SE ONLINE | How to Handle Temptation | Trip Lee | 11:30am Service

Hey Southeast fam, welcome to Camp Freedom.  My name is Jana and I'm here with my friends   Grant and Macy. Y'all, what can people do  if they want to learn more about Southeast?   Just connect to 733733. You can sign  up for for groups and ask for prayer. We want to hear from you. Say hi in  the chat. We're glad you're here.   Yes, I think it's safe to say the Camp Freedom  is our favorite camp of the summer. This weekend   is especially designed for our Shine friends to  safely come together and learn about Jesus over   the weekend here at Country Lake in a way that  matches the uniquely and wonderful way that God   designed them. Macy, what is your favorite thing  about Camp Freedom? My favorite thing about Camp   Freedom is making new friends, making crafts,  and do the awesome time. I love that. And Grant,   what have you learned from camp so far? My  favorite thing about learning at camp is being   over there having fun with friends and most of  all would love to be here at Camp Freedom. Thank   you all. That is awesome. Well, right after this,  we're going to go over and head to Country Lakes   Worship Center for our Sunday service. You all  will head to Blank and Baker. And today we're   going to hear from our good friend Tripley  on how to handle temptation from the story   of Joseph in Genesis. You guys know what time  it is? It's time to We will see you there.

All the words your hat. Who am I to you in love? Let alone accept my  praise. Creations tell the story. The ashes   back to grace. Every breath is a beginning.  So I'll be turning back with praise. Let all   the earth his name. How great is your  way. No other name deserves our praise. But y how could I not standing? Yeah. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Won't you be faithful, holy, strong? All creation shout.  There's no one like our God. None   more Jesus. All creation shout. There's  no one like our God. Holy strong mighty   all creation shout. There's no  righteous for all creation sha strong and mighty. All creation shious.

All creation. There's no one. Heat. Heat. Heat. Go away. Heat. Heat. We just want to thank you, Lord.

We gave you words. All my words won't show. I've got  nothing to do. How could I express all my gratitude? I could sing these songs as I often  do when every song must stand and you so I praise you again and Yeah.

And I know it's not much and nothing else for  a king except for heart singing hallelujah. Hallelujah. I got one with my arms wide. I will worship you.  Oh, I love my hands. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat.

I want to give you praise. I want to lift you higher highly forever  and always deserve it all. Come on,   we sing my soul. Don't you shine on the end  of your song. You got a lion inside of those. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Hallelujah.

So I'll throw up my hands. I'll praise you  again and again. Cuz all that I have is a high. And we know it's not much.  We've nothing else fit for you,   King. Except for our hearts singing hallelu. Hallelujah. We'll praise you for all eternity, Lord. Oh, get glory in our lives. Let us believe in you.

When did I start to forget all of the great things you did? When did  I throw away faith for the impossible? How did I start to believe? You weren't  sufficient for me. And why do I talk   myself out of seeing miracles? Help  us believe. You are more than able. Oh yes, you are father. You are more than able. Oh, I've seen it.  I know. Yes, you are. You are more than beyond what I can understand. You are more than  able. Oh, who am I to deny what the Lord can do?

tonight. I see all that I have. Oh, I've got my confidence. Watch the one who does mirror. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

What the love? What the He's going to  just let the way through. He's going to do the pain. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. I can't do. Yeah. I love you, Lord. We know you're  good, Lord. You are more than able. You're so aable. You are more than able.

We've seen it in our lives, Lord.  Yes, you are. You are more than able beyond what we can see. You've done  it. You'll do it. You are more than   able. And who am I to deny what the Lord can do. God, we worship you today. To the one  who can do exceedingly more than we   can ask or imagine. We thank you and we love you, God. God, we bring everything to you today  with whatever we walked in here with today,   God. Whatever brokenness, whatever  hurting, God, whatever we're seeking,   Lord, you are there. You are our  provider, our comforter, our healer,   our protector, and anything we  need can be found in you, God.

We are expecting for how you're  going to work in our lives today,   God. And we ask that we leave here changed, Lord. We will forever praise your name. And  everybody said, "Amen." Amen. Church,   let's take a seat together and  we'll take a look at the screens. Hey, Southeast family. As we continue in our  study of Genesis, I am glad to tell you that   Trip Lee is here with us this weekend. He'll be  back with us the weekend after next. If you have   heard Trip before, you know this is a man who  loves God's word. Every time I hear him teach,   I walk away with a fresh insight into scripture.  I know today will be no different. So,   open your Bibles, grab your notebooks,  and welcome Trip as he comes to preach. Good morning.

How's everybody doing this morning? Good. Good.  Well, I'm I'm excited to get to be here with you   this morning again. Um uh every time I get to  come here, I'm I'm grateful. Uh even though I   don't know everybody here, um something that's an  encouragement to me is when I hear these songs we   sing, um you're singing about a God who is  more than able. And I think that's that's my   God. And we're singing about a a savior who  who saves from sins. I'm like, wait, wait,   that's my savior. And and scriptur is really  clear. There's one Lord, one faith, one baptism.   So So even though I don't know many of you, um  I feel like we're family. um we're brothers and   sisters under the same Lord. And so I'm grateful  to get to be here and serve you. Thank you,   Pastor Kyle, for inviting me and for the kind  words. And um yeah, I want to get into God's   word. I I told the service before one of the ways  I know that um that yeah, there's some trust being   built with me coming here time and time again  is they just threw me right in the series they   were preaching. And um you know, normally people  like, "Oh, you can do whatever you They're like,   "No, you're going to preach Genesis 39, and we  trust that you'll do a fine job." And so, I'm I'm   grateful for that opportunity. So, let me pray  and ask the Lord to give us grace. Uh, Father,   we we come before you again in Jesus' name. Um,  we're grateful to sing to you as more than able,   Father, because we we see so many ways that we  we try to do things and our own strength and our  

