Inspire

Guest (Female): Aloha and welcome to the Inspire Church podcast. Whether you're on a walk, driving to work, or just need to hear a fresh word, this is your spot to get inspired, challenged, and equipped to live a faith-filled life. Each episode you'll hear powerful sermons straight from our weekend services that speak into your life, your leadership, and your legacy.

Guest (Male): Before we dive in, do us a favor. Hit that subscribe button, leave a review, and share this with someone who needs a word today. And if you want more resources like Pastor Mike's newest book, *Blow Your Mind*, head over to mikekai.tv. All right, let's lean in, open your hearts, and let God speak through this message.

Mike Kai: Thank the Lord one more time. Amen. I want you to open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 39 this morning. We're calling it Built Different because we understand the first sermon that we did was how we needed to be built different because we're different from the world. The world is building on different materials. The world is building on materials that will rust, will destroy, will rot, but not us. We're building on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives us an example of two different types of builders, two people who built homes. One person built his home or his life on sand. It was beachfront property. It was beautiful. People are paying millions of dollars to get that beachfront property. But then the winds came and the floods were there and the waves crashed. All of a sudden, that house got swept into the ocean and it fell apart. Just the roof was there and the roof was floating because that house was built on sand. It wasn't built like the other builder.

The other builder decided to build their house and their life and their income on the rock. If you build it on the rock, when the waves come, the floods come, when the winds blow and the waves crash, the house that was on the rock withstood all of those storms. The common denominator between both builders, both lives, and both houses was everybody went through the storm. When you and I go through storms of life, whatever we are building our life upon will prove the materials that were used if they were used the right way. When you build your life on these things, the waves will come and the winds will blow, but your life will stand on solid ground and you'll still be standing in Jesus' name.

When you build your family on the rock rather than on the sand, when you build your life on the rock, often times when we build on materials, we have to understand that not only are we building different, but we are also built different. Genesis chapter 39 talks about this one person that went through everything. When you begin to unpack this, you'll see everything that he went through and how he still was standing in Jesus' name. In the book of Genesis, the Bible tells us that Abraham and his wife Sarah had a son of the promise and his name was Isaac.

Before they had Isaac, they had already done a do-it-yourself. God's having a hard time, the promise hasn't come, so we're going to birth a son and they called him Ishmael. It wasn't from Sarah; it was from Hagar. Now God's promise was upon Abraham and went down to Isaac. Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau. We know that Esau was not that son that the promise of the Abrahamic covenant would go through, so it went through Jacob. It went from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Esau eventually joined up with Ishmael's family and they became the people to this day that are constantly at war with Israel.

Jacob's got 12 sons. He's got a blended family and he's got a baby mama from this one and a baby mama from that one, and he got them all together. Jacob's got 12 sons which would eventually become the 12 tribes of Israel. One of the sons was named Joseph. In the Old Testament, he was the favorite son. He was given the coat of many colors. Joseph was favored by his father. He had firstborn sons and second and third and fourth, but Joseph was the 11th son. Jacob, loving all of his sons, loved Joseph more than any of the other sons.

Because there was a gift and the favor upon his life, he put him at the head of the family and had him run everything. He ran the ranch, he ran the farm, he ran everything, but the brothers were jealous of him. They hated the gift that was on his life. They couldn't handle what God was doing with him or what the father was doing with him, the favoritism that was happening in the family. One day, they decided out of their hate and jealousy that they would throw their brother into the pit. Eventually, they sold their brother, ripped off his coat, threw him into the pit, and a caravan of Ishmaelite traders came by. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelite traders and sent him down to Egypt.

They took his coat, they ripped it up, they got billy goat's blood and put it all over. They gave it to the father Jacob and said they didn't know what happened, he must have been devoured by a wild animal. Jacob has almost like a mental breakdown. He says he will mourn until he goes to the grave. Joseph's life is being taken from the pit and all of a sudden, he's being taken into slavery. He is trafficked across borders. Now he finds himself being sold into slavery to the highest bidder. A man named Potiphar, who was the head of the entire prison system, buys him and he now becomes the servant of his house.

