The Bigger Picture | Trip Lee | Full Service

Well, what's up Southeast family? We are so  grateful that you decided to worship with us   here at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville,  Kentucky today. My name is Derek. This is Kenisha,   and we get to serve you through Southeast Online.  Super excited to be here. How you doing today,   Derek? I am doing great. That's good to hear.  Well, we're glad that you are here as well.   Go ahead, do us a favor. Jump into the chat.  And while you're at it, text the word connect   to 733733. It's a great way to make this big  church feel a little bit smaller. We are glad   that you are here. Let us know how and what to  pray right along with you. We'd love to hear   from you. Absolutely. And Kenishha, as we look at  connection opportunities throughout the summer,   we have something coming in literally just one  week. We have our at the movies sermon series   which is back this year. And we love getting to  do this at Southeast. Not because it's cool to   be able to have a sermon and a movie kind of  tied together, but it's because it is one of   the easiest times during the year to invite that  person in our lives to church. And so, right now,   I would be praying through who are those people  that you've been praying for, hoping that would   fill that seat next to you in person here at  church at one of our campuses. [music] This is one   of those opportunities to invite that person who  God has on your heart and your mind. and Kenishha,   there are a lot of there's a lot more details  uh to this series that we would love to share.   We're not going to share about the movies  necessarily. We'll let that be a surprise.   But for all the other details that you'll need,  all you have to do is text that fun word called   popcorn to 733733. I think it's going to be great.  At the movies is always something we look forward  

to. I think everyone can enjoy it. And it is in  person, so we want to make sure that you're here   and you're able to enjoy that. Another way  to serve coming up is going to be our full   force serve. It is a great opportunity coming  up September 17th through the 19th to be able   to come in. We're going to pack 2 million meals.  Those are going to be distributed not only locally   but worldwide. And so it's going to be at all the  campuses. You're going to want to come into those   campuses for that opportunity. You can sign  up by texting the words full force to 733733.   And that will give you a list of the different  jobs we have. And this is a great opportunity,   as Dererick was saying, to be able to invite  the person who may not be so big about church,   but [music] definitely is big into serving. Your  whole family's invited. There's opportunities for   your younger kids. We want to make sure that  your family has the opportunity to be one of   10,000 volunteers to help pack these meals. We're  so excited about that. Don't miss the opportunity   to serve. No doubt. I know my family and  I are excited to be able to be a part of   that. Uh specifically at the Crestwood campus,  which we attend on Thursday nights. And so, uh,   not always a ton of opportunities for my wife  and I and our nine and seven-year-old to serve   together, but this is one of those opportunities  where we could serve and make a difference,   uh, y'all. But today is going to be a great day  here at Southeast, and it always is every single   time we get to gather with you for worship. But  today, we have a friend that is going to be back   preaching with us, encouraging us, challenging us  from [music] God's word. Triple uh, is going to be   back encouraging us from God's word, talking about  the life of Joseph. He's gonna be wrapping up our  

meant for good sermon series and reminding  us that y'all we're not the main character,   right? We are [music] not the main character, but  God will use our life and and use it in the bigger   picture, Kenisha, of what he's trying to do. This  is a great sermon to be able to really reflect on,   you know, where is my focus at? Because if it's  always on us, then we're really losing the focus   of what God has. And wrapping up Joseph's life  in the end of Genesis is such a great thing.   20 weeks we've been in this sermon series. So, go  ahead, grab your sermon series guide. is the last   one in there. I'm super excited to be able to  hear from Tripley. Let's go ahead into worship. [music] Would [music] you pour it out on the  floor? Let's sing together. [music] This   is the day [singing] you made. So I'll rejoice  [music] and be glad. Rejoice and be glad in it.

[music] This is where I believe  that [music] you are more than   enough. More than enough for me. Our  God is faithful. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] Yeah. [music] Heat. [music] Yeah. Heat. [music] [music] Oh Jesus, come [music] on.

You are worthy of all. Worthy of  [music] all my praise. You are   faithful to [music] your promise. He  is strong when I am. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Yeah. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music]   like a river overflowing.

Holy [music] Spirit, let it fall. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] [music] Oh, come on. We got it. Thank you. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. Heat.

