Roche Coleman Ministries: The Infusion Broadcast

Dr. Roche Coleman: So often we want to be faithful to God when things are favorable and when things seem to work out in our favor, when we can say "what's in it for me?" But God is calling us to be faithful regardless of the circumstance.

When I'm in the pit, I'm faithful. When I'm hated by brothers, I'm faithful. When I'm in Potiphar's house, I'm faithful. When I'm falsely accused, I am still faithful to my God.

Guest (Male): Thank you for tuning in today to join us on The Infusion Broadcast with the Roche Coleman Ministries. We all have our share of trials in life. There's suffering all around us and even within our own homes.

Dr. Coleman has been teaching on the series "God: A Present Help", based on the life of Joseph. We see Joseph going from one hardship to the next, from the pit to slavery to false accusations to jail and more. Yet he remained faithful to God irrespective of his circumstances, challenging and encouraging us to trust God with our situations as well. Dr. Coleman brings today's message, "God Orchestrates our Circumstances". Let's go to it.

Dr. Roche Coleman: Today we are going to be in part five of our series "God: A Present Help" and we are in Genesis. We're going to finish the last three verses of Genesis 39 and dive into Genesis chapter 40. So I want you to turn with me in your Bibles as we look at Genesis 39 and talking about God: A present help in the time of trouble and we are talking also about "prison happens" because we find Joseph now in an Egyptian prison.

All right, our text today is Genesis and we're going to begin in chapter 39. This is a great text, this is a great narrative. I love it because it is so rich, the doctrine, the theology. We see God's self-revelation of himself in such a way. I want you to just walk with me for about a few minutes here as we look at this text because I'm going to tell you something, it's going to bless you. God's word has promised not to return void.

Genesis chapter 39 beginning at verse 20: "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. But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. 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."

You may be seated. Father, we love you and we thank you for prosperity. We thank you, Lord God, for a biblical prosperity, a prosperity that does not bring leanness. A prosperity that is not predicated upon where we are, but Lord is predicated upon your kindness, your grace, your goodness. Lord, we say thank you for your blessings.

Lord, as we look into your word today, I ask that you remove any barriers, Lord, anything that would hinder us from hearing from you. We want to be in a posture to receive what you have that we might be transformed, renewed in our mind, that we might understand you at a different level, that we might live for you at a different level. Lord God, for whatever you do, we'll be certain to praise you. Rise up, oh Lord, and let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before your presence. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

If you were to go to your search engine on your computer or electronic device and search successful people, various people would come up, about 30 maybe to 50. But as I searched the list of what our culture or an internet search would suggest is successful, I ran across another gentleman by the name of Peter Economy. He's an author, writer, editor, ghostwriter, and he would be classified as what we would call successful because of his status and some of the things that he has accomplished according to our worldly standards.

As a matter of fact, he wrote an article for inc.com and in it he said, "12 things the most successful people think about". He says you can become highly successful by thinking what highly successful people think. He goes on to say people who are remarkably successful think and act differently from the crowd. They have an attitude that is positive, respectful, and full of action. They are doing the work they love and they love the people they work with. They don't focus on being successful, but success follows them wherever they go.

As I read through the article, I thought about that statement and I said part of that is true. But you always have the outliers that Malcolm Gladwell talks about. There are always those who are successful and I think that they might disdain some of the people they work with, find them downright repugnant. There are some leaders who are not always positive, respectful, and full of action. They're lazy, grumpy, and downright difficult to deal with, but nevertheless they might according to the biblical standards of prosperity and success fit this criteria.

As I think about a Joseph who finds himself in an Egyptian prison, I have to think about the fact that I'm certain that all of these characteristics do not fit his predicament. I'm certain that he would not have received a vote to be on the list of successful persons because he's sitting in a prison. Yet when I look at my Bible, my Bible says that God prospered him while he is in the prison.

God prospered him. Point number one, you and I must understand from the prosperity of Joseph that our prosperity is never based upon our position or our predicament. You and I must understand that from the outset that your prosperity, the blessings of God, is never based upon that. That's why fact number one is so important: biblical prosperity is not predicated on your position or the place.

Some of you right now where you are, you may say "I don't feel very successful, I don't feel prosperous", but I want to let you know that Joseph is in a jail. Pit happens to Joseph, Potiphar happens to Joseph, now prison happens for Joseph. He's in a prison, but my Bible tells me that he is prospering in a prison. Why is he prospering in the prison? It's because God is with him. God is right there in the midst of what he's going through and God is blessing him.

There are three things I want to give you on the outset so I want to make certain you don't leave without these three things, what I call gems from Joseph's life. These are three things that as we are going through this series, you're going to see them continuously coming up and these are the things that caused Joseph to be successful and have the biblical prosperity that God describes.

Number one: Joseph remains faithful to God regardless of the circumstances. So often we want to be faithful to God when things are favorable and when things seem to work out in our favor, when we can say "what's in it for me?" But God is calling us to be faithful regardless of the circumstances. When I'm in the pit, I'm faithful. When I'm hated by brothers, I'm faithful. When I'm in Potiphar's house, I'm faithful. When I'm falsely accused, I am still faithful to my God.

