From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: We have things that happen to us that are unwanted, many times unwanted. Many times unwarranted, which means that you did not cause this to happen. It happened to you. Someone else did something to you, and you did not want this to happen.

Hey, what do you do when that kind of stuff happens, when you lose big time? How do you roll with the punches? We can learn from Joseph.

Larry Noble: What do you do when the punches of life just keep coming at you? Will you let your heart get bitter or will you trust God? This is from His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve. Today, you will hear an encouraging message from the amazing story of Joseph, a man who, despite his circumstances, waited faithfully for the Lord and was abundantly blessed.

The message is from Pastor Jeff's five-lesson series we are in now called "Life Goes On, How to Face a New Normal," which is just one of two special gifts that we have for you this month for your gift of any amount. The other is a special companion book called "Life Interrupted." You will get the book and the series for your gift today.

To find out more, go to fromhisheart.org or I will tell you more later. Now though, open your Bible to Genesis chapter 39. Here's Pastor Jeff Schreve with the practical and compelling message called "Rolling with the Punches."

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Life is filled with punches. It's filled with storms. It's filled with difficulties and problems. If we do not learn how to face a new normal, we will never win. We will never move forward. We will just get stuck in the difficulties of life.

We have things that happen to us that are unwanted, many times unwanted. Many times unwarranted, which means that you did not cause this to happen. It happened to you. Someone else did something to you, and you did not want this to happen.

You say, "What gives, God? Why is this happening to me?" Now, the poster child for bad things happening to him that were unwanted and unwarranted is Joseph. Joseph in the Old Testament.

Joseph, there is nothing in the Bible, in the account of Joseph that says anything negative about this guy. You know, we have reams of material about David, and we have good things about David and then we have some not so good things about David. Joseph has a number of chapters in the book of Genesis, never anything negative said about him. Now, he was a sinner because he was human and he was not a perfect guy, but he was an example that you and I can look to and follow.

He was a guy who had to learn to roll with the punches because things happened to him that were really, really hard to deal with. He had 10 older brothers. He was the favorite. He was number 11 in 12 brothers. He was the favorite because he was the son of his dad's favorite wife, Rachel. His dad was Jacob. Jacob's name got changed to Israel. Israel, Jacob had 12 sons. They are called the 12 tribes of Israel.

Joseph is number 11. His 10 older brothers hated him because he was daddy's favorite and because he had a dream that his brothers were going to bow to him. His brothers did not like that dream. They did not like Joseph. They were plotting together one day about Joseph because they called him that dreamer, and they ended up putting Joseph into a pit when they were away from dad because dad would have protected Joseph, but daddy was not around. So, they put 17-year-old Joseph into a pit, and they were going to kill him.

But then they decided, "No, we better not kill him. Let's sell him into slavery." That's what they did. They got some silver for Joseph, and they sold him into slavery, and Joseph went from being daddy's favorite son to now all of a sudden I'm on a caravan going down to Egypt as a slave. I'm sold into this guy's house named Potiphar, and I'm a slave there. No fault of my own.

So, what do I do as a slave? I'm going to be the best slave they have ever had. That's what he did. Then he gets lied about by Potiphar's wife, and he ends up in prison. I mean, you talk about getting punched over and over and over again.

You know, I think there are lots of people under the sound of my voice today and you can relate to punches being thrown your way, difficulties coming, things that really hurt. Maybe your spouse says, "I do not want to be married to you anymore. I found somebody else." Maybe your job says, "Hey, we're shutting down, sorry, here's your pink slip."

Hey, what do you do when that kind of stuff happens, when you lose big time? How do you roll with the punches? We can learn from Joseph. Joseph is an amazing man, but he's not Superman. He's just a man. What one man can do, another man can do, another woman can do. So, let's look at his story. We'll pick it up in Genesis chapter 39.