[music] Yeah. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Yeah. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] I think of the Father sending us his  [music] son so we could all inherit   the riches [music] of his love.  I can't help but exalt [music] [music] of the power held within  his hand. Impossible [music] is   nothing [singing] according to his  plan. Oh, I can't help [music] but Oh, I can't [music] help but [music] now to him is able to do so  much more than we [music] imagine.   Glory to him in the [music] mighty in  Jesus through all generations [music] forever and ever. Glory [music] to him.  All power, [music] all glory to him.

the cross and house set free from  hell to heaven [music] for all   eternity. Oh, I can't help but [music] it'll be a holy moment [music]  when we walk through every star.   The pain will be behind [music] us and dance  will be no more. Oh my [music] [singing] god. [music] Come on. Now [music] you so much [music] Jesus. [music] [music] [music] All power, all glory to. [music] Oh, we give you glory, Lord.  You're [music] so deserving.

All you sing [music] of his love. How deep,  how high, the love [music] of the father.   How strong, how wide, the  [music] arms of the sea I stand. [music] [music]   Come on. We say how deep, [music] how high the  love of the father, how strong, how [music] the worship [music] forever. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] Oh [music] [music] so much more than we [music] [music] all generation forever. Ever [music] glory to him, all power

to. [music] Amen, church. All honor, all power,   all glory is his in Christ Jesus. Amen,  church. Amen. Y'all can take a seat. You know, we just sang the phrase, "When I  think of the father sending us his son so   that we could experience the riches of true  love." When I think of the cross and how it   set [music] us free from the grip of hell  and gave us heaven as our eternity. Amen.   when I think of and that's what we do every time,  every week that we commune. If you remember the   old communion table that would sit down front, it  would say across the front in remembrance of him.   That's what communion is. It's a time to think  of. It's a time to ponder. It's a time to remind   ourselves of the mystery that took place on that  cross. that the perfect holy son of God would die   in my place, would die in your place, and that  somehow someway he would take all of my sin,   all of your sin of past, current, [music] future,  all the things that you regret most in your life,  

he would take that upon himself and he would  nail it to a cross and put it to death. What   a mystery. And that's what we do when we commune  [music] together is we think of that. And so I'm   going to ask us to just take ourselves [music]  there. Sometimes I can have a hard time even even   over the last two songs I had a hard time just  focusing in and putting my mind on the realities   of Jesus. [music] It's easy to get sidetracked.  Easy to think of the next thing or this thing   over here. What's going on after church? But  can we just take a moment to sit [music] and   take ourselves to the foot of the cross and behold  Jesus where I should be where you should be upon a   cross [snorts] taking the punishment for my sin.  Can you take yourself there? See him washing away   the sins of the world so they are no more. And I  believe it's in that place that we experience a   new depth, a new width of the father's love for  you and I. No matter how far we've ran or what   we've done, the grace, the blood is sufficient.  Amen. And so as we commune together today,   I'm going to ask you just to stay there at that  spot beholding Jesus as he dies in your place.   and you commune whenever you're ready.  And then we're all going to stand and   we're going to tell him just how worthy he  is. And because we've been forgiven much,  

we're going to express our love very much.  Amen. Take communion when you're ready. Heat. Heat.

I am an instrument [music]  of exaltation. [singing] I was born to lift your [music]  name above [singing] all names.   You hear the mey [music] of all creation, but there's a song of praise that only  [music] I can bring. Who else is worthy?   Who else is worthy? [music] There is no one, only you, Jesus. [music]  Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, [music] only you, [singing]  Jesus. [music] You are the empty king,   God of [singing] the Aes. Yet [music]  you chose to make my heart to dwell in   new place. You heal [music] my brokenness.  Show me your glory. [music] So I have songs   of thanks not [singing] even angels sing. Who  else is worthy? Who else [music] is worthy?

There is no [music] one only Jesus. Who  else is worthy? [music] Who else is worthy? There is no one [music] Jesus.  Who else [music] is worthy? Who   else is worthy? [music] There's no one [music]  Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one [music] Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. We live today.