Number two: stop blaming others. Attempt to prosper in the location God planted you. Wherever you find yourself, stop grumbling and recognize that God in his providence has placed you there and you can be successful and prosperous right there for the glory of God wherever you are. But stop grumbling and complaining because there is probably a million other people who can get in line right there with you, probably ahead of you in that line.

Number three: using balance, help those around you prosper. You see this principle also not only in Joseph's life, but also in Jeremiah chapter 29. In Jeremiah chapter 29, we see the Lord through Jeremiah prophetically speaking to the people and letting them know, "Israel nation, you are going into exile to the Babylonians in 605 BC. I'm sending Nebuchadnezzar who's my servant, he's going to take you from your homeland of Israel, he's going to take you to Babylon and you're going to be there in exile."

He said, "and while you're there in exile," look in Jeremiah 29:7, you've got to see this, it's beautiful. He says, "seek the prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile." God tells Israel, while you are under the tyranny of these foreign invaders, these marauders, the Babylonians, he said, "I want you to seek the welfare, the prosperity of that city." He said, "how do you do it? And pray to the Lord on its behalf." What is the it he's referring to? On the behalf of the city of Babylon and the Babylonians. "For in its prosperity, you will have prosperity."

He tells Israel, he says, "while you're there, pray for them and ask for the Lord to give them prosperity." Interesting noun he used there for wealth, for prosperity. It is Shalom, a familiar Hebrew term. Shalom means to have wholeness, but Shalom also has the understanding of having a level of peace. Not only peace within personally, not only peace in a social perspective, but also that that nation, the Babylonians, would have a peace from war and from the opposition of their enemies.

God sends Israel into exile and then tells them to pray for the people who are reigning over them and pray that they would prosper. Why does God say that? God says that because he says, "when they prosper, you prosper." You all don't hear me. When your enemies are prospering because you are there, he said, "I'm going to also prosper you." Your prosperity is not based on where you are, it's based on who you serve.

In verse 11, he goes even further. He says, "for I know the plans that I have for you." You see, God knows that he can prosper you. It matters not where you are, he can still get a blessing to you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare, prosperity, not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Don't you know that God has a future and a hope for you?

If you were to slide next to Joseph while he was sitting in that pit, Joseph didn't think he had a future or hope. When he was in Potiphar's house and Potiphar's wife falsely accused him of rape, he's shackled and hurted off to a prison in Egypt. He felt hopeless and helpless. Now he's in a prison, you think he feels like he has a future and a hope? But Joseph didn't grumble, he didn't complain. He recognized that God was able to bless him and that's what God did.

God blessed him right there in the prison. How do you know that? Because if you look in Genesis 39, the Bible says it when he gets to this prison, the Lord extended kindness, verse 21. Oh, that's a beautiful image. How many of you know even where you are right now as you walked in that God has been extending kindness to you? And then God gave him favor with the chief jailer. God did this. See, this is the supernatural, the invisible work and power of God to work on the hearts of those around you.

Although there are some that seem to hate and be your enemies and against you, God can still soften and move on the hearts of those individuals and give you favor. So much so that it caused Joseph to be put in charge of all the prisoners who were in the jail, verse 22 says. You see, God blessed Joseph through the jailer. God used all of this to make himself known. God used his man in this context so that he could be elevated.

Why is all of this happening? I like in verse 21, it says that it was in the sight of the chief jailer. What does that mean? It means the jailer looked at Joseph and he saw something unique and distinctive about Joseph. See, when you are serving the true and living God, God has a way of doing something supernatural about you. When you walk in, although people can't explain it, they can't articulate it, they know there's something distinct. Why? It is because of the God that you serve. God gives you favor and that's what he's doing here with Joseph even in a prison.

That's why our predicament can never deter us from remaining faithful to our glorious and good God. Isn't that beautiful how our God works? Because so often we're frustrated and we feel I can't do anything, I don't want to do anything because I'm not in the lead position, I don't feel like I'm receiving what I'm due. God is saying, "just be faithful. I have a plan, just remain steadfast. I'm moving, you don't see it, but you just stay right there and I'm going to bless you, I'm going to take you to where I want you."

The jailer looks at him and he sees something. I've noticed as we've been going through this study, everybody looks at Joseph and they see something different. Jacob his dad in chapter 37 looked at Joseph with love. In that same chapter, Joseph's brothers looked at him with hate. Potiphar who had purchased Joseph from the Ishmaelites, he looked at Joseph and saw God's blessings. Potiphar's wife looks at Joseph and she looked at Joseph with lust.

The Egyptian jailer looked at Joseph and he sees what Potiphar saw, he saw the blessings of God. But I want to let you know when God looked at Joseph, he looked at Joseph with favor, with kindness, and with mercy. He looks at you the same way because that's our God. Joseph is here and he's going to be blessed. But the beauty is that he's blessed, the jailer's blessed, everybody is blessed because of him and it goes back to what we saw last week in Genesis 12:3 where the Abrahamic covenant comes forth.

