.
Jacque: We have to get that vision.
Pastor Brian: We need to lift our vision higher. We need to know that God's not abandoned us when we are in prison, when things go wrong, when there are mountains to scale, when there are obstacles in the way, when there is rejection from other people, or metaphorically, say it this way, when you've been kicked in the teeth. When you've been kicked in the teeth, God wasn't looking away and Satan got a punch in. God is with you. God is with us and God has good at the end of the road,
Jacque: Such a question to ask is what can I learn from this? How can I grow through this? Those are the questions to ask.
Pastor Brian: Pastor Jeff, why don't you come?
Pastor Jeff: Thank you, Pastor Brian. Thank you, Jacque. That's a very important message for all of us, isn't it? Thank you. That was really meaningful for me. We really can't control lots of things that are done to us, but nobody can steal what we carry inside of us. And when Jesus is inside of us, there is a way that he enables us to rise up above everything that anybody else can do. If we haven't been through it, we probably don't understand it. But everything Pastor Brian said this morning was true. For anybody who's here, anybody watching on livestream, the starting point is for Jesus to be in here. That's where it starts. Pastor Brian says often, it's hard to be a Christian if you are not.
One of the keys to successfully living through trouble is having Jesus there to carry you. And so I just want to take a minute and give anybody who's here, anybody who's watching on livestream or anybody who might be seeing this message sometime later, if you haven't yet asked Jesus to come in and be in your life, then let's do that now. If you all just pray with me.
Lord Jesus, I need you in my life And I thank you that you forgive me for all the wrong that I've done, that you give me a new start. I want to take it now with you and I want to live with you for you. Change my life.
You might be in the very place that Pastor Brian has been talking about. You might be in a prison of some kind right now in your life. It could be a prison financially. It could be a prison relationally. It could be a prison of circumstances that you can't control. It could be a prison. I just want to pray for you that the Lord will give you the grace to carry him and to walk with him right where he has you right now. I know you are like me. We try so hard to control every circumstance in our lives, don't we? We just so desperately want it to line up, but it just doesn't always line up. And when it doesn't line up, that's when we get to trust Jesus.
So Father, I know there are friends of mine here today, friends who are watching, and it's not lining up for them. They have been kicked in the teeth as Pastor Brian said. They have suffered loss beyond what I can comprehend. They are in a place of desperation and they need you. And I pray right now, holy Spirit, that you will fill them with hope. Fill them with hope. Take our hands, Lord. Walk with us. And Lord, what we expect from you is to act on our behalf and to carry us the way you carried Joseph, our brother. And for our part, Lord, we will trust you. We will not give up. We will do our best. And we thank you for being with us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Pastor Brian, thank you.
Pastor Brian: As Pastor Jeff was just praying and he used the word prison, the thought came to me. A prison is a place that restricts movement. It confines movement of an individual. And even though all of us aren't in a facility that does that, and those of you who are watching by livestream, you probably aren't in a facility that does that, but in your heart, you could be all bound up, constricted, not free to become what God wants you to become.
Jacque used to wear this little hard on a bracelet and it kind of fell off, and I've been carrying it in my pocket for a while. On the back of it says, "never lose hope". Never lose hope. I carry that with me every day now in my pocket. Never lose hope. Because what the enemy might have meant for evil in your life, God will bring good out of it. There is good to come to you. There is good to come to this church. There is good to come to this community. There is good to come to this state, in our world, in our nation today, because that's what's in the heart of Jesus.
You and I are these clay jars with this incredible, powerful treasure in us called Holy Spirit that every place we place our foot, we take the kingdom of God with us. If that's in the pit, if it's in a foreign country, if it's being a servant in someone else's household, if it's being in a prison, we still take that power with us. We take that presence of God with us, and we can be what God has made us and intended us to be. We can be that difference maker.
So let's give God the very best we have. Yes. Let's give him the very best we have. Not just when we are on the platform, but maybe even when we are in prison. We are in the job that seems like a dead-end job with our boss that doesn't see any of the good that we do. Let's give our very best and let God bring promotion to us. Because you know what? God will bring promotion. He will bring promotion when we are faithful. And Joseph was faithful for more than a day, or a week or a month or even a year. He had been forgotten by the butler. The butler said, "Oh, I'm going to talk about you Joseph soon as I get outta here." But he forgot about him for two more years.
Waiting is hard. It's hard to do your best when you are waiting. But let me tell you, my friends, if we will do our best, God will see. It will give us the promotion and he will bring good from where Satan meant to bring evil. You received this today. Amen. Let's raise our hands together.
And now, may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. And may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace. And may you do your very best for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This we pray in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful vacation tomorrow. Enjoy yourself, stay safe, and we'll see you here next week for a water baptismal service. God bless you. Have a wonderful day.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 9-3-23. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.