strength fails. and we're so grateful to um have  access to a father whose power is unlimited. So   even in this moment, God, we need you and we pray  you would speak to us from your word. Father, we   pray you give us open hands. There's something we  are distracted by, we pray you would hope, help us   to be able to focus in on what you've said. Help  me not to say anything you haven't said. And we   pray your spirit would guide us. We ask in Jesus  name. Amen. Amen. Well, this morning I want to   talk to you about resisting temptation. I want to  talk to you about resisting temptation. And I want   to start with a to by telling you a story. It's  it's something that I I I had heard about before,   but I came across last week. I was reading  just an old profile of a former politician.   I'm not going to mention his name because I'm not  I don't want us to be distracted by his politics,   what we think about him. That's not really what  I'm interested in. But in his profile, they   talked about something that had happened to him.  So, um before he was uh serving as a politician,   he was in the military and he was a pilot. And so,  he was on one of these flights as a pilot and his   plane was shot down. And so as soon as his plane  got shot, he ejected himself from the plane. And   as soon as he hit that eject button, the force was  so strong that it broke two of his arms and one of  

his legs, which was already incredibly painful.  And so he he fell to the ground and he fell in a   body of water. And it's in the middle of an enemy  city. And so people in that city see this enemy   pilot fall to the ground in the water. They run  and they pull him out of the water with his three   broken limbs and they continue to beat him more  and he's captured. Someone else stabs him in the   groin with a bayonet and they take him prisoner  and they put him in solitary confinement in what   is about the space of a box and they keep him  there and they continue to torture him and they   try to get information from him. And then they  figure out that his dad has been promoted um to to   to some new authority in in the military and they  say, "Okay, well, if we can, you know, let him go,   then maybe that'll work well for us." And so  they offer him the chance like, "Hey, you can   be freed." And he says, "No." And and they said,  "Well, why would you say no?" And he said, "Well,   well, usually with with prisoners of war, what's  supposed to happen is whoever was captured first   gets to be released first." Now, the person who  was writing about this was saying, "I know it's   hard for us to believe that politicians care about  anybody but themselves." And they but he said,   "No matter what you think about what this man  has to say, we at least see that he can be driven   by something other than his own self-interest."  because after he said no, he was sent right back   to that box and his ribs were broken and he was  there in solitary confinement being tortured for  

four more years. Now, when you hear something like  that, you think, what would drive someone to have   the opportunity to get relief, to get something  that would interest them and to turn it down?   Because what we know is we are normally driven in  the decisions we make by self-interest, by what   feels good to us in the moment. And we know this  to be true. We experience this in the morning when   our alarm goes off and we hit the snooze button.  You didn't hit the snooze button because it was a   good idea. You did it because it felt good in the  moment and you convinced yourself that if you had   five more minutes, then maybe it would solve all  your problems. This is how human beings normally   make decisions. What feels best in the moment? Our  own self-interest. And there are so many decisions   that are put in front of us each and every day.  But here's one of the problems with that is the   God who created us wants something better for  us with our decision-m with everything that's in   front of us. He wants more for us than just what  feels best to us in the moment. So for someone   like that that soldier to decide even though this  isn't what's going to feel good, I'm going to make   this decision. There has to be some higher reality  or or some value of his that seemed bigger to him   than how he felt in the moment. The the story  we're going to look at today is looking at the   life of of Joseph. That's the series that y'all  have been in. I'm excited about that cuz Joseph   is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. His  life is crazy. If someone wrote a movie like this,  

they'd be like, "This isn't believable." But  Joseph uh born the youngest. He was the beloved   by his father, chosen by God, sold into slavery,  and yet God is still with him through it all. And   one of the things I love about it too is sometimes  we think of the Bible as this perfect book with   these perfect characters making perfect decisions  when in reality what we find in the Bible is a is   really about a perfect God loving imperfect  people with very imperfect lives. And that's   a comfort to me cuz I am an imperfect man with an  imperfect life. And I need that perfect God. One   of the things about this imperfect life that  the Bible reminds us of is that this world is   just full of temptations. All these decisions  in front of us. And the way I'm going to defi   define temptation for today is an invitation to  go the wrong way. Almost like we're walking in   a particular direction on the right path and  someone is inviting us to take wrong turns.   all the time. Almost like when my 5-year-old is  sitting on the couch with me eating a snack or   at the table and I'm like, "Hey, take this trash  and walk to that trash can." You would think it   was 30 miles away. The way he gets distracted with  each step. I'm like, "That Lego has been there for   4 days. Why are you just noticing it?" Temptation  is for us everywhere. And one of the problems with   that is because we're sinners, our hearts long  for things that God tells us are not good for us.