[music] There's no one like you, Jesus.  No one but [music] Jesus. We sing, Lamb of God. Lamb of  God, [music and singing] a mighty   one who was and is and is to come,  seated on the [music] throne above. Rightous one shed his blood. [music]  He turned to us the father's love.   Jesus Christ [music] be lifted up.  Holy, holy, lamb of God [music] who was seated [music] on the throne above your holy holy   righteous one. [music] your praise to  the father's love Jesus [music] Christ.

[music] Who else is worthy?  Who else is worthy? [music] There is no one Jesus [music] who is worthy. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Yeah. Heat. [music and singing] [music] Heat. Heat.

[music] Heat. Heat. [music] Holy mother of Jesus [music] Christ. Who else is worthy? Who else is  worthy? We sing. [music] There is no [music] Jesus. Who else is worthy?  Who else is [singing] worthy? [music] There is no one, only you, Jesus. There is no one,   only [singing] you, Jesus. There is  no one, only you, Jesus. [singing] Jesus, we declare that there is no one  worthy but you. And we fix our eyes only   on you, [music] Jesus. And we remember  the cross. And we say, "Holy, holy, holy to the God that saves, that forgives,   that loves us. We declare that you are  holy and we can't help but worship you,

Jesus. We love you and we thank you. It's in  your name we pray." Amen. Y'all can grab a seat. Hey church family, we are really  excited to have our friend Trip   Lee back again this weekend. He's  wrapping up our series through   Genesis and the story of Joseph. Uh  I know he's going to challenge you,   challenge all of us to keep [music] our eyes on  the big picture. Like we're going to be inspired   as we see God faithfully weaving every part of  [music] a story together. Before trip comes,   uh just a quick reminder that next week we kick  off our at the movies series. This is one of my   favorite times [music] of the year. Partly because  it's just such an easy way to invite somebody that   you've probably been meaning to invite to come to  church, a friend, co-orker, a [music] neighbor,   a gym bro, a family member. It's always amazing  to see how God uses powerful stories to point   people to him. So grab your Bible, uh lean in.  Let's welcome Trip as he comes to preach today.

[applause] Good morning. How's everybody doing? Good.  Good. Thank you so much for having me again.   It's a privilege to be here. Um thank  you to Pastor Kyle for inviting me and   um yeah and I was uh I told him he you know  he texted me told me that he he was praying   for me and I thanked him uh for trusting me  enough to continue to ask me to come back and   to open God's word. It is a privilege for me.  I do not take that lightly. Uh I do not take   that lightly. Thank you for trusting me. And we  are going to pray that God would meet with us,   would speak to us now in his word. Let's pray.  Uh Father, we come before you in Jesus' name. Father, and we're so grateful that  we have access to you through Jesus,   the worthy one. There's no other name  under heaven by which we can be saved.   And father, we pray that you would make us like  Jesus. And one of the reasons we sing about how   worthy Jesus is is because Jesus is great and  we want to be like him. Make us like Jesus,   Father. God, we pray you speak to us in your  word. Remove anything that you know in our   hearts that would keep us from hearing from you.  Please, Father. Um and we pray that you would work   in our midst. We need you. We ask these things  in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Well, this morning   I have the privilege of closing out this series  in Genesis and in the and in the life of Joseph,  

uh, one of my favorite sections of scripture.  And I want to begin um, as we talk about the   bigger picture. I want to begin by saying this,  what you focus on will determine what you see.   what you focus on will determine what  you see. Let me give you an example. Um,   in the last few weeks, I have  tried to watch the World Cup. I gave it all my might. I saw all the joy and  excitement that it brought other people and I   said, I'm missing out on this joy and excitement.  So, I've tried to watch it and I'm struggling.   I'm used to sports like basketball  and football where people score points and so I'm struggling. I was at a  coffee shop and I was working and   they had a a World Cup game on and every  time somebody even looked at the goal,   everyone got so excited. People were getting up  and bumping chests and I'm like nothing happened.

