God Is In Control | Walter Pearson

but there is

a power

that is working

even when you think

that nobody's watching

there are some folk who believe that

there are times

when there is no witness

but there's always a witness

praise the lord

let's just praise the lord

[Applause]

this is the breath of life television

broadcast with pastor walter l pearson

jr when god gets ready he can deliver

you if you call on him if you trust in

him

[Applause]

supposed to be down flat on your face

but the power of god will lift you up

[Applause]

[Music]

tonight we are reading from genesis

chapter 37

and there are words that i will share

with you

beginning with

verse 18.

so joseph went after his brothers and

found them

near dothan

but they saw him in the distance

and before he reached them

they plotted to kill him

here comes that dreamer they said to

each other

come now let us kill him

and throw him into one of these cisterns

and say that a ferocious animal devoured

him

then we'll see what comes of his dreams

let's bow together as we pray

father we are grateful tonight

that god does step in

we're grateful that when

seems

to have gone too far

god is mindful of us

we are never forgotten

we are never displeased

we are never

misplaced god remembers where we are and

knows our needs

now as we open thy word tonight let thy

holy spirit come

to make the word plain to us

and we shall give glory honor and praise

to thy name

for it is in the name of jesus that we

pray

amen

this

is one of those

rare events in the bible

it fits our theme so well that it's

almost unbelievable

our theme has been when god steps in

i think it's important because the fact

is that if we ever

needed god to step in before we sure do

need him now

there are situations that seem to me to

be quite unfair

and i'm afraid that the systems that

ought to be in control of fairness

have somehow broken down

and the question is always there

who is in control

and the answer is god

is in control

i uh

i look at this situation tonight and

first of all i i think that

cinematographers must be awfully jealous

because you can't find this kind of

drama anywhere

outside of the word of god

there is this

proud father

a proud father who in his

old age

has a son born in his family

the bible says that

when joseph was born

he was born at a time that brought

particular pride to jacob

and so jacob loved joseph

more than the other children

that is not

the right thing to do

sometimes there are children in a family

that remind parents of their good

attributes

and others that remind them of things

that they would not want to remember

but all of them are your children

and it's not fair but but think of it

it's understandable

as the old man walks down to the

marketplace can you imagine

what his peers must have had to say

there he is a man who has passed the age

of of having a child born but

he has a new baby in the house

and some old fellow must have said to

him man look at you

what in the world can we say about you

and jacob must have picked up his step

you know how you do sometimes and said

well don't worry about me i i'm doing

all right and there must have been a

little smile and a little twinkle in the

eyes of the friends of this father

and and perhaps it was what inclined him

to love this boy so much

but

there was

a strange situation that developed

because you cannot love one child more

without there being some kind of problem

that crops up with the other children

remember you've got

these 11 brothers

and i have only one brother but i know

that my brother and i were always

watching

to make sure that everything was done

equally

we were careful and if anything didn't

go just right we would protest

immediately can you imagine what it's

like to have 11 watching one

well

then there came

the problem that was an exacerbation

for not only was this young man of a

good temperament and uh inclined towards

god he had a righteous light that shone

from his countenance and you know if you

want to make people really mad

you let them see god shining out of you

now they say all the time that we want

to see people who are good but that's

just theory

to have somebody around who is good can

sometimes get on your nerves

because the things you want to do

they don't want to do and and when you

try to say something that's not quite on

point the look that they give you is

enough

and after a while you want to separate

from their company

this young man was of such a temperament

but now in addition to that

god gives this young man dreams

in one of the dreams uh

uh

he sees himself as

wheat or some green that is in one of

those gatherings you've seen them in

those wonderful pictures and and as he's

in the center

11 others bow down to him

now you can imagine that the brothers

were unamused

they were already convinced that he was

the favorite of their father

now

he comes with these dreams

and he says look let me tell you my

dream he has another one that even gets

his father a little concerned

he said father and and brothers and mom

let me tell you

i dreamed that my star was in the middle

and that 11 stars representing you my

brothers