And God wants more for us than when those  decisions are in front of us. Just deciding what   feels good in the moment. And it is a hard road  to walk. God has called us to faithfulness and   and and it's for our good. So So one may ask then,  how can we stay faithful to this God? But if he's   pointing us in a direction for good, how can we  stay faithful to him in the midst of temptation?   And I think we have a great example here in  the life of Joseph. And the main point today,   I think, is this. When God is with you, no  enemy is too big. The temptations may seem big,   the enemies may seem big, but when God is with  you, no enemy is too big. And I love how we'll   get to see this in this story about Joseph.  The way we'll look at it is we'll look at   uh before the temptation, during the temptation,  and then after the temptation. All right, y'all   still with me? All right, so let's start there.  Number one, before the temptation. Have you ever   um like witnessed the exact moment where the tide  turns for someone and things start to go their   way? I witnessed this recently while watching the  NBA finals and I was pulling for the Spurs. And um Greg Papovic is here today. Uh no, I I was pulling  for the Spurs and um and in game four I'm like,   "Oh yes, y'all got they're up 27." I mean, they  really they're showing they're the superior team.   They got it. And then at a point I was like,  "Uh-oh." Because it seemed like all of a sudden  

everything was going the Knicks way. They were  making every shot. They like sneezed and got seven   points for that. everything you could imagine,  just everything was working and the Spurs,   everything was going wrong for them. This is kind  of what's happening with Joseph at this point.   He had been sold into slavery by his brothers and  and then he ends up in a new place and then every   single thing starts to go right for him. Let's  read um Genesis chapter 39 and I'm going to start   reading at verse one. And you know, there's a  lot of a lot of verses here, so stick with me.   Genesis 39, I'm gonna start reading at verse  one. is what God's word says. Now Joseph had   been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Piper, an  officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards   bought him from the IshRaelites who had brought  him there. The Lord was with Joseph and he became   a successful man serving in the household of his  Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord   was with him and that the Lord made everything  he did successful, Joseph found favor with his   master and became his personal attendant. Potterer  also put him in charge of his household and placed   all that he owned under his authority. From the  time that he put him in charge of his household   and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the  Egyptians house because of Joseph. The Lord's   blessing was on all that he owned in his house  and in his fields. He left all that he owned under   Joseph's authority. He did not concern himself  with anything except the food he ate. We can stop   there. And I want you to imagine this because what  we can learn from the text is that Joseph was only  

17 years old at this time. So he's been betrayed  by his brothers, sold into slavery, a teenager in   a new place in a new culture and a new language.  You would think that he would crumble under this   pressure. I mean, for some of us, think about  what you were like at 17. We were struggling   to navigate the hallways of our high school.  Meanwhile, Joseph somehow was flourishing under   this kind of stress. And it's because there was  something very special going on in Joseph's life.   The Lord was with him. And when the Bible says  that the Lord is with somebody, it doesn't just   mean that God is there. It means more than that.  For an example, if uh there was a kid who a bully   told him, "Hey, I'm going to beat you up after  school in the parking lot." Obviously, the kid   is very scared and say he goes to his teacher and  he's like, "Hey, Miss Johnson." He said he's going   to beat me up in the Can you come to the parking  lot after school so I can be safe? And let's say   Miss Johnson comes to the parking lot after school  and watches him get beat up. Well, you would say,   "Well, thank you, Miss Johnson, that you were with  me. Unfortunately, you didn't do anything." When   the Bible says that God is with us, it doesn't  just mean that he's there because God is present   everywhere. He's omnipresent. Present everywhere  all the time. But it also means that God will work   on our behalf according to his purpose. Means his  hand is on us. He his favor is on us. And that's   exactly what we see here with Joseph that it says  the Lord is with him. Uh and what happens verse  

two, he prospered. Ends up working his way up the  ranks. Piper puts him in charge of everything. And   it says everything in Piper's house was going  great because Joseph was with Piper, but mostly   because God was with Joseph. God's presence,  his favor makes a difference. When God decides   on something, that is what is going to happen.  Think about us. When we decide something, we we   we got to strategize. We think about threats and  risks, but nothing is up in the air like that with   God. Some of us have big plans for how our life  will go well and we'll live a satisfied life and   it maybe it hinges on something like getting that  promotion or finishing that degree or finding that   spouse and we think, "Oh, that's the key. If only  I had that thing. When I get that, everything will   be good." But but I want to tell you that those  things are not the key that you think they are.   Those things are fickle. Maybe those things will  never come. What good is that degree when they're   not hiring in your field or when you're too sick  to work or when the people you're dependent,   those things are not strong enough to hold all of  our hopes and dreams. But God's favor on the other   hand makes all the difference. Um, some of those  things we hope in are limited in how they can help   us. The favor of God is not limited. Nothing goes  well unless God decides he will. The Psalms say,   "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor  labor in vain, God's will is always the deciding  

factor." And that's very important for us to know.  Joseph had amazing favor with his boss and he was   doing his job with excellence. And his his boss  saw that the Lord is the one whose success is in   his hands. Now, you may say, Trip, what does that  have to do with temptation? I'm pointing out this   part of the story because this is the backdrop for  how Joseph sees the temptation that's coming to   him. Everything looks different when the Lord of  Lords is with you. And what we know from scripture   is if we are in Jesus, then God is with us. That  God has promised even when hard things show up in   our lives that he's going to work it for our good.  And that changes how we receive things. It also   changes how we hear his commandments. To give you  one example, when my oldest son was really little,   he would sometimes do this thing where he wanted  to stand on his dresser and jump off and fly like   Batman. Many problems with that. One, Batman  don't even fly. So, bad first step. Two, his   little baby legs could not withstand that force.  And so, I'm now it's a negotiation. I'm like,   "Hey, Q. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't jump off  of there." He's like, "But dad, this will be fun."   So now I'm starting to try to tell him my  track record so he can trust me. I'm like,   "Hey, I know more than you." I'm like, "You  know, it's me, Dad." You know, I'm always, we   always playing games and having fun. Games I don't  even really want to play, but we doing it. Don't   always come through with the special treats, the  goldfish, not even regular ones. Flavor blasted,  