God had already promised Abraham his descendants, he says, "I'm going to bless you Abraham, I'm going to give you a pretty land and descendants, but I'm going to bless those who bless you." That's what's going on here, this is the initial stages of it. God is blessing nations and people through his patriarch Joseph.

Number two: I want you to see is the providence of Immanuel. Providence is beautiful because if it weren't for providence, Joseph would have never been in this prison. Providence is a word that does not appear in the Bible, yet the doctrine of the providence of God remains a consistent theme throughout scripture. Providence is the divine plans that continue despite the array of tragic events within the creation. Nothing will derail the perfect resolve of God to bring humanity and the events of the world to a victorious conclusion.

In essence, the word providence designates that humanity and the world affairs operate by the rule of God. Chance or fate emerges from the mind of sinful humanity seeking solutions to life's events independent of God. Chance is what man has come up with as the response for not wanting to rely on a holy God. But our God moves providentially. It is not by chance that events happen in our lives. It was not chance that put him in this prison, it was the providence of God because God had a purpose and a plan and he was going to use Joseph in that plan.

Unfortunately we would love to know what God is doing, but sometimes God does not do that. But God providentially let these events, sometimes tragic and painful. The stripping of his multicolored tunic, providence. Thrown into the pit, not delivered by Reuben or Judah, providence. Sold to the Ishmaelites as they are going down to Egypt, providence. Purchased by Potiphar, providence. Falsely accused of rape, providence. Put in a prison with this Egyptian jailer, providence.

God used every step providentially to bring his servant to a place where he says, "I'm going to use you Joseph, I'm going to be glorified, but I'm going to use you in your pain and I'm going to use you in my providence." God is doing the same for you. Some of you right now you're sitting and you walked in this sanctuary, some of you logged on providentially. But you're in pain, discombobulated, no alacrity in your life and you're like, "Lord, what are you doing? Lord, I have been serving you, I've been walking faithfully, I'm reading, meditating upon your word and Lord, I just can't see how you're moving. It seems like nothing is working, nothing is coming to fruition in my favor. Lord God, I don't understand what you're doing."

I want to let you know God knows what he's doing, he has a plan for you. Learn from the life of Joseph. There will be those seasons not understanding, but you have to remember that it's providence, but also you've got to remember Immanuel. Repeatedly in this text you've seen the refrain, "but God was with Joseph, but God was with Joseph." Oftentimes we don't think of Immanuel. We sing the songs "Immanuel, Immanuel", we love it. But it's Christmastime when we sing it, we're thinking about some snow and drinking something hot and warm and shopping and just chilling and cooling out.

That's when we think about Immanuel. But I want to let you know Immanuel is appropriate 12 months, 365, 24 hours a day. You can say "Immanuel, God is with us." You see the word Immanuel we see it first in Isaiah chapter 7. You know the text. Isaiah chapter 7, Isaiah is the prophet who's writing and Isaiah is reassuring the king that those who are trying to invade, Remaliah and these foreign entities, he says they will not invade you.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to give you a sign of reassurance. He said, "you see the almah, the Hebrew word there for the young woman." He said, "when she has the child, that child his name, Isaiah 7:14, shall be called Immanuel." Immanuel translated means "God is with us", literally "with us is God" from the Hebrew. He says that God is going to be with you as your enemies are trying to come against you. He's going to protect you and if you don't believe me, just wait when the child is born. The child's name is symbolic of what I'm going to do: I'm going to be right there protecting you, keeping you from your enemies. I am God who's able to shield you. I am Immanuel, I am with you.

When you find yourself in predicaments, say "Immanuel, Lord you are with us, you are with me. Immanuel." And he was with Joseph. He's with him right here in the prison. I love how the Bible repeatedly reassures us that he's with us. In Matthew 28:19, when the disciples needed some reassurance, Jesus is preparing to ascend back to the Father. He has risen and he meets with those disciples and he gives them some parting words prior to his ascension.

He sits them down, he lets them know, he says, "Go make disciples," Matthew 28:19, "of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I command you." He says, "and lo," look what he says, "I am with you always." Not sometimes, not in the good times, always. He says to the end of the age. He says there will never be a time that I'm not with you.

Guest (Male): God extends his grace to Jacob's entire family in spite of the obvious and blatant dysfunctions in their home. There's hope for our families, friends. Before we ask God to change those around us, I hope we can all be personally certain of our relationship with Jesus Christ. If you've never accepted him as your savior and Lord of your life or have doubts about your salvation, I encourage you to make certain of that today. Please write to us at info@rochecolemanministries.org or if you'd like to speak to us, our number is 346-386-4621.

And after you do so, I hope you'll find a local church to attend. If you're in the Houston or surrounding areas, please stop by the Impact Church of the Woodlands where Dr. Coleman serves as the senior pastor. Worship times on Sundays are 8:00 and 10:45 AM and the church is located at 5401 Shadowbend Place, The Woodlands, Texas, 77381. We hope you'll stop by this weekend.

In closing, our impact thought for today is: the promotion of the righteous and the wicked person comes from the Lord. God will never leave us without hope when we call to him.