and the son representing you dad

and the moon representing you mom all

bowed down to me

well you know the brothers are kind of

looking at each other with a low rumble

of complaints

this time dad is even concerned well son

i don't quite understand the dream but i

suppose if that's what you dream i i

don't want to make this a hard and fast

rule but let me suggest something to you

be careful with whom you share your

dreams

you can't tell every dream to everybody

you may think that people are just

waiting for you to tell your dream

so that they can help you you know oh

isn't that wonderful how could we help

this to come to pass

but it was not

so they were not thinking how can we

help him they were thinking

he must be out of his mind

now you would think that that's quite

enough we've got a father who loves one

child the best

we've got these dreams that have him in

the center all the time

and i think we probably got enough on

the table here but we're not finished

one day as jacob is out shopping

somewhere

he comes across

a tunic

this tunic is one that is worn by

dignitaries or royalty

it is woven

in multiple colors

but everyone knows in that economy

what the tunic means

so now

jacob comes home

but instead of bringing 12 tunics

and if you've got 12 boys you need 12

tunics

or you shouldn't buy any

but he comes with one now forgive me

but i think i've been there

and i watch now

as those brothers looking

what is that he's got

i think he's got a

little you know coat or something well

who do you think it's for

you got the nerve to ask who it's for

it ought to be for reuben one suggests

the eldest

but guess who's gonna get it

and dad takes it out and

joseph comes son

now it is not written in the word

but let me tell it

because i am now old enough to

understand human psychology

one of them said

you wait till i get here

without dad

man don't talk like that that kind of

scares me

it's going to scare you some more if i

ever get it

now now now

there comes an occasion when

the brothers are out working

65 miles from home the scholars say

and 11 have been sent away to work

but guess who got to stay home

joseph

can you imagine that trip

can you imagine the conversation

that must have gone on you know we got

to work we got to go out guess who gets

to stay home and do little namby pamby

things around the house

we're out here working with the sweat of

our brow

but little brother little cutesy joseph

gets to stay at home

and and all

these hours that went slowly by

there's a strange time of criticism

until somebody looks up and and they

gotta rub their eyes now

but in the distance

they think they see

that coat coming

come here

you know the heat can play tricks on

your eyes

look over there

do you you see what i say

yeah

is that

that's him

he's wearing that coat here

say wait a minute look see if dad is in

his dad with him

no he's coming alone

i don't know how long it took for joseph

to get from where he was

when they saw him

to where they were

but before he got there

the plan was in place that means that

they had not just started talking about

it are you still with me

because you can't make a plan as

convoluted as was theirs

in that shorter time they must have

tossed around a couple of teasers before

this happened there must have been some

scant outline of the plan before they

saw him coming and now they can't

believe it but he's on the way and when

he arrives the hatred in their heart has

come now to a boiling point

and they have decided we will put him in

an empty cistern

we will put him there and leave him

there we will take that coat of many

colors that we hate we will dip it in

the blood of some small animal a goat

probably we'll take it home after we've

torn it and made it look like some

animal ate him and we'll tell dad look

and you know you really don't have to

lie when you

when you have things like that

even though it is a lie that you

perpetrate

you can just say

dad

look what happened

and they've got it planned

but but there is

a power

that is working

even when you think

that nobody's watching

there are some folk who believe that

there are times

when there is no witness

but there's always a witness

we have learned that the one who watches

is satan himself he always watches

for he wants to know what he can get you

to do but god is also watching

and when you think that you have no help

god is there now now be careful to see

this because god could have stepped in

right there

god could have showed up in some fashion

could have sent angels could have done

anything that he chose to interrupt

their plan immediately but god does not

move on my schedule god moves on his

schedule

so now

they say let's put him in the system

when you read this in the niv

you come to understand that after they

put their brother

in this cistern down in the ground

they sat down to eat

and you thought people just got

cold-hearted

people have been mean a long time

huh

meanness is ancient

it's deep seated so don't get all bit

out of shape when somebody lays a plot

for you it's been happening a long time

but longer than plots have been put

together god has been watching

so god's power

[Applause]