extra cheesy, like it's me. I'm reminding him of  my track record that I am trustworthy and wise.   God's track record in your life is absolutely  perfect. Right? Jo Joseph by the time the   temptation has come up, he's already experienced  the favor of a God that is stronger than any enemy   or circumstance that's been put in front of him.  And friends, that is the exact same situation you   find yourself in. A God who every good and perfect  gift you've ever received is from God himself.   And in Romans 8 where it says um that uh God will  work all things together for the good of those who   are loved uh who love him and called according  to his purpose. That's you. So the way that God   has committed himself to Joseph's good, even in  the midst of difficulty, he has done the same   for you. And that should change how you hear  his commands. His track record is absolutely   perfect. If God is with you, then no enemy is  too big. That's clear before the temptation.   Let's look at number two. During the temptation,  there are times in our lives where we felt it   where we feel like in order to succeed or to have  favor with other people, we have to kind of go   along with the current. And that's not a good  feeling if we're followers of Jesus. I remember   talking to a friend of mine who was a teacher and  she was saying she resented the fact that the only   team building that the the staff at her school  did was going out for happy hour from time to   time. and she resented feeling like she had to get  drunk with her co-workers in order to team build.  

There will be so many times where where it seems  like the there are there's an invitation to go   the wrong way. That's the key to other kinds of  success in our life. That's about to happen for   for Joseph. His story is taking a crazy turn.  Look with me at verse 6. Genesis 39:6 it says,   "Now Joseph was wellbuilt and handsome. After some  time, his master's wife looked lovingly at Joseph   and said, "Sleep with me." But he refused. "Look,"  he said to his master's wife, "with me here,   my master does not concern himself with anything  in his house, and he's put all that he owns under   my authority. No one in his house is greater than  I am. He's withheld nothing from me except you   because you are his wife. So, how could I do this  immense evil, and how could I sin against God?"   Although she spoke to Joseph day after  day, he refused to go to bed with her.   We'll stop there. Now, Joseph was clearly  a a good-looking dude. It says it right   here in the Bible. He's well-built and  handsome. Imagine if somebody tried to   tell you wasn't good-looking. I was like, "Well,  actually, God's inspired word says otherwise."

Well, so his master's wife has noticed and  you know, I don't know how it happened,   but one day she looked over, she was  like, "Man, Joseph look kind of good." And she was very bold in her approach.  She is straightforward. She just says,   "Sleep with me." Now, Joseph may be thinking,  "Things were just starting to go good." That's   how it can feel for us sometimes. Like things are  just starting to go the way we want them to and   new temptations pop up and new difficulties do and  that can be very discouraging. So then Joseph is   left to decide things are going well. Do I want  to rock the boat by resisting or move forward? It   had to be hard for him. One thing it says is this  wasn't a one-time offer. It says she spoke to him   about this day after day. She wouldn't stop. She  kept pouring it on. Some of us may think sometimes   that if we are trying to follow God, that means  all the difficulty will be taken away. We won't   have to face temptation. I am sorry to tell you  that wasn't even true of Jesus himself. In fact,   sometimes your obedience will bring about more  temptation around you. The other thing is if   you're only strong enough to resist temptation  one time, then I am worried for you. Because   temptation usually doesn't just knock once and  then take no for an answer. So, we actually have   to trust this God because it's going to be  difficult. Now, for Joseph, we don't know if   he found her attractive or not, but I imagine this  would have been tempting because Pterer, this rich  

man, he probably could have had his pick of any  woman he wanted. He probably had a beautiful wife,   Joseph, of course, is not married. This probably  was enticing. Not only that, he knew this could   be used against him. This is his his master's  wife. She has power over him. Not only that,   he probably could have gotten away with it cuz it  says she waited till the house was cleared one of   these times. And Piper didn't even pay attention  to what Joseph did. He trusted him so much. Also,   like many of us do, Joseph could have said, "But  I've been through a lot. I deserve something nice.   It feels good." Or he could have said, "Look  how successful I am. I'm the man now. I deserve   this." But none of these are the way that Joseph  responded. It says in verse 8, but he refused.   Again, what would make someone when an invitation  for relief comes their way to say no? Well,   he gives the reason. He says, "Look, with me here,  my master doesn't concern himself with anything   in his house. He's put all that he owns under my  authority. No one in this house is greater than   I am. He's withheld nothing from me except you  because you were his wife. So, how could I do   this immense evil?" We have Joseph here obeying  the great commandment before Jesus ever called it   that. One thing he's doing is loving his neighbor,  right? He's pointing to the effect it would have   on his master. And he lists all these reasons it  would be terrible for him to do that. And for us   too often when we're facing temptation, we're only  thinking about the the stress it brings upon us,  