Can you imagine the PTSD? Can you imagine the rejection that he's feeling? He was favored by his father, but his brothers couldn't handle it, so they fake his death. Sometimes we understand that when the Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 39, verse 2, it's easy for us to think, "God, where are you? Where were you when I was going through my darkest time? God, where were you when I was being sold out? Where were you when I was in the pits of life?" The Bible says in Genesis chapter 39, verse 2, that the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with him.

The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. God is still with him. He's being sold, he's in the pit, but God's still with him. Now he's sold, God's still with him. Now he's serving, God's still with him. I want you to know that no matter where you are in life, no matter what happens in your life that things didn't work out, you've got disappointments, you're disillusioned, discouraged, all of these different things, God will never leave you. He will never forsake you. Probably the key ingredient to all of this was not just the sovereignty of God, but also the attitude of Joseph.

Watch what happens when you keep your heart right. Genesis 39, verse 5 to 6 says from the day that Joseph was put in charge of his master's household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar's household for Joseph's sake. Potiphar got blessed because he aligned himself with a young man named Joseph. Because God loved Joseph and gave him favor, Potiphar was blessed as a result of that. That's crazy. Then it says that all his household affairs ran smoothly. His crops and livestock flourished. Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything that he owned. In other words, ordering the food, all the accounting, all the bookkeeping, everything that Potiphar needed or was worried about. Potiphar gave Joseph complete authority.

With Joseph there, he didn't worry about a thing except what kind of food to eat. Joseph got it all covered. God is blessing Potiphar because of Joseph, but God is also blessing Joseph and God has been with Joseph. I'm going to tell you right now that this young man, he's been through trials, all the trials that you can think of. The trial of betrayal, the trial of false accusations, the trial of misrepresentation, the trial of hate, of jealousy. You've gone through a lot of trials in your life, too. Your life trials, I'm not as familiar with them as you might be with yours. You're well-acquainted with your trials. Like every person in this room, we are well-acquainted with our own trials.

What I love about Joseph was his spirit was his responsibility. His attitude, he had to own it. He had to own the responsibility of, "I'm going here, I don't want to go here, but I'm going to make the best of it." Joseph didn't allow himself to become a victim. If Joseph allowed himself to become a victim out of his circumstances, I don't believe that God was going to use him the way that he did. God's got an end game. He's not playing the short game. God's playing the long game. The long game is going to end up that God was saving Israel from starvation. He's going to save a nation from starvation, a people from starvation, and he's using this young man's trials in his life.

All of these trials, they come with tests. You're being tested right now. You were tested last week at work. You're tested this week in your family. You are being tested. You are being tested because if you're faithful in the little things, God can put you in charge of many things. If you can't handle the small stuff, why would God give us the big stuff? Verse 6 says that Joseph was a handsome and well-built young man and Potiphar's wife soon began to look at him lustfully. Then she said, "Joseph, come here. Joseph, rub my toes." The Bible says that Joseph tried to stay far away from her. He didn't want to be around her. He was afraid of her. He didn't want to sin against the Lord.

Joseph would go into the kitchen and make himself a little sandwich. All of a sudden she said, "Joseph, can you make me one too?" Joseph was like, "Get away from me!" Joseph would go into the garden and she'd follow him. Finally, she came after him. She grabbed him around his shoulders, grabbed his waistcoat and he ran away. Because she was rejected by him, she began to falsely accuse him of sexual harassment and even attempted rape. Potiphar comes home and he's so upset and throws him into prison. He's in prison at this point. He didn't deserve it. Falsely accused, betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery. It can't get any worse. Sometimes you wonder, "Can it get any worse? Is there anything else? Can I handle anything else?"

Can you imagine the mental health crisis this poor young man was going through in his mid-20s? I want you to know that you cannot be shortsighted, no matter what you're going through in your 20s, no matter what you're going through in your teens, no matter what you're going through in your 40s. If you could just see your 50s, if you can just see your 30s, you're going to get through it. If Joseph got through it, you can get through it too. In chapter 39, verse 20, but while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him there, too. The Lord was with him. The Lord was with him in the pit, the Lord was with him in Potiphar's, and the Lord is with him in prison.

