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Guest (Female): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham.

Jack Graham: Ultimately, every decision we make in life impacts who we are, our character, and especially who we are before God.

Guest (Female): On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about the choices you can make that will lift you out of your struggles. PowerPoint with Jack Graham will begin right after this short station break. Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message: The Choices that Make You.

Jack Graham: Take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis, chapter 39. We are in a series of messages on the life of Joseph, telling the marvelous story of Joseph. There are many comparisons of this man Joseph to Jesus himself. In fact, you may say that Joseph is the most Christ-like man in the Old Testament. He is representative of our Lord himself. The character of his life is what sets this man apart.

I've heard character described in a number of ways. Character is what you are in the dark, or character is who you are when no one is watching. But I believe the best definition of character is that character is the sum total of the choices you make in life. The sum total of the choices and the decisions that we make in life.

I am calling this message "The Choices that Make You." Not the choices you make, but the choices that make you. We can choose what we choose to do, but we cannot always choose the consequences of those choices. But ultimately, every decision we make in life impacts who we are, our character, and especially who we are before God.

Have you ever noticed that it is most often in the dark days, the difficult days, that our faith grows strongest and that our character is developed the deepest? Life with all sunshine simply leaves a desert. So God allows sunshine and rain to form us and to frame us into the image of Christ. That is the goal—not mere human character, but the character of God and the character of Christ in us. Therefore, God tests us in order to prove us so that he might ultimately prosper us. He is developing and preparing us for success in life. He uses circumstances, and not all of those circumstances are good.

Sometimes the circumstances in life are painful and hurtful. Such was the case of Joseph. As you know, he was a dreamer. God placed some dreams—not just daydreams, but God put in his heart that he would greatly use him and gave him a mental picture of his life to come. The providential hand of God began working in the life of young Joseph at just 17 years of age.

Yet, because he was such a dreamer and because he was favored by his father, he wore this magnificent coat given to him by his father as a sign and symbol of the favor of this man upon his son. It was a mosaic kind of a coat, and it speaks to me of the patchwork of providence in our lives. God takes the many colors and seasons and situations in our lives and patches them together and forms them into something beautiful. I love the scripture which says, "He makes all things beautiful in his time."

So God proves his servant Joseph. While he was loved and beloved of his father and favored by God himself, his brothers despised him. On a certain day when Joseph confronted his brothers, these men, who were evil, jealous, and angry men, threw him in a pit and left him there to die. Someone had a better idea. His brother Reuben said, "Let's make a business deal on our brother rather than kill him. After all, he is our brother. Rather than kill him, let's sell him."

So a group of Midianites and Ishmaelites came through on camels and they sold their brother. They took his coat, dipped it in blood, and told the father that he was dead. They sold their brother, not down the river, but across the desert. There he goes on the back of a camel into a distant land where the language was different, the customs were different, and everything was different. He goes from the favored status of a son to a lowly, menial slave. It is in a palace owned by a man by the name of Potiphar that God tested him with trials and temptations that ultimately prove the true mettle of this man.

We pick up our reading in chapter 39 of Genesis, beginning at verse one. "Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph." Mark that. "The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him and the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hand.

So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and in field. So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him, he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance, and after a time, his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, 'Lie with me.'"

Joseph is presented with a series of choices, tests, and temptations that would develop his character and prepare him for the future that God had promised. Sometimes when we get into circumstances like these, we pray to get out as soon as possible. "Lord, get me out of this situation. Lord, I don't want to be in this circumstance in my life. I can't take it another day. I'm not going to make it here. God, I'm on the edge here. Get me out of this situation."

We need to be praying, "Lord, in the middle of this situation, no matter how grievous or how terrible it may be, give me strength, not just to survive but to thrive in the middle of this. Lord, may I know your joy and may your hand be with me and never leave me so that I may stand strong for you." This is how Joseph must have prayed because the first decision, the first choice he made, is clear: he chose blessing over bitterness. He chose blessing over bitterness.