So, I'm like, I clearly don't understand this  game enough. Y'all are seeing something different   than I'm seeing. It just looks like they're just  kicking it back and forth. And so, I need someone   to help me. Um, what you focus on will determine  what you see and how you respond to what you see.   Their response told me they were seeing something  different than I was. You've heard people talk   about uh missing the forest for the trees. And of  course, when people say this, they mean you could   be looking at individual trees and not realize  that it was part of an entire forest. Maybe you've   seen videos with drone footage where it looks  like a field and then you realize that field   is in the middle of a city or satellite footage  where they keep pulling out and you see a city,   a state, a country, a hemisphere. I bring all  of that up just to say we cannot understand   parts unless we understand what they're a part  of. We're talking about the bigger picture. Um,   and we can't understand all these parts unless  you know what they're a part of. And sometimes   we will look at the trees of our life and we  will miss the forest that is God's work, what   he's doing. You know, we'll go through our daily  life. We'll wake up. We'll go to work, spend time   with our family. We're not thinking so much about  how this fits into the bigger story that God is   telling. You know, me and my wife went on a date  the other night and I, knowing that she is an ice   cream lover, found an ice cream place around the  corner, trying to get extra cool points. And so,   we go to this ice cream place and we're thinking  we're just going to sit and eat ice cream and just   talk to each other, whisper sweet nothings in each  other's ears, whatever. And we didn't realize that  

this ice cream place was inside of a food hall  and that one of the players in the food hall   was having an open mic night. And so instead  of whispering sweet nothings to each other,   we were listening to mediocre to poor singing  all night. No offense to the people at the open   mic. I support their dreams. I would rather  support them from another building, though. The ice cream place was there. We knew that, but  we didn't understand what it was fully a part of.   What's happening in your life fits in the context  of something bigger. And when we don't look at   that bigger story, there's things we'll miss. and  we may not respond to it the way that we should.   And when we overly just look at the little picture  of what's happening in each individual moment,   we can kind of make everything that's  happening in the world about us. We'll   only interact with it as much as it impacts  what we're thinking about about our story.   this book of Genesis that we're wrapping  up, looking at these final chapters. When   we look at this book and we see Joseph and  we see Jacob and we see all the brothers,   this is not just a story about them. This is  mainly the bigger picture is about this creator   God and the work that he's doing in the world.  And that shapes the way we see everything that   happens in this book. And it should shape the way  that we see everything that happens in our lives.   The main thing that I want to drive home today  is this. To walk your path, you have to know your   place. To walk your path, you have to know your  place. Um, if you would turn with me to Genesis  

chapter 50 because we are looking at what's  happening from 46 to 50 here at the end of this   book. But we're going to we're going to zoom in on  our anchor verses are going to be verses 19. So,   if you'll turn Genesis 50, we'll start  at verse 19. and we'll read 19 and 20. Genesis [snorts] 50 19 and 20. And here Joseph is going to talk to his brothers  who have of course wronged him. They're worried   about what he's going to do. And this is what  Joseph says to them. Verse 19. But Joseph said   to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of  God? You planned evil against me. God planned it   for good to bring about the present result, the  survival of many people." That is an incredible   thing for somebody to say when they've had  happened to them or Joseph had happened to   them. talking to the people who robbed him, threw  him in a pit, sold him into slavery. After that,   he he's, you know, shipped to a foreign place and  accused of assault. And what he says is, [snorts] am I in the place of God? You planned it for  evil. God meant it for good. This is someone   who understands the bigger picture. So many uh  situations in our lives, we could navigate better  

if we asked that question. Am I in the place of  God? We normally would not, none of us, I think,   are, you know, are saying that like, I'm in  the place of God. I'm God. But we can still   very sneakily put ourselves in the place of God  without saying it. As an example, let's say that   my oldest son woke up one day and when I uh saw  him, he started trying to give me chores to do.   That would be strange. And asking about bills  that need to be paid. That would be strange.   or you know going and getting the trash bins and  bringing them back to the house. I would actually   like it if he did that. But the other two it would  be like wait um even if he wasn't calling himself   dad it would be like it still seems clear that  you feel like you're functioning in that way. And   there are many ways we are not calling ourselves  God but we put ourselves in the place of God. So   with some people around us we act as if we're the  final judge. Like you can't be at peace unless all   of your decisions make sense to me. You're putting  yourself in the place of God. Some of us act like   the entire universe revolves around us and we're  so confused when everything doesn't go our way.   We've put ourselves in the place of God. Universe  doesn't revolve around you. Some of us, every plan   we make. We hold to it as if it is a decree from  heaven and that the world ends. If our plans don't   work out, family, you're putting yourself in the  place of God. [clears throat] to walk your path,   you have to know your place. And so what I  want to do is I want to look at three three  