lasted longer than plots

they're sitting down for a meal and as

they sit down some ishmaelites pass by

these are merchants they carry with them

myrrh and spice and bomb and they are

going now into the city they're going

into egypt and when they get there they

will sell their wares and one of them

says you know if we kill him

we don't gain anything

and why would we kill him after all

he is our brother

that sounds like some folk

who call themselves your brother and

sister in christ

they make the term brother and sister

seem almost an evil thing to say let's

not kill him he's our brother let's sell

him

let's not kill him his blood would be

upon our hands let's make him a slave

let's sell him for seven ounces of

silver

let's give him to those people and let

them take him into a foreign land and

who cares

what they do

so now they pull him out of a pit

his elder brother reuben had already

conjured up a way to save his life but

it was not to be

it would seem that god had gone to sleep

but don't ever believe that god has gone

to sleep

god is watching when you think things

have gone awry

they take him out of the system put him

on that wagon

and now joseph looks

at the land of his father

as it shrinks in his vision

as he watches

his heart falls into despondency

for he is leaving everything that he

knows

going somewhere that is unknown

to face he knows not what

so the question is what do you do

when there's nobody to call

his father had told him about the time

when he was out alone and lay down on

the ground with a rock as a pillar

and when he had a vision of angels going

up and down a ladder

most scholars agree that the latter was

significant because it represents jesus

our connection to heaven and if jesus is

the connection then you've always got

access to the power of heaven

and what god was trying to allow you

must understand

is for enough trials to come to teach

him how to lean on god for himself

instead of leaning on somebody else who

leaned on god

so

while god allowed the trial

god allowed it because

in the long term

it was good for him

now you've got to get that one

because somebody's going through

something tonight and you've already

said it why is god letting me go through

this

well you've got to understand god is not

a genie in a lamp

you don't rub and he jumps out to give

three wishes

you have seen that occur on

cartoons and television and you know

that most people mess up their wishes

anywhere

people who win the lottery turn out to

be

more poor than they were before they won

their lives are decimated ill-gotten

gain is no blessing after all but god is

not a genie who gives blessings in a

strange capricious fashion he is a

father who knows what i mean

even when i need

some hardship in my life

one writer says

that before joseph

was put in that system

he had started to be

rather exacting

he expected too much out of others

because he hadn't suffered

if you want to have a hard time

you fall into the hands of somebody who

has never had

a hard time

they can't understand

i don't know why they can't make it

i made it

i pulled myself up

by my own bootstraps

i started out with nothing

and made something of myself

they will look down their noses at you

and count you out before you can blink

your eyes because they haven't suffered

really enough but when you have gone

through some hard times

oh do you get merciful

huh

it happens

so god had to allow some some suffering

in that young man's life because he was

becoming exacting of others and

self-sufficient

because when you don't have trials

you don't know that you can't trust to

lean on yourself

if god never sent a problem too big for

you to handle you would go throughout

life under the

mis-apprehension that you can handle

anything

huh

and if you think you can handle anything

you are culturally deprived

so god had to show him there are some

things you can't handle son

and then had to take him away listen

take him away from where he was

comfortable because so long as you live

in your comfort zone there are some

things that you will never ever have to

learn because you always have resources

around

you've got mom and dad and cousins and

uncles and aunts and friends

sometimes god will take you away from

all of them so now who will you call

and after a while you will find yourself

early one morning down on your knees

with the recognition that the only one

you can call is to call on god

and you need to know that

you need to know that

so now this young man is sold into egypt

sold like

so much

i don't know what they got for him there

but whatever it was it was not enough

he was a young man who had dreams

and as you watch it see you you and i

look at this thing

we are so pompous when we read the bible

because we've already read it

you know we know how it's going to turn

out it's like somebody who's watching a

motion picture with you and you already

saw it

you know

and you're sitting there all smug

well you know

what do you think what do you think is

going to happen

well i think so now keep watching

so you're sitting here now saying

no big thing i know how it's going to

turn out but look suppose you didn't

know

wouldn't you begin to wonder where is

god

is god going to let the boy get sold as

a slave

where is god where is he now

and if god doesn't come when you need

him what good is a relationship with him

but remember that god is a father

and so he's watching

and the boy

finds his way into the house

of a prominent family in egypt

the house of lord potiphar

now

you only know the negative side because

you haven't paid attention to this other

side

but there was a blessing for joseph

even in potiphar's house

i love this part

everything that joseph touched was

blessed

and it was not a direct miracle

it was through persevering

constant effort

that god blessed everything

now that's that's important to know

because there are some people who when

they finally believe in god believe that

god will just put things there

you can just sit down and wait

what are you doing waiting on the lord

there are times when god will say wait