The Lord was with him and he showed Joseph kindness and granted him favor over his life. Favor, the blessing of God in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in prison. The warden, getting paid to be a warden, has Joseph, who's not getting paid to be nothing, be the warden. Then he was made responsible for all that was done there and the warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in everything that he had. Number one, can I encourage you to serve with excellence? Can I encourage you to be excellent? Be excellent at what is good, be innocent of evil. Romans 16:19 says let's be excellent at what is good and innocent of evil.

If you are excellent in spirit, you have an excellent attitude. Excellence isn't about money, excellence isn't about material things. Excellence is always about doing the best you can with what you have. Proverbs 22:29 says do you see a person skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure people. Colossians 3:23 to 24 says in order to be excellent, it's not about being paid; it's who's your employer. Your employer is Jesus. It says work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

The Bible also tells us in Genesis that now he's in prison. While he's in prison, two guys fall out of Pharaoh's favor. While they're in prison with Joseph, they come up to Joseph and they say, "We had some dreams. Can we share our dreams with you?" Joseph is the dream receiver. Sometimes God's going to give you a dream that people aren't ready for you to share yet because not only have you not ready to share it yet since you can't back that up, but maybe right now they haven't grown with you to see what God wants to do with you. Now he's a dream receiver, but now he's going to be a dream interpreter while he's in prison.

The baker and the cupbearer come up to him and say, "We had some bad dreams. Can we tell you about our dreams?" They tell him about the dreams and when they begin to download the dreams, he begins to tell them what it means for each of them. For one, it's not so good. For the other, it's pretty good. They're taken back up into Pharaoh's presence and the one with the not-so-good dream, his head was cut off. The one with the good dream restored to his former position. Time has gone by. They've forgotten all about Joseph. "Joseph, Joseph, don't forget about me!" and they forgot all about him.

Then Pharaoh can't sleep one night. He's having bad dreams and the dreams bothered him. The dreams woke him up. If Pharaoh can't sleep, ain't nobody sleeping. So a message is sent throughout the kingdom that everybody needs to show up because Pharaoh can't sleep. The magicians come, the soothsayers come, the witches and the warlocks and all of the spiritual people, the shamans, they all show up and none of them can interpret the dream. Finally, the cupbearer says, "Oh, I forgot! One guy in prison interpreted my dream." Get him right now! So they go all the way down Kalihi Valley, they pull him out of prison. They start manscaping him because he's all hairy. He hasn't had a shower in about two years.

They come out and he looks like he's material. Pharaoh says, "I had a bad dream and this is my dream. Can you interpret dreams?" He says, "I cannot interpret dreams, but God is the one that gives the ability to interpret dreams. So I will interpret your dream for you." He says, "This is what it means. The seven fat cows that came out of the Nile River, seven of them, and when Pharaoh saw it in the dream, he was thinking seven fat cows. He was thinking about ribeye steak, sirloin, beef ribs, oxtail soup."

He's thinking seven fat cows. But then out of the Nile River comes seven skinny cows and the skinny cows are scrawny, but they're evil and they begin to eat the fat cows. Cows don't eat meat; they're herbivores. But the cows began to devour the seven fat cows. He told Pharaoh, "This is what this means. There will be seven amazing years, bumper crops, crazy amazing years. But right after it, there will be a drought in the whole region and then there will be a famine and then there will be seven horrendous skinny cow years. In these skinny cow years, you're going to forget all about the good years. Those years will be so bad, you'll forget about how good it used to be."

He said if he were Pharaoh, he'd pick somebody wise, somebody intelligent. Then he would have them build granary cities and in these granary cities, take me seriously. Don't put it off until year six. Start now. Build grain cities, fill them up with grain and then when the famine hits, you feed your country with the seven fat cow years during the seven skinny cow years. Pharaoh goes, "Brilliant! My God, who are you?" Then all of a sudden, the Bible says that Pharaoh said Joseph's suggestions were well-received by Pharaoh and his officials. So Pharaoh asks his officials, "Can we find anybody else like this man, so obviously filled with the spirit of God?"