things in these in these last chapters. Three  areas that I think we need to know our place.   All right, [snorts] y'all still with me? Okay.  Number one, we need to know our place. Number one,   in the lives of others. In the lives of others.  When I was uh a teenager, there was an older man   in my life and he liked one of his favorite  shows was Seinfeld. I would say to him, um,   you have horrible taste. This isn't good. And I  lost respect for him because of that. I was like,   why don't you like good shows? And I I got a  little older. I watched it later and I was like,   all right, my bad. This was hilarious. This is  one episode where George Castanza is uh dating   this woman and she has a a a son and he's  trying to like tolerate the kid just so that   the relationship can go well. And so they have  this birthday party for the kid. And so they at   this birthday party and they they had clowns  and um George Castanza is trying to tolerate   the party and then he smells something and he  he's like, "Is that smoke?" And he goes in the   kitchen and he sees there's a fire. So George  Castanza screams fire, runs out of the kitchen,   pushes a clown down. There's a old lady with  a walker. Pushes her down. Pushes children out   of the way, and runs out of the apartment. As  you can imagine, this did not go well for his   relationship. He assumed that he had no  responsibility for anybody [singing] but   himself. The only thing he was concerned with  was selfpreservation. And this is how many of   us go through our lives. As if we have no role, no  part to play in the good of anybody but ourselves.

What do you think your role is in the lives of  others? We get to see the way that that Joseph   thinks through that. One of the things that we'll  do sometimes because one of the things that keeps   us from caring for for others is just thinking  about ourselves. We'll we'll treat other people   almost like they are supporting actors in a movie  that's all about us. Like if the movie is Lion   King, we're Simba and they are Zazu. [laughter]  If it's Batman, we're Bruce Wayne. They're just   Alfred. And when we treat everybody around us  as a supporting cast and a story about us, that   means a spotlight has to remain on us. That means  everything that happens, we have to look good. We   have to be the hero of every victory. We got to  be the victim of every failure. It's about making   us look good. And that makes us treat everybody  and every interaction as if they're a servant   just to help our story go well. One of the main  problems with that is that is not how the Bible   calls us to interact with others to treat everyone  as a servant to help our story go well. In fact,   when our Lord came to earth, he he said, "I did  not come to be served but to serve and to give   my life as a ransom for many." So, I want to  encourage you that one of the things that can   help us not treat other people like our supporting  cast is knowing our place. We know that Joseph was   thinking of the bigger picture in part because of  what he said in the chapter before in uh you know   when he was talking to his brothers. He said God  sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant  

within the land and to keep you alive by a great  deliverance. Joseph is saying you sold me into   slavery but God was sending me ahead in order  to provide for you when this famine comes up.   That's the uh reflections of someone who sees the  bigger picture. One of the things that we do is   we we get afraid that if we don't try to keep  control of everything and make sure everything   goes well for our story that no one else is going  to care about us or take care of us. So we treat   every interaction as some zero someum game where  either you're taken care of or I'm taken care of.   No one's going to think about me but me. This is  not how the Bible encourages [snorts] us. Listen   to what uh Jacob does uh what Joseph does in in  Genesis chapter 47 after his family has come to   Egypt away from the famine. Genesis 47:12 it says,  "And Joseph provided his father, his brother,   and all his father's family with food for their  dependence." A couple things are remarkable about   this. Joseph could have said, "My family betrayed  me." He could have just treated them as like his   uh villain origin story. Like, "These are the  monsters who made me who I am today." Or said,   "We'll just leave them in the past. Things are  going well for me." That's not what he does.   Even though they have horribly wronged him.  Why? Because he understands they're not just   random characters in his story. That he and  them are all characters in God's story. And  