If there was ever an individual who could have chosen bitterness due to the circumstances of his life, it would have been this man. He was treated unfairly and unjustly, left for dead, and then sent on the backs of camels through the desert in this foreign land, all because he was victimized by the hatred and the anger of his own brothers. But he chose blessing rather than bitterness, knowing that bitterness is a beast. Bitterness is an acid that will destroy its own container. Bitterness is anger turned inward.

The seething resentment that so many people feel today because of the circumstances of their lives, because of the conditions of their birth, or because of the culture around them—many live with this kind of loser's limp, this victim's mentality in life, and therefore are defeated by this beast of bitterness in their lives. They give up hope and live in anger, fear, failure, and destruction for the rest of their lives.

The question is, is your dream still alive? Or have you allowed a victim's kind of mentality to say you can't? That you're not smart enough or educated enough, or you were born in the wrong place to the wrong kind of parents, or you don't have the right kind of friends or connections. Are you living with this kind of loser's attitude that says "I can't" when God says in Jesus Christ, all things are possible?

Can you live with the expectation of hope, knowing that if you are a child of God, his hand is upon you even as the hand of God was upon Joseph? Don't you dare quit in resentment, failure, and defeat. Some of you may be thinking, "My time has passed. I'm retired now. I'm done here." A lot of people in their older years turn to bitterness and anger and become grumpy, tired, old, and miserable rather than dreaming again the dreams that God has for you.

Say, "Oh, I'm too sick now." No, you're not. You say, "I can't now." I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Maybe you're at midlife. You had all these dreams about your career and your future, and you had good motives. You wanted to do it for God. It wasn't just about making the money. But the crash came. Maybe you're seeing your retirement investments go down the tubes. Maybe you're seeing your dreams of a business vanish and here you are at midlife and you're thinking, "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?"

Many people become so bitter and angry at the failures and the falls of life that they never get up. They just keep persisting and pursuing in this victimization of our culture that's all around us. There's no reason for an African American young man to feel like a victim anymore. You can rise above any circumstances in your life. Ask Barack Obama. There's no reason for a man to feel wasted, old, and put away. Ask Billy Graham.

There's no reason for someone to quit and to fail because in life in Christ, we have a hope and a future that is a promise. God is ordaining our steps and he is watching over us and walking with us every step of the way. Don't you dare turn to bitterness in your brokenness.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: The Choices that Make You. Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life.

To sign up, text DEVO (D-E-V-O) to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO (D-E-V-O) to 59789. Every day, people around the world are hearing the truth of Jesus Christ through PowerPoint's broadcast, podcast, television ministry, and digital outreach, often during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

Friends like you help make that ministry possible. That's why this month we want to say thank you for your gift of $10 or more by sending you Dr. Jack Graham's book, Destiny. In this encouraging resource, Dr. Graham walks through the life of Joseph to show how God is always working, even through painful and confusing circumstances, to accomplish his greater purpose. To give your gift and request your copy, text OCT (O-C-T) to 59789. That's OCT (O-C-T), as in October, to 59789. Now, let's get back to today's message: The Choices that Make You.

Jack Graham: How could Joseph do this? Verse three is the key: "His master saw that the Lord was with him and the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hand." God guides us as he guides Joseph. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord," says the Psalmist. "And though he fall, he will not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his strong right hand."

So you are here today and where you are in life, not by accident or random chance, but in the purposes and plans of Almighty God who guides our steps. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean into your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path. If you're in a situation or a circumstance in your life that you can't figure out how to fix, maybe you just need to stop and say, "Lord, I'm tired of trying to control what I can't control."

Some of us need to lay down the things that we can't control that only God can control. Joseph must have done that at some point of his life. No doubt he had nightmares in those early years. Remember, he's just a boy, just 17 years old, and here he is in Egypt. Maybe he dreamed night after night seeing the peer-eyed, hate-filled eyes of his brothers. He dreams of that terrible pit where he was left to die. He dreams of the past.