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has revealed this meaning in dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or as wise as you are." You might not be the smartest person in your job or in your class, but you have the spirit of God in you and that automatically makes you 10 times better, just like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Just like Esther, you are automatically 10 times better. It says in verse 40 that you'll be in charge of my court and all my people will take orders from you. Look at the progression. Potiphar's house, you're in charge of a house. You're in charge of a family, you're in charge of a household.

You go through another terrible time in your life and now you're thrown into prison. Guess what? You run the prison. You keep your heart right and you're trusting God. Now you are running the palace. From Potiphar's to prison to palaces. Like David, from lions to bears to giants. If you are faithful at every level that you are, you have to play the long game. Verse 41, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt." Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his finger, from his hand, and placed it on Joseph's finger. Then he dressed him in fine linen clothing.

Then he hung a huge gold chain around his neck. Then he gave him a lifted Toyota. You saw that coming. Then verse 43, then he had Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for his second-in-command, in the second chariot. Wherever Joseph went, the command was shouted, "Kneel down!" So Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all of Egypt and Pharaoh said to him, "I am Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand or foot in the entire land of Egypt without your approval." The most important thing I can give you, let me give it all to you at one time. Number one, serve with excellence wherever you are, a spirit of excellence.

"Oh, but I'm just working this part-time job at the grocery store." Serve with excellence. One day you might be the manager. One day you might be the owner. Number two, rise to responsibility. Take responsibility. Don't allow the bad things of your life to make you become a victim. Number three, carry a different spirit. We're built different. You're different. Sons and daughters, you're different. You're built different. Carry a different spirit. You have vision, most people don't. You're discovering purpose. A lot of people don't know what that is. You understand your identity in Christ. Your identity comes from God, not from the world, not from your best friends, not from your likes.

Number four, don't let the bad eat up the good. The seven skinny cows ate up the seven fat cows. Don't let the bad eat up the good. You might be going through a rough couple of months in your marriage. Don't let the bad eat up the good. You might be having a tough year. Don't let the bad eat up the good. You've been married for 10 years, 11 years. Don't let that one year upset the whole thing. You can get back on track. You might have gone through a divorce. Don't let the bad experience eat up the good things that you have. You have children because of that and you've got great kids. Don't let your bad eat up your good.

Number five, plan and prepare during the years of plenty. You've got to prepare. How many times have I been telling you guys get ready for a hurricane in case one comes? I don't want a hurricane. I rebuke the hurricanes. But I'm finding a place to go to. Taking authority in the name of Jesus. I don't know, it works. It's happened back-to-back. It split in two. Remember that one? I remember had two meteorologists from a good TV station, one of them couldn't handle what I was saying. I said I rebuked it in the name of Jesus. How does a category five drop to a tropical storm in 24 hours circling right outside Kau and all of a sudden it becomes a tropical depression? The people of God who are shouting down storms, that's what I'm talking about.

What if because our nation's crazy, what if because our islands have gone astray, what if there's judgment? Because God does meet out judgment. What if we can shout all we want, we can pray all we want, but the thing still hits? Were you ready during the seven plenty years? Seven years of plenty. You've got to get ready. I've been telling you guys for the longest time, I did a disaster preparedness class two weeks ago. So you've got to watch this. We're going to send it to everybody. Disaster preparedness, we're going to send it to your email if you're on our email. Just be ready because you never know. We live right in the middle of the Pacific. Hurricanes, tsunamis, we're susceptible, we're vulnerable.

Man-made disasters, that could come, but I want you to be ready. Then I want you to be ready for your relatives, for your friends. Because if they're not listening to you, they're going to need stuff. So when you go to Costco, instead of buying just three cans of Spam, buy the whole case. If you're going to get one corned beef, get two. I'm not joking. I'm serious but I'm having a good time with you. If you've got to get one bag of rice, buy two. Just get extra. Don't panic. Don't be the panickers that are at Costco the day before the hurricane and fighting over toilet paper. You not ready. The toilet paper is the real test. If you don't have two months' worth of toilet paper, you not ready.