but we're not thinking about how it would affect  others. Joseph is saying, "How could I do this   wicked thing to him?" Sometimes we imagine that  God's commands are just some random rule book when   really it is loving guidance that lead guidance  that leads us to wholeness and joy because sin   is not something randomly he called bad. It is  actually destructive. It is actually poisonous.   It is cancerous. It is a a flame that will burn  everything down. It is not to be played with.   Sometimes we'll hear about these wildfires that  will break out somewhere often in California and   you know there's devastation and damage and  then they'll try to get to the bottom of it.   What started it and often it'll be like one  match or one cigarette and once the flame has   gone it's hard to control all the damage and the  devastation. And I want you to know that is like   sin. Sin cannot be easily controlled. We think  sometimes that we can give in and then control   the damage when the truth is you are not going to  be the only one that is hurt. There's damage and   devastation that goes far beyond you. One of  the things we should think about with our sin   when we give into temptation or not is how it's  going to affect those around us. Our friends,   our family, our co-workers, those we trust. I  have talked to so many brothers who wished they   could take back one horrible decision because  they look around and that flame has burnt down   everything around them. And God loves us so  much that he's saying instead of the stress  

that comes with trying to put out that fire,  how about you don't even strike the match? But then Joseph says something else that may  be unexpected because not only does he say how   could he sin against his master, he also says,  "How could I sin against God?" This God who's   been with him. Somebody may say, "But wait, when  do we bring God into this equation? This part,   this isn't God's wife. Why Why does God has big  things to worry about? Why is he worried about   what's happening in this household?" Well, let me  let me give you an example. the there's only one   video game I really play. I play with my son. It's  NBA 2K. And I'm very good at it. Uh frighteningly   good. And every time me and my son play, I destroy  him. You know, he's I'm trying to build character   in him by beating him by 20 points every time and  talking trash. Anyway, so so let's say you invite   me to your house to play NBA 2K. All right?  And let's say you beat me. Would never happen,   but hypothetically. Let's say you beat me. I know  this is so unrealistic, but just stick with me.   And I'm so mad I'm so mad that you beat me that  I rip your PlayStation out the wall and I kick   it and then I punch a hole through your TV and  then I'm like, all right, I feel better. See you   later. And what if you like, Trip, I I thought  we were friends. Why would you do that to me?   And what if I said, I didn't do anything to you.  I did something to your PlayStation and your TV.   You would probably say, "But those are mine and  and I bought that TV so I could watch it and that  

PlayStation so I could play it and now I can't do  what it's meant for." So, of course, that would   be something I did to you. What the Bible says  is the earth is the Lord's and all that's in it.   Everything belongs to God and that God made things  in creation for particular purposes. So there is   no person that I can sin against where it is not  a personal offense against the very God that made   them and loves them. Amen. Who they belong to.  And especially as someone who's been purchased   by the blood of Jesus. My body belongs to him.  There is no sin that is not a personal offense   against God. God is not being petty taking it  personally. It is a personal offense against him.   Joseph understands that and he's saying this God  who's been so good to me, I cannot sin against.   So family, you what should we do when we find  temptation showing up at our doorstep? We got a   few lessons here from how Joseph responds. Verse  10, let's look again. He says, "And though Jo   uh she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused  to go to bed with her or even be with her. One   day he went into the house to attend to his  duties and the household servants was inside.   She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to  bed with me." But he left his cloak in her hand   and ran out of the house. One of the things we  notice is his responses kind of escalate. First,   he refuses, then he avoids her, and then we  see him trying to escape. So, just just three   lessons that we can we can learn from how Joseph  responds. The first one is this. You can refuse.

One of the lies of sin, one of sin's best lies,  temptation is convincing you that you have no   freedom to actually say no. There are sometimes  when temptation is in front of us and it feels   like we have to give in or it's inevitable, so we  might as well. Now, that is a lie. You are never   in too deep to resist. What scripture says is if  you're in Jesus, you've been freed from slavery to   sin. Sin is not your master. It cannot tell you  what to do. Yes. One of the amazing things that   happens too when we resist temptation is it helps  to show us that we can resist temptation. When the   alternative is this shame cycle of feeling like  we have to over and over again. One thing I'd   like you to keep in mind too is that your fight  against temptation is not a solo fight. I would   encourage some of us when that temptation is in  front of us. We feel like we have no no option but   to give in. Make a phone call. Call somebody and  say, "Hey, here's what's going on. Can you help   me?" What God knows that it is hard to follow hard  after him and he's given us one another to help in   that fight. You can refuse. Number two that we're  learning from Joseph is you can't avoid. It says   he refused to go to bed with her or even be with  her. He is avoiding this lady like the plague.   He's social distancing. He is allergic to her  presence. I do not want to see her. Some of us,   we don't want to get burned by the fire, but  we do want to stand right outside the door  

and sniff the fumes or just touch the hot door  knob just a little bit. And one of the reasons   is because we trust ourselves far too much.  We think I'm going to tiptoe up to the line   and I'm so strong that I will never step over it  or I'll be around I I will just take in a number   of those invitations to go the wrong way and  I'm so strong I will refuse them each time. You   are lying to yourself. You are denying what the  Bible says about the nature of the human heart.   We are vulnerable. Not only is poison being  offered to us, but we have a taste for poison. You have to be honest and realistic about what you  like. I I want to encourage you to avoid. It is   not cowardly to avoid situations that would tempt  you. It is courageous and faithful. I ask my wife   not to buy Dr. Pepper because if it's in my house,  I will drink it. And I won't just drink one,   I will drink all of them. I remember talking to  an older man. He was in his late 50s and he was   asking for prayer for lust and temptation and  it was like 15 years ago and I was like wait   what I was like wait I thought we would  be past that by this point. It was very   foolish of me. What he understood is no  matter how old we are, how mature we are,   we are vulnerable and we should live with that  in mind. Third lesson we see from him right  