But someday, some way, he got up and he said, "You know, I can either die in Egypt in this desert, I can choose to quit, or I can believe once again that God is with me and that God's hand is upon me and that I can rise above the circumstances of my life." Somewhere along the way, Joseph said, "You know, God is guiding me in all of this. I know I can trust in him." The Lord was with him. The Lord is with you.

Jesus said to wide-eyed disciples after commanding and commissioning them to go into all the world and preach the gospel—they must have been overwhelmed by this very idea—to preach a Savior that had died on a cross. The last anyone heard of him, except for a few, was that he was dead and buried in a tomb. Now the risen Christ is telling them to take this message, this good news, around the world. How could they possibly do that? Jesus said, "Oh, by the way, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

That's the promise of God to every one of us. The scripture says God will never leave us or forsake us. Never, ever. That was written in the language of the Hebrews. It was a Hebrew intensive and it is the strongest form: "I will never leave you or forsake you." When you find yourself in circumstances that you cannot control, that only God can control, turn to the soul's medicine cabinet, which is the book of Psalms. In the Psalms, we often hear the Psalmist crying out to God in the midst of darkness and despair.

Here he is speaking of the word of God and the power and the promise of God's word in our lives. So he says personally, "Lord, remember your word to your servant." That's a personal request that you can pray. "God, remember your word to me. You put a promise in my heart. You gave me a dream for my life. Remember your promise, your word to your servant in which you have made me hope." Then verse 50: "This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life."

Your promise, Lord, gives me life. Why? Because the Bible, God's word, is breathed by God. The very life of God is in his word. Just as our life is in breath—God made the man, he breathed in him the breath of life, and he became a living soul—the breath of God is in the word of God. God speaks and his word is life. His promise to us is life. Therefore, when God says "I will guide you," bank it. Book it. It is true.

God not only guides us as he guided Joseph, but he guards us. He protected Joseph. Joseph should have been dead on a number of occasions, just another statistic buried in the desert. But the Bible says we are immortal in the word of God, for he who does the will of God abides forever. You know how long you're going to be here? As long as God wants you here. That is how long.

Nothing—not sickness, not even death—will separate you from the love of God. The Lord's hand was upon him, guiding him and guarding him. What did Jesus say about that in John chapter 10? He said that we are in the Father's hands and no one can snatch us from the Father's hand. We are protected and provided for by the hand of God. Nothing can extract us from him.

Does that mean God is going to change all my circumstances? No, Joseph is still living in the house of an Egyptian master. God didn't send him back home to Daddy like he wanted to go, I'm sure. For 13 long years before his ultimate promotion, he was a slave in this man's house. But God guarded him and therefore God graced him. This is the best part to me. It says that God favored this man and gave him success.

His hand was upon him and therefore he prospered him and blessed him in the house of this Egyptian. As a result, when the Egyptian saw it, he was looking at this young guy, this kid, and he was saying, "There's something about this kid. There's something about this dreamer from Israel. I don't know what it is, but it's apparent. It's perfectly obvious that the hand of the Almighty is on him." Potiphar, who must have been pretty astute himself, said, "I want some of that."

Notice, by the way, that Joseph didn't have to tell him the hand of God was on him or that he was favored by God. Potiphar saw it. He sensed it. Joseph wasn't walking around saying, "Man, I'm under the favor of God. Look at me. I'm blessed and highly favored. Look at me." No, I think Joseph lost a lot of that strutting around when he lost that coat that he was wearing. But he lost his coat, not his character. There was still the content of his life.

He wasn't just an empty suit or an empty coat. This man Potiphar saw it and he knew it, and therefore he promoted him. At some point in his life, Joseph decided, "Look, if I'm going to be a slave here in Egypt, I'm going to be the best slave that God ever made because I may be working for the man, but I'm really serving God."

What a beautiful principle this is for all of us who are under authority at some point. Joseph is still in Potiphar's house. He's still washing and cleaning, picking up stuff and making beds and doing whatever he was told to do. But in the routine, in the duty, and in the drudgery of his life, he did it for the glory of God. Have you ever noticed that God...