He is working as a slave for Potiphar. Potiphar's captain of Pharaoh's bodyguard. Potiphar's wife notices Joseph, and she takes a liking to Joseph. Joseph is a young guy. He starts at 17, so maybe now he's in his early 20s. She looks at him and man, he was, she was singing that Elvis song. He's just a hunka hunka burning Hebrew. She said, "I want to have a relationship with Joseph."

So, she keeps telling Joseph, "Come and come to my bedroom and lie with me." He would not do it. He said, "No, how could I do this great evil and sin against God?" He would not do it. She kept on and on, day after day after day. It says in verse 11, "Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. And she caught him, Potiphar's wife, by his garment, saying, 'Lie with me!' And he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside."

"When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled, she called to the men of her household, verse 14, and said to them, 'See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed.' And it came about when he heard that I had raised my voice and screamed, that he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside." "So, she left his garment beside her until his master came home, Potiphar. Then she spoke to him with these words, 'The Hebrew slave whom you brought to us came in to me to make sport of me, and it happened as I raised my voice and screamed that he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.'" Total lie.

"Now it came about when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, 'This is what your slave did to me,' that his anger burned. So Joseph's master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in the jail."

What's the deal, God? Why am I here? I mean, how much can I take, God? My brothers hate me, they sell me into slavery. I still am serving you. Then she lies about me, and now I'm in prison. This is in the 1700s BC in Egypt. This is a nasty place.

I mean, you can go to some places today in Egypt, and you do not want to be there. It is not a nice place. He's in this slimy pit, in this dungeon, and he's wondering, "What is the deal, God?" Hey, what do you do when the punches of life just keep coming? Let me share with you four principles to help you, to help me when the punches just keep coming, and especially when the punches are not your fault.

Principle number one, remember that God's ways are not our ways. God's ways are not our ways. The scripture makes that clear in Isaiah chapter 55. God says, "My ways are not your ways, neither are your thoughts my thoughts, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so far are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts than your thoughts."

You know, when we are in difficulty, we just naturally ask the question, "Why?" Now, if you're the prodigal son, and you left your father's house, and you went to the far country, you wasted all your money, your dad's inheritance with wine, women, and loose living, and then you end up in the pit, in the pigsty, you do not have to really wonder, "Well, how did I get here? What, God, what's up?" You know what you did.

But when you're Joseph, and you're in the dungeon, and you did not do anything wrong, it is normal and natural to ask the question, "Why?" Now, the Bible does not record that he did, but we know that he did because we know he's human. So, it's perfectly normal to ask God, "Why?"

You read in the scripture and you find people in difficulties normally ask God why. Moses asked God why. When he went to Pharaoh and said, "Let my people go," and Pharaoh said, "No, I'm not going to obey the Lord. Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?" He says, "Let me tell you what I'm going to do, Moses. I'm going to make your people make bricks without straw. It's going to be worse for them." Moses went, in Exodus chapter 5, at the end of Exodus chapter 5, and he comes before the Lord and he says, "Lord, why are you doing harm to your people and why did you ever send me to Pharaoh?" I do not understand this at all. Things are not better, things are worse, and you have not delivered your people at all. Moses asked why.

Gideon, in the book of Judges, he asked why. The Lord comes to him and says, "Hail, mighty man of God, the Lord is with you." He said, "Well, if the Lord is with us, then why are we under the thumb of the Midianites? Why are all these bad things happening to us if the Lord is with us?" Moses asked why, Gideon asked why. Job is filled with the question why. In Job chapter 3, when Job finally speaks from all the calamity that came into his life, you read five whys in that one chapter. "God, why are you doing this to me?"

Jesus asked why. When He was dying upon the cross, He referenced Psalm 22 verse one, where it says, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" Hey, it's perfectly normal to ask God why, but here's the thing, it is typically standard to not get an answer to your why.

Larry Noble: You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve today, and the message "Rolling with the Punches." Sometimes, rolling with the punches means you're not getting an answer from God like you wanted to. Hey, life can change in an instant, and it all takes one phone call, one diagnosis, one conversation you never saw coming. Suddenly, the life you know feels unfamiliar, and you're left trying to figure out how to move forward in a new normal that you did not choose.