right here is you can run. Joseph does not sit  down with her and talk about it. He doesn't call   HR. He fled. So should you. You should run. You  should escape. You should flee. Listen to these   other passages that talk about fleeing sin. 1  Timothy 6 6:11. You man of God, flee from these   things and pursue righteousness. Because he says  that, you know, many have wandered away from the   faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.  1 Corinthians 6:18, flee sexual immorality.   2 Timothy 2, flee from youthful passions and  pursue righteousness. 1 Corinthians 10, flee from   idolatry. Some things are so dangerous that you  run. You run away. You hear loud bangs in public,   you run. You see somebody you don't know running  after you, you run. I do have a family full of   people who run when it's not really a situation  to run. Everybody's scared of bugs in my family   illogically. I remember early on in my marriage,  I came home and my wife was in our basement just   standing at the bottom of the stairs. I'm like,  "Babe, what are you doing?" She was like, "Oh,   it's a bug at the top of the stairs." I said,  "How long have you been standing down there?"   She was down there for over an hour just waiting  for me to come home. I'm like, "You can't sneak   by. If there's like a buzz of a fly and we're all  outside, everybody starts running and ducking for   cover." My son sometimes will come inside from  playing basketball. I'm like, "Oh, I thought you   was hooping." He's like, "Oh, there's a a bee in  the next town over." I'm like, "Can y'all relax?"

There are some things there. It's like, "It's  not that serious. Just leave them alone and   they'll leave you alone." This is not the case  with sin. It is that serious. It will not leave   you alone. It will keep knocking. So, we should  run. You are in danger. And you don't need to   be dignified about it. Cuz Joseph, she grabbed  his cloak and he spun right out of that cloak.   And now he's streaking through the property  because he understands this temptation is so   serious and so dire. I cannot risk anything. I  will flee. And this is true not only of sexual   temptation. Some of us are tempted to envy.  Some of us when we open up Instagram, we are   tempted to sinful envy and jealousy. It's bad for  our hearts. Brother, sister, you need to flee.   Some of us are tempted to anxiety when  we're with certain friends who all they   do is complain. I want to encourage you,  don't flirt with that temptation. Flee. Whatever that sin is, he says to flee.  Last thing I'll say be before we move   on is this. Do not wait until temptation has  showed up to get ready to fight temptation.   Once the first punch is thrown, it is too  late to train for the fight. I want to   encourage you to to live in such a way where  you are training towards righteousness. So   when that temptation shows up, you are  prepared to refuse and to avoid and to   run. Now let's look at what happens after  the temptation. Because when God is with us,  

no enemy is too big. So let so let's see what's  happening with both Joseph and his Lord. Verse 13. When she saw that he had left his garment with  her and had run outside, she called her household   servants. Look, she said to them, "My husband  brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us. He came   to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed  as loud as I could. And when he heard me screaming   for help, he left his garment beside me and ran  outside." So, she lies about what happens. And   then her husband comes home and she lies to him.  And the husband is so furious that this Joseph who   we love so much he throws him in prison. Some of  us when we obey God, we expect God to be waiting   right outside the door with a piece of candy. But  sometimes the truth is our faithfulness will have   consequences, negative consequences. And my  question for you is, do you trust God enough   to still resist temptation when you think  there are negative consequences tied to it?   If if really the the decider of how things go in  your life is this God who holds everything in his   hands, do you trust him enough to say, "God, I'm  going to do what you've called me to do even when   bad consequences are threatened." Whether that's  broken relationships or that's the pain of denying   yourself something, I want you to know this. The  best thing for you is always what God calls you to   in any and every situation. A promotion that you  can only get with compromise is not best for you.  

A marriage that you can only get with sin is not  best for you. A friendship that you can only keep   with immorality is not best for you. A community  that only accepts you when you embrace your sin   is not best for you. God knows what's best for  you. And we should trust him when God is with   us. No enemy is too big. And and here's one of my  favorite sentences in this whole passage. At the   end of verse 20, it says, "But while Joseph  was there in prison, the Lord was with him.   He showed him kindness and he granted him eyes in  the he granted him favor in the eyes of the prison   warden." So the warden put Joseph in charge of all  those held in prison. You can't keep Joseph down.   Every time you try to do something worse to  Joseph, the Lord is like, "And I'm going to   show him favor there, too. Just throw him in jail.  We going to put him in charge of the jail." That's   crazy. But when God is with us, no enemy is too  big. Joseph is an example, but not an example   of how to earn God's favor. Joseph is an example  of how to respond to God's favor with obedience,   resisting temptation. You know, you may say,  "Trip, but what happens for those times that   I do give into temptations? Do do I lose God  being with me?" Here's what scripture says we   should do. Verse 9 of uh 1 John chapter 1, if we  confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to  

forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all  unrighteousness. When you give into temptation,   I do not want you to run away from God. Don't flee  from God. God is saying, "I loved you before you   gave into temptation, and I love you now. Don't  try to clean yourself up and then come back."   He's saying, "Come to me and let me clean you  up." Because we have a loving savior in Jesus. If you're here today and you don't know Jesus,  you may say, "Well, look, if if God being with me,   his favor is the key to things going well, how  do I get this favor from God?" I'm so glad you   asked that question. There's this word uh that  the Bible uses a lot, grace. And what that means   is unmmerited favor. Favor from God that you  did not earn. The Bible says that we're saved   by grace. That unmmerited favor through faith. The  incredible thing about following Jesus is Jesus.   Everyone else in the world wants you to earn  earn your way in. Do good things to earn favor   with God. That's how you can get on my good side.  God is saying, "I'm going to send my son Jesus."   And the Lord Jesus lived the perfect life that we  could not live. And he's saying, "Come after me."   Oh, but there's some sin that you can't defeat.  Jesus says, "I defeated that on your behalf. Come   after me." But there's evil that that we can't  overcome. Jesus said, "I defeated that evil.  