Let's pray. We should pray. Father, we thank you, Lord God, that through Joseph's life, we can see the example of what it means to allow you to work in us and through us from different stages of life. I'm sure Joseph cried out to you and said, "Lord, what have I done?" Maybe he said these things, maybe he didn't. I think he did. Like any other human being, I would be heartbroken if I was rejected like that. I would be crushed if I was sold that way. I would be beside myself if I was accused of something I'd never done. Through it all, you were with him and you blessed him wherever he went and people were blessed because they were with Joseph.

Father, I pray that you give our church a spirit of Joseph, so to speak, to have an attitude or take on that characteristic of Joseph, that there was an end game, a long play, and it actually saved people. So Father, I thank you, Lord God. I pray that your blessing, favor, protection would be on us. Father, I pray that we would be like Rees Howells, the intercessor from England that prayed during World War II especially during Dunkirk, prayed during the air raids, and you saved Great Britain that should have easily been annihilated by the Nazis. But you saved Great Britain.

God, I pray that you save America. God, I pray that you save Hawaii. God, I pray that you save the United States in spite of ourselves, Lord God, in spite of the legislation, in spite of all of the rules, in spite of the lifestyle, in spite of all of these different things. God, I pray that you would save America. We are America. We're in America. We're the 50th state, God. We still need you. God, I thank you that you're still doing good. We don't let the evil eat up all the good. God, I know you're doing good in Hawaii. You're doing good in America. We won't let all the evil eat up the good, Lord God. Father, we want to thank you, we bless you, we praise you in the name of Jesus and everybody said amen.

Keep your eyes closed. Hallelujah and your heads bowed. Don't leave early. I heard a couple of weeks ago I wasn't here, people all stood up during the altar call. Don't do that. It's the most important time in people's lives, especially the servants, because when the dream teamers say "Get up," people think, "Oh, I can go now." No, no, the dream teamers are just running out to go do their job. Don't fake like you're dream teamer if you're not. Anyway, just kidding. That would be terrible for you. Keep your eyes bowed. Keep your eyes closed and your heads bowed. If you want to give your life to Jesus today, if you want to surrender your life to him, you want to be born again.

I'm convinced that God has not sent for his church yet because he's still waiting for people to come to him. He doesn't want anybody else to go to hell, so he's waiting because everything has already been fulfilled. At any moment, any time now. I'm talking about the lukewarm person, I'm talking about the prodigal son, I'm talking about all these different people right now that you need Jesus. Today is the day of salvation. Do not leave this place without that happening in your life right now. So get ready. I'm going to count to three and when I clap at the count of three, I want you to put your hand up and then I'm going to count you and then I want everybody to repeat this prayer after me, especially the people that are raising their hands. Get ready. One, get ready. Two. One, two, three.

Put your hand up if that's you. Put your hand up if that's you. Mike, I want Jesus in my life. Mike, I want Jesus in my heart. I want him in my life. One right there, two right there, three, four, five, six. There's still time. Seven right there. God bless you. Amen. Eight, nine right there, 10, 11, 12, 13 right there. God bless you. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Amen. 19 up in the corner right there, and then 20 and 21, 22, 23, 24. God bless you. 24, 24. Anybody else? There's still time. 24. Can we thank the Lord everybody before we pray? Hallelujah.

I want everybody to repeat this prayer after me, especially the 24 people that just raised their hand. Everybody say, "Jesus, today I surrender. I give you my life and I thank you. I'm born again. The old has passed, the new has begun. I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus. Thank you for loving me before I first loved you and forgiving me of my sins and casting them into the sea of forgetfulness. I give you all the glory and the praise for what you've done in my life. From this moment forward, I belong to you. I am sealed, sanctified, set apart for your glory and your use. My life is no longer my own. It belongs to you and I give it all. In Jesus' name I pray and everybody said amen."

Guest (Female): What a powerful word. If that stirred something in you, don't keep it to yourself. Share it, rate it, and let us know how God is speaking to you through these messages. We believe your best days are ahead and we're honored to be part of the journey. For sermon notes, leadership tools, coaching resources, and more, visit mikekai.tv. Stay inspired, stay planted, and stay ready because God's not done with you yet. Until next time, God bless you and aloha.