Well, maybe you have experienced that yourself, most people have. The truth is, these sudden interruptions in life can leave us wounded, confused, and discouraged. But here's what Pastor Jeff wants you to know. God does not abandon His children in the interruption. He is still present, still faithful, and He is able to meet you in your pain with hope and peace. And to help that truth and more sink into your heart and change your life, Pastor Jeff would like you to have the current series we are in now called "Life Goes On: How to Face a New Normal," along with the companion full-length book "Life Interrupted." Both for your gift to From His Heart this month of any amount.

To get these impactful resources, go to fromhisheart.org or simply call 866-40-BIBLE. That's 866-40-BIBLE. Remember, Psalm 34:18 reminds us that the Lord is near the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. God bless you for standing with us today as we share Jesus and His healing power around the world every day. Now, let's get back to the lesson, "Rolling with the Punches."

Dr. Jeff Schreve: God does not normally answer the question, "Why?" You read, God never said anything to Job, He never answered Job's why. He did not answer Gideon's why. He is not in the business of explaining. He's in the business of sustaining. God's answer when we ask Him why, and it's okay to ask God why. You do not demand answers from God, but you can bring your questions to the Lord. But just know this, the response from God is 90, well, 100% of the time, it's this: "My child, you can trust me." "My child, you can trust me."

So, with our whys, we just need to know, hey, it's perfectly normal to ask God why, it's typically standard to not get an answer to our why. But thirdly, it's greatly reassuring to know that God knows why. That's why God says, "You can trust me because I know what I'm doing. I know the why."

God knew exactly, now he does tell Moses, Exodus chapter 6, He does tell Moses what is going on, why He's doing what He's doing, what He's planning to do through Pharaoh. He lets Moses in on that, but that's not typically how God responds. God's response is, "My child, just trust me."

I like what the scripture says in Isaiah chapter 46. The Lord says this, "Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.' Calling a bird of prey from the East, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken, truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it. Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded, who are far from righteousness." God is in control. God knows what He's doing.

So, in your difficulty, in your pit, as Joseph was in a pit in a prison, just know God knows why. He knows what's going on. He has not lost your address. He knows exactly what He is doing. As Babbie Mason sings in that wonderful song, "God is too wise to be mistaken, God is too good to be unkind." So, when you do not understand, when you cannot see His plan, when you cannot trace His hand, trust His heart.

Very first principle, when the punches keep coming, remember that God's ways are not our ways. Second principle, determine to be faithful and bloom where you're planted. That's the thing about Joseph. If we wanted to kind of put a just an epitaph on his life, just a summation of his life, Joseph was a guy who was faithful to God through thick and through thin and who bloomed where he was planted. Because he was planted in a place he did not want to be.

Joseph never wanted to go to Egypt. But God put him there. Joseph did not want to be in Potiphar's house, but God put him there. Joseph did not want to be in the prison, but God put him there. He did not have any control over those things. He ended up in those spots because God is a sovereign God. So, he said, "Well, okay, what am I going to do here? I know what I'm going to do. I find myself in Potiphar's house, I'm going to be the best slave this guy has ever seen. I'm going to bloom where I'm planted. I find myself in the prison, I'm going to be the best prisoner this prison has ever seen."

That's what it says in chapter 39 verse 21. "But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. And the chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail, so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper." Number one slave in Potiphar's house, number one trustee in the prison house.

Now, it would have been easy for Joseph to say, "I quit. Forget it. I mean, God, I was I was trusting you, and I was serving you even when my brothers threw me in a pit. I was praying and praying and praying and wanted to be delivered. I was not delivered. But Lord, now you've put me into Egypt as a slave, and so I said, 'Okay, I'm going to trust you. I'm going to serve you.' So, I was doing that. But now, I'm in prison, and all this serving you is not getting me anywhere. I quit. I throw in the towel. I say with Job's wife, 'Curse God and die.'" It would have been very easy for Joseph to have done that. But he did not do that.