but the same bible that says wait on the

lord says that if you don't work you

ought not eat

so you've got to put some effort in

but for those who trust in god

and who are willing to put their hand to

excellence

god will add something

the young man comes into potiphar's

house from a foreign country a slave and

you would think that he would have

gotten an attitude

now don't get me started

but there are some of us who can explain

away everything

you know

i'm not going to work until i get a job

well i can i want to wear a shirt and a

tie

and um you know

and if i don't get a job like that i'm

going to sit right here

because you know

see i'm not gonna do that i'm not you

know i'm not cut out for that kind of

work

i'm the executive type

you better get your executive hands on a

mop or a broom

until you get some expertise amen

i don't believe that your aim ought to

be at some low job i think you ought to

aim high but you got to understand that

you don't get high by staying low with a

low attitude you got to get a winning

attitude and then work at it go to night

school

you know

turn your brain on

ask god to massage your gray matter

get all of those electric movements

going on up there pull your iq up and

and get something happening and and work

your way out of where you are it's true

that some who have worked have not made

it but you ought not stop until you try

this young man was in a house where he

couldn't you know he could have come in

in potiphar's house

i got to do what

okay you just go on

and then i'll do that

and when he leaves you think i'm gonna

work in here

i'm a slave

doing nothing

but instead he put his hand to

and when they would look at what joseph

had done

they'd have to say

how did you do that

and the answer though he may or may not

have been able to explain it verbally

was that when he put his hand to it with

effort that was persevering

god blessed that effort

and more came of it than ordinarily

would

god will do that when you are dedicated

to him and you're willing to apply

yourself

so he became trusted in potiphar's house

and in fact lord potiphar arranged it so

that there was nothing that he kept back

from joseph

save for

his wife

the devil loves to hear things like that

he says oh okay so he can have anything

but what

his wife oh okay so that means i got

only one place to work here

only one he can't have is mrs potiphar

so he goes and starts working on this

poor little lady

some scholars say that

maybe brother potiphar spent too much

time in the office

and brethren you got to be careful

amen

your wife may be ever so faithful

but you got to come home

you got to come home

you gotta gotta take a little time

you know

it is not such you know there there was

once the time when those captains of

industry you know

envisioned themselves holding the helm

at some grand ship and they didn't care

about home

that would take care of itself

but the greatest reward in life is the

joy and warmth of a family

to come home and spend time with your

wife and your family

well some suggested maybe his time was

not allocated well

but i believe that it was satan's plan

to take the one thing

that lord potiphar said he couldn't have

and make it available that's the way the

devil works

i don't care what you can have

he makes you want what you can't have

think about it

this is good preaching

all the things you can have you stop

worrying about that

it's the one thing you can't have

there are some people whose lives are

centered around what they can't have

they sit up and watch television and

that's all

got all kinds of stuff in your house got

things you don't even know how to

pronounce

but you still got your eye focused on

something you don't have

some neighbor shows up with a brand new

toy

you know a new car or some new appliance

you don't need it

but you see somebody else with it

so when the box is out there waiting for

the trash man to pick it up you pass by

and look and say uh-huh they got a new

one of those

i think i'll go down and see if i can

get one of those

why don't you learn how to be happy with

what you got you don't need a new one of

those anyhow

when you get it it'll just sit there

but but satan loves to play games with

your mind about what you don't have

so now the man can have anything in the

house but the lady

and

the devil knows what to do

he goes in there and starts talking to

sister potiphar

child you sure are

you just

you're not treated well

how could a man leave a woman like you

lonely

hour after hour

got these servants walking around here

like

that foreign boy

strong man

have you looked at his muscle

good looking fella

as far as your husband knows you might

you know

you might think about it

and all of a sudden

that light flickers off do you know

there's nothing wrong with temptation

as long as you don't fall for it

everybody gets tempted

it's one thing to have a bird light on

your head it's quite another to let him

build a nest in your hair

evidently mrs potiphar and and i want to

be very careful i i understand that one

one commentator has suggested that this

is one of the greatest uh castigations

of the female gender somebody wants to

say that because this story is written

it says terrible things about women

it says nothing more terrible about

women than all of the bad men in the

bible say about men there are some women

who are good there are some who are not

there are some men who are good and some

who are not it happens that mrs potiphar

is about to be used by the devil to work

a plan and every time the devil brings a

temptation you must not flatter yourself

to think that you are the object of his

affection you are a pawn in his game

you are not what it's about it's the

glory of god he wants to tear down

and so the the

the thing is set and and you know i've

got a couple of theories one of my

theories is that mrs potiphar might have

been quite alluring

and that joseph might have found himself

uh unable to look away for a moment but

he prays because he understands in fact

one of my favorite bible commentators

suggests that in that house joseph