Come after me." But there's death. Jesus said, "I  already submitted myself to death and rose from   the grave victorious. Come after me." And Jesus is  saying, "I've committed myself to those who trust   in me. I will give you that favor freely. The only  thing I ask is trust in me and come after me."   You will never be able to live such an incredible  life that you can get on God's good side. God is   saying the Lord Jesus gave his life. Come after  him and I am with you. That is the good news of   Jesus. And then we can commit ourselves to him  because he's already committed himself to us.   Last thing I'll say is this. Joseph, you you look  in his life and you see that God's favor was with   him everywhere. And what we see in scripture is  those of us who are in Christ, I mean we we are   Joseph. Romans 8 says this. If God has already  given his own son Jesus, won't he with him freely   give us all things? God has already promised  us far more than what we see him doing in the   life of Joseph here. He has promised to pour his  grace and goodness on our heads for an eternity.   And my encouragement to us today is to respond  to that grace and that favor that is freely   offered in Jesus by trusting him. Jesus says,  he tells us all these things so that our joy   may be full. Trust this guy who has such a  good track record working towards our good.

And my prayer is that that trust  would show up and remembering that   no enemy is too big because this God  is with us. Amen. Amen. Let me pray. Father, we come before you again in the  name of your son, Jesus. We thank you for   what you've done in Jesus. Father, God, I pray  for for my friends in this room, my brothers   and sisters in this room that we would see how  good you are, how good your commands are, God,   and we would see uh the favor that you've offered  us in Jesus. God, we pray I pray for those in   this room who are uh feel trapped by temptation,  who feel handcuffed by their own habits, Lord,   that you would show them the freedom that you've  given us in Jesus. And that you'd help them to   trust you through seeing your track record.  And those in this room who aren't sure where   they are with you, that you would help them to  see the freedom that you offer us in your son.   Help us to walk in joy and wholeness. And we ask  all of this in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.

We're going to continue worshiping together  as we take communion. Every single week,   we slow down and we remember the death, burial,  and resurrection of Jesus. I know Kyle mentioned   it last week, but I just I can't get away from  our text this morning. As we look at scripture,   we are so reminded of uh Joseph's uh faithfulness.  We see how faithful he remained underneath   persecution, underneath temptation. But I  think as we come to the table of communion,   we are reminded that Jesus is the greater Joseph.  We're we're reminded that that Jesus was betrayed   by friends. He he was tempted to sin. He was  wrongfully accused. He suffered innocently. Jesus   suffered greatly. What we know about Joseph's  story is that he suffered, but that he was   vindicated. He was exalted to the second uh hand  of the Pharaoh. And as we look at Jesus's life,   what we know is that he suffered greatly. He  died, but he was no man. Every other man dies and   he stays in the ground. But Jesus resurrected. On  the third day, he came back to life. And the Bible   says that he went to the second in command. He he  he was he was at the right hand of God. He is God.  

And today we worship him. We worship Jesus who has  ascended and is at the right hand of the father.   And and so as we continue in worship, as we take  that cracker that represents Christ's body that   was broken for us, and as we take that juice that  represents Christ's blood that was poured out for   us, we remember the faithful God who died and gave  himself for us. And my prayer is is that for those   of us who are faithless, that we would come to him  with our sin. We would come to him with our shame   and we would lay it down at the foot of the cross  receiving grace in our time of need. Over the next   few minutes, we're going to worship together.  Uh for those of you who are believers in Jesus,   who have placed their faith in Christ, my prayer  is is that you would take communion with us. If   if you're not a believer, if you've never  said yes to Christ, I I pray that you would   consider what that looks like. We'd love to have  a conversation with you. If you want to uh head   over to the next step room on my right uh your  left, we'd love to slow down and talk about what   it means to place your faith in Jesus's hands.  I am also excited because uh some of our kids   uh just got back from kids camp this past week.  Uh and we've got about seven or eight uh of our  

kids who are going to be placing their faith  uh in Jesus and declaring it through baptism.   Uh, and so I I just want to encourage  you. I know traffic is a little crazy,   especially at 11:15. Would you stay uh would  you honor the decision that they've made? Uh,   here in a few moments, uh, you can  take and eat whenever you're ready. I'm calling on the God of Jacob

whose love endures through generations. I know that you will keep your cover. I'm calling on the God of the one who opened up the ocean. I need you now to do the same. Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh God, my  God, I need you now. How I need you now. Oh rock. Oh rock of ages, I'm  standing on your faithfulness, on your faithfulness, calling on the god.

Favor is your father. I know with you all things. Calling on the God of Jes. Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh God, my  God, I need you. God, I need you. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat.

I need you, Lord. You heard your children. Then you hear your  children now. You are the same God. You are   the same God. You answer prayers back then and you  will answer now. You are the same God. You are the   same God. You are providing. You are providing.  Now you are the same God. You are the same.   You move in power. God moving power. Now you are  the same. You are the You are You are You are the Yeah. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Blessed is yours.

Jesus is mine. He's been my fourth man in  the fire time after time. One of his feet washed in his blood. And what he did for me on  counter is more than enough. I trust in God, my savior.  The one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my savior.  The one who will never fail.

He will never fail. Perfect submission. As long as I know the author of tomorrow, my s is my story. This is my song. Oh, I'm crazy. I'm crazy. Heat up here.