He did not do that. He continued to trust, he continued to serve, he continued to praise God. He was faithful. He bloomed where he was planted. He could not control his circumstances. He could just control how he responded to his circumstances.

I love this quote. I heard it years and years ago by Chuck Swindoll. He said this, "The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It's more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say, or do. It's more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it." So, it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.

Joseph chose to have an attitude of gratitude. He chose to serve God, to trust God, to stay faithful to God, no matter what happened, no matter how many punches came his way. Hey, let me ask you a couple of key questions. Question number one: In your life, in your difficulties, will you serve God no matter what? If your marriage fails, will you still serve God? If you lose your job, will you still serve God? If you get hurt, and you cannot play sports anymore as a high school athlete, or you cannot drive anymore as a friend of mine who was having problems with seizures, and they would not let him drive anymore. That's a bummer to not be able to drive anymore. If something happens to you, you get lied about, you lose your job, will you still praise God in the midst of all kinds of difficulties?

I believe it was Adrian Rogers who said this, "You can tell the size of a Christian by what it takes to stop him." You know, in the book of Job, that was the whole situation with Job. Job was not privy to the conversation that God and Satan were having, but Job was the centerpiece of it. The Lord said to Satan one day, "Have you considered my servant Job? There's no one like Job on the face of the whole earth. He is blameless, he loves Me, he walks with Me." This is what Satan said in Job chapter 1, beginning in verse 9. "Then Satan answered the Lord, 'Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.'"

Satan says to God, "God, the only way you can get followers is by bribing them. The only reason that Job serves you, the only reason that he fears you and puts you first is because you bless him. You're his sugar daddy, and if you take away the sugar, he will curse you to your face." You know what we find out in the book of Job? Job feared God and served God for nothing.

He was hurting, he's real, he's a person. Joseph was hurting, he's real, he's a person too, but they were faithful, and they served God for nothing. What about you? What about you?

Second question: Will you be faithful until death? That's what the scripture says. From the lips of the Lord Jesus, in Revelation chapter 2, verse 10, He says to the church in Smyrna, "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." Faithful until death. Hey, regardless of what happens, Joseph, if you go from the house of Potiphar to the prison house, and from the prison house, if you had gone to death, would you still be faithful? Would you still praise Me? Would you be faithful until death? He would have been because he was faithful to God.

You know, it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 2, "It is required of stewards that a man be found faithful." Faithful. That's the most important thing. That's what God is looking for, faithful servants. It does not say that a man be found successful, does not say that a man be found powerful, does not say that a man be found creative or ingenious. Faithful. Faithful. Determine to be faithful and bloom where you're planted.

Larry Noble: As Pastor Jeff Schreve has pointed out, it's so critical to be found faithful. Even if, not especially, in the midst of our trials. You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve, and part two of the message "Rolling with the Punches" from the five-lesson series "Life Goes On: How to Face a New Normal."

I would imagine that there would be a lot of people listening to this broadcast today, or maybe everybody, who's having a tough time or has had tough times recently, and you need to roll with the punches of life, particularly if you've been hit with a debilitating blow. Jerusalem was destroyed and strangers invaded their land centuries ago. The Israelites had given up under the weight of their grief and pain and heartache. They were in tearful despair and had wanted to quit. How about you? If the bottom seems to be dropping out of your life, do you want to say, "I quit, I'm done"?

This month, Pastor Jeff wants you to have two special resources that will help you learn to roll with the punches and keep trusting God. The first is the five-lesson series "Life Goes On" that we're in this month, and also the companion book "Life Interrupted." Both for your gift of any amount to From His Heart. Call 866-40-BIBLE to get the series and the book. That's 866-40-BIBLE, or go to fromhisheart.org.

We pray that these resources will be a blessing to you. Well, thanks for being with us today. I'm Larry Noble, inviting you to be here tomorrow as we conclude the message "Rolling with the Punches," and that will also conclude the series "Life Goes On: How to Face a New Normal." Join us on Friday as we again open up God's word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from His Heart.