worshiped the god jehovah openly because

had he not been open he would have

fallen much sooner it was a 10 year

period that he spent in that house and

he stayed on god's side because he

openly declared himself he was god's

child

so if she was alluring that's one thing

but i've learned something

men

we must admit and and i don't want this

to sound

in any way slightly to women

but

when you see that a woman is quite

attractive

we know to be careful you

bring the shields up

of that

there's nothing wrong with that brother

you got to know when to be careful

turn to the wall

pray

amen

in fact don't worry about how dignified

you look leave

go

this is not a game

when joseph finds himself in the

situation he will say i cannot do this

thing and sin against my god

it's not about you lady

this is against my god

so i suggested maybe

she she perhaps was not so

alluring

you know when

a woman is not so obviously attractive

maybe you

nice lady but i would never fall

let him that thinks

that he stands

huh

you better be careful

ladies you got to be careful these days

amen

brethren have always been like this this

is this is a new phenomenon when you

read this in the bible you are shocked

this is a long time ago it's it's

amazing for a woman to be

so assertive

this is amazing this is amazing piece of

literature but these days if we wrote

this very same thing it would not be

notable

because our morals are being set not by

the word of god

but by our television screens

and anything happens on television

if the people

who created television programs

owned heaven

then you could be very comfortable doing

what they suggest

and know that you would have a place

reserved for you in the kingdom

but heaven will not

will not be governed

by the morals of people who put

television shows on the air

god is a god of principle

so maybe she was attractive maybe she

was not it really doesn't make any

difference

i have been to egypt they have told me

that the man controls the office but the

woman controls the home

there's every reason to believe that mrs

potiphar was the one who made the

determination to send everybody else

away and have joseph there

alone

and it was in that

tense situation

when a slave boy

in a foreign country

would have done himself a favor

apparently to have done what this woman

said

when he said i cannot

say well you may be sorry you know

because

i have certain

power

you understand that

not only might it accrue to your good to

do this but it

might cause you a problem if you don't

if you get my drift

well i understand what you're saying but

you see

i've been trusting in my god this far

and if you don't mind

i'll keep on

oh you will

oh you will

you will

what is my husband gonna think when he

comes home and finds my clothes torn

and knowing that only you were here

well that's the times folk when you got

to decide whose side you are

well lady i don't know what's going to

happen but i

i'm going to stay on god's side

lord potiphar comes back and you know i

i wonder what that was like

because husbands and wives know things

you know lord potiphar listens

and i'm sure it was an academy award

performance

wait a minute

well did anything happen no but

you should have been here

and all of a sudden this

this scenario is conjured up

and joseph

goes to jail

when is god

going to step in

when is he going to step in

surely if you stand up for god in a

situation like this surely

he won't let you go to jail

when

if ever will god step in

and if god allows you to go to prison

for a crime that you did not commit must

you still have a positive

attitude

i believe

that the pit

was good for joseph and that's the only

reason god allowed it

i believe that the trip away from home

was good for joseph and that's the only

reason why god allowed i believe that

the experience in lord potiphar's house

was good for joseph and that's the only

reason god allowed

but i somehow believed that the jail

was for the glory

of

god think with me for a minute

if joseph goes from lord potiphar's

house to the palace

down at the golf course won't they say

have you heard what happened with that

young man joseph

no i i didn't

what happened

he said wait a minute let me what does

it no let me tell you

they i understand that he was in lord

part of his house everything he touched

turned to gold

and and i think it just shows how

liberal our society is that a young man

from a foreign nation could go from lord

potiphar's house to the palace isn't it

wonderful i i feel better about us as a

society don't you

no one would have thought

and so if he had gone from lord

potiphar's house

god might never have gotten the glory

so god said let me show you what i can

really do

i'll let him go to jail

first of all i'll show you who he is

god does not allow trials to come to us

to show him

who we are he already knows

god allows trials to come to us to show

us

who we are

so now in jail is he going to change his

attitude now no

joseph goes into the prison for a crime

that he did not commit and says fellas

let's

lighten this thing up a little bit in

here

my lord what

can't we do something what do you

believe in here we don't believe in

anything well i believe in god jehovah

well he let you come to prison yeah but

don't worry about it

he got it under control

when he gets ready he'll take care of it

oh well you know i don't know why you

got to believe in something why don't

you try my god

and now all of a sudden he changes the

atmosphere in the prison so that instead

of it being a dark terrible place the

light of god begins to shine through

this devoted young man so that even

prisoners are beginning you know

place ain't that bad

kind of glad i met him

one day they see another element of

god's power

you remember the the butler and the

baker have these dreams

you know the baker's got his dream with

the baskets and the bread

and and you know you know and then he's

got the wine the the grapes and that

stuff and the birds

and he says uh i've been wondering i had

a dream i don't know what it means he

said well my god

sometimes can