Heat up here. I sought the Lord and he heard and he  answered. I sought the Lord and he heard   and he answered. I sought the Lord and he  heard and he answered. That's why. That's   why I trusted. I saw the Lord and he heard  and he answered. I saw the Lord in the earth   in the earth. I saw the Lord in the earth.  That's right. That's right. Let's go. Come   on. I saw the Lord and he hurt and he  answer. I saw the Lord and he answer.

Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here.

Yeah. Heat. Thank you for worshiping with us. My name is  Josh Head. I serve here in the connections   ministry with our Blank and Baker campus. And we  have a heart to connect with each and every one   of you. So maybe coming out of that sermon  from Tripoli, you're wanting to respond uh   by seeking prayer. Our team, our staff would love  to pray for you. You can text the word connect to   733733. Share your prayer request. Those will go  to our staff family and we would be happy to pray   over those for you. Another thing we just got to  watch that I love celebrating is baptisms. There   were 18 baptisms this service. Two of those were  Southeast Online family members that came down to   be baptized here at our Blanket Maker campus and  another six of those were baptisms uh made by kids   at our kids camp this past week, our third through  fifth grade kids camp. And so maybe you have a   kid who's wrestling with baptism. You want to be  better equipped to step in to those conversations.   We have a resource for you. You can text at home  to 733733 to have access to our forever treasure   class to better walk through these conversations  with your children. The last thing before I sign  

off, our church is partnered with an organization  called Josiah Venture who works to unleash and   equip people in central and eastern Europe. And  so each uh ministry and campus is partnered with   different countries. Our SE online family is  partnered with the country of Malddova. And   currently Derek Snder, Sarah Parks, and some other  Southeast Online family members are overseas in   Malddova. And so stick around because Derek got  time to check in with Doran from Josiah Venture. Well, what's up online family? So excited  to be with you today. My name is Derek.   This is Doran and a part of Move and the  future of our church, we are continually   uh reaching into different areas where we  can help uh the next generation of people   get to know Jesus. And I'm here with a guy who  is helping make that happen in Eastern Europe   through Josiah Venture. And so Doran, we're in  Malddova. Tell us a little bit about Malddova,   this place, and uh why you are so passionate  about reaching the youth here. Well, a lot of   people in the world don't even know where Moldova  is if we are so just so small. It's like uh in   between Ukraine and Romania. Uh but you would  know that because you sent a team in Muldova,   so you probably already know that. Uh and uh here  uh the evangelical Christians are about 2% or   under 2% of the total population. And so the field  is large and uh in the churches um we want to see  

a movement of God among the youth in Muldova that  finds its home in the in the churches in the local   churches and then transforms society through that.  So we are trying to do that by equipping leaders   uh in local churches to do the great commission  of to fulfill the great commission of Christ to   do evangelism and disciplehip just the way Jesus  did it. So that's what we are trying to do here. I   love that. And so online community, if you didn't  know, for us as an online community together,   we have been partnered through this mission  organization called Josiah Venture to help support   Muldova and Dorne and his family as they are just  investing in the next generation here. And Dorne,   one of the reasons that our team is here this week  is to help with a youth camp, helping them learn   English, and also uh just sharing the gospel with  them. But share with us why a camp like this is so   vital to your ministry here. Yes. Uh camp is more  like like the chair on top of a whole year program   with youth working with youth throughout the year  and then uh the camp is where we can get them   um uh in a closer environment where we can build  closer relationships over the week where we are   in that camp and we can challenge them to accept  Christ. So uh there are people who are uh new to   faith or there are people who didn't decide to  believe yet and we invite them to uh this camp   and everybody's challenged wherever they are  on their path with God. Uh they get a challenge  

uh in this camp. So during camp starts literally  tomorrow. We're super excited to have all those   kids and students be a part of that. Uh, but I  know there are so many people watching as part   of our online community that are like, "Man, I  probably wish that I could be there in Muldova   with you guys right now." Uh, so if you don't have  time to come, probably don't. That's okay. But we   would love to know how we can support the camp,  support these kids, support you and your team in   prayer. How can we be praying for you this week?  First of all, I'm grateful for the online campus   uh for sending a team and uh help to help with  this camp. This is great help and uh it makes this   camp possible. Uh so I'm grateful for that. So uh  as prayer requests, I I would like uh you to pray   uh first for men of peace in in that camp that  more people would come prepared to be challenged   uh about faith. um people who are curious about uh  spiritual uh topics uh who would be interested in   discussing and considering faith in in Christ.  Uh then for the volunteers uh who are in camp,   we want this camp to be an experience for them  like a hands-on experience on ministry. So that   is a growing experience for them and and they uh  uh they get to uh to make a step closer to God.   uh in in in ministry too. And also I want to pray  I want you to pray for for protection during this  

camp for protection against Satan's attacks.  Like right now we have a couple of people with   uh some illnesses that are key people. And so  uh I want you to pray for for this aspect as   well. Thank you very much. Love that. Well,  Dor, we will be praying. Y'all please come   beside us and Dorne and his team in prayer  uh this next week. But y'all, it has been so   good being with you all today. Thank you so  much for worshiping with us. We're always so   glad that you're here. No matter where you're  from, uh whether you're watching from Muldova,   you're watching from uh Kentucky or somewhere  else. We want to be a church that is invested in   reaching the next generation. Uh y'all, so thanks  for being here and we'll see y'all next time. Heat. Heat. N.