tell dreams and and now comes comes the

the other dream and it's it's about

pressing the grapes into the cup and

these these symbols don't seem to mean

anything you and i dream these dreams

all the time when we eat the wrong thing

late at night

but god is allowing this to happen

so that he can show

to this baker

you won't make it in three days

your

life will be cut off and the birds will

consume your flesh but to the butler he

says in three days you will serve

pharaoh

and and if it be so

kind of remember me when you're there

two years pass

you would think that joseph would

certainly get bitter now

but he keeps his positive spirit because

joseph knows something that you and i

are trying to learn right now

that is that god doesn't come on your

time schedule

but he comes at a perfect time

so now what will be done

that comes a strange dream to pharaoh

seven skinny cows

eat up seven fat ones and don't get fat

don't you wish diets worked that way

seven thin ears of corn

eat seven full ones and don't get any

bigger

and pharaoh calls all of those people

who are assigned uh go and get the uh

bring

bring the diviners you know bring the

regular falcon

tell you the dream what do you think oh

lord pharaoh we are

we think that uh we would like to have

some time

well i i want to know what they say well

we'll come up with something while they

are about to come up with it

this butler remembers

ah praise god for the memory

it's not pharaoh i

i don't mean to uh

to be out of the way but there is a

gentleman a slave

who

is able to tell dreams

his name is joseph

you wouldn't perchance mean the one who

gave that trouble to lord potiphar well

the very one but

i would want you to understand that they

were extenuating circumstances with that

if if your highness would simply call

him

that would be nothing to lose

and now

you begin to watch what god can do

allow me if you will

to put it

in a dramatic fashion

god knows the end

from the beginning

with god

yesterday today and tomorrow

are the same

god moves without reference to time as

we know it you and i are limited to time

but god is not

so that god holds the future and the

past in his hands

god can move into the future and adjust

things

according to his will

so that god had the power

to move seven years

ahead

huh

and turn the rain

on

think about it

move seven years ahead of that

and turn it off

so you got seven years with no rain

and seven years

with rain

and he plays it in reverse fashion

so that there will be seven years of

plenty

and then there will be seven years of

famine

and god simply rearranges it so that

in his hand

there's a scenario

that he can put in joseph's heart

so in other words

he goes down into the future

changes the pattern of rain

and then comes back to his servant

joseph who needs to get out of prison

and says here's the key

[Applause]

in

in egypt before the oswan dam

the water was controlled by a system

of dikes

but it was not all that

well done

so when the rainy season came if the

rains came too high they would go in and

destroy the houses and flood the crops

if the rain came too low it would not

come far enough to water the crops

in the middle of that

the water would come just close enough

to water the crops but not destroy the

houses

and god

simply adjusted the rain so that they

would have seven years of rain

and then seven years of famine

now he tells the whole story to joseph

and joseph gets the call now from

pharaoh

from a butler who finally remembered

shaves himself

getting ready to go

and see the king

do i have any clothes left

presentable

where you going i'm going to see the

king

what you going for joseph they're not

going to let you out of here you never

know

now he goes

yes sir what what is your dream well

there were the seven fat cows that ate

to seven skin and the seven lodges

if you'll allow me sir

i know a god

do you know you got to be careful to

give credit to god

i know a god who can divine things in

the future who knows the end from the

beginning

and i want to suggest to you that the

seven

thin

cows

represent a drought that's going to be

down in your future but the seven large

ones will be consumed by it you will

have rain

so much that everything will be fine and

then you'll have seven years when you'll

have not enough to make it the corn

represents the same thing so i want to

suggest to you that if you take 20 from

those good years and put it aside you

will have enough to get you through the

family

he said so you've not only told me what

the dream means but what i ought to do

and when the young man goes back to his

prison cell

the king says what what what would we do

now in a situation when we need an

administrator

to be over a situation like this

and like a light coming on in the back

of his head

god arranges

that a man in a foreign country

who's been accused of a heinous crime

who's been in jail

and you know when you get that on your

record you can't make it

but god had to show you

that he can allow your record to be

tarnished and ruined

and if you trust in him

he can still bring you out

because that's what happens

when god steps in

first corinthians chapter 1 read down

about the end of that chapter around 26

it says that god has chosen the simple

things to confound the wise

god has chosen the base things to

confound the mighty

god has to take situations like this to

prove to us that he is god

if you let him go from one high place to

the other everybody would have said it

is unnatural and so god allowed him to

sink down to the dregs

of society

and if you'd been there you'd have said

it he'll never make it now foreigner

slave accused of rape

in jail

forget him

never make it

there are people right now

whose society looks at and says

never make it

[Music]

walter pearson believes that jesus

christ is the answer to every problem

you face

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is

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[Applause]

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us

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