this bigger picture that God is telling. And  the story that God was telling, he wanted to   provide for Joseph's family. And so Joseph says,  "Let me play the role that God sent me to play."   When God is the one telling the story, there  is more at play than you. Uh Philippians 2,   Paul tells us, don't just look out for yourself.  Don't just look out for your own interests,   but also for the interests of others. And the  example he gives of this is, of course, Jesus. I want to encourage you in this that there is  nothing that exempts you from paying attention   to the interests of others. You don't get to  say, "I'm having a hard time so I don't see   what anybody else is going through." You don't  get to say, "Someone has wronged me, so I I don't   have to love them anymore." Now, it may you may  figure out what that looks like, but sacrificial   love is our call. No matter what's going on,  you have a role in the lives of other people.   There there have been times in my life where I've  been convicted that I'm not thinking enough about   the interest of others. And one of the ways that  I can tell is that I'm treating other people in my   life as unwelcome interruptions in my life. Like  like they're an obstacle that I have to get past   to do what I'm doing. I mean, this is especially  true if you're like me and you have young kids.   There can be times when, you know, sometimes I'm  trying to rush out the door to get to something   important to my 5-year-old. It's like, "Dad, I  want to show you this Lego sculpture I made." I'm   like, "Can it be a sculpture if it's made out of  six tiny bricks? Who knows? Who am I to say?" But  

I just want to encourage you. Whether it's whether  it's young kids, whether it's your neighbors,   whether it's your co-workers, the people in  your life are not an interruption to your life.   the people in your life are your life. Um,  loving your neighbors, loving [snorts] those   around you is not an obstacle to what God  called you to do. Loving those around you   is what God has called you to do. Yeah. The  number of times God has had to remind me all   the people around you and all the things that  have needs from you that that you need to meet,   this is not keeping you from living your life.  This is your life and Joseph understands that   other people are not an obstacle or or  or just a nuisance. I want to ask you,   is there anybody in your life who you're treating  like a nuisance instead of thinking about the role   that God might be calling you to play in their  life? There may be ways that God is trying to   provide for them through you. There may be  needs that God is trying to meet through you.

And when we only see them as a something to  tolerate or get past to get back to business,   we're ignoring what God has called us to. Some of  us in this room need to get to know our neighbors.   Some of y'all, I mean, I [snorts] hesitate  to say it, may need to go to a HOA meeting. I went to one recently. It was horrible, but It's opportunity to build relationship and to talk  about what our lives look like collectively. Other   people are not a nuisance. They're made in the  image of God. And you have responsibility towards   them. But it's not just his family that he's  thinking about caring for. Look at um uh Genesis   47:13. Because of this famine, right, that he's  helping to care for his family in bringing them   to Egypt, providing for them. It also says this  13, there was no food in the entire region, for   the famine was very severe. the land of Egypt and  the land of Canaan were exhausted by the famine.   And so what happens is Joseph wants to use his uh  resources, his closeness to Pharaoh to find a way   to provide for those who don't have food. Now,  one of the reasons this is interesting is that   um Egyptians don't like Hebrews, Israelites.  They do not like them. They found it detestable   to even eat with them. It says they found it  detestable for for people to be shepherds. Joseph   could have been like, "Y'all don't like me anyway.  Sorry." That's not what Joseph does. Um, instead,  

Joseph is trying to figure out a way to um provide  for them. So, Joseph can't just be like, "Hey,   Pharaoh, just give them stuff cuz I serve uh I  serve a generous God. Um, Pharaoh is not going to   like that." But what he does do is he finds a way  to use his influence with Pharaoh to provide for   them. So, he he says, "What um what about silver?"  And so they trade their silver and Joseph says,   "Okay, y'all can be fed." And they said,  "We're all out of silver. We can't just die   right before you." He says, "Okay, what about  livestock?" Um, and then uh labor and land,   but he keeps finding ways to care for them. Now,  Joseph again could have said, "Y'all, it's going   good for me. I I keep having to go to Pharaoh  to ask for ways to feed y'all." But instead, he   finds a way in wisdom to both serve his boss well  and to care for others. Do not treat the needs of   other people as just an unwelcome obstacle in  your life. God may have sent you there to meet   a need even from those who detest you. And they  thanked Joseph for it, saying, "You have saved our   lives." He saved their life because he understood  his role in the lives of others. I will say this,   generosity is a function of security. We're able  to be generous because we realize we're safe.   Joseph understood that he served a big God who  was with him. And so he doesn't have to be afraid   that any kindness he does from somebody else may  hurt him. He's saying, "God has me." Last thing  

I'll say is this. If you're having trouble being  aware of other people, your role in other people's   lives, something that helps is just serving. Just  find a way to serve. You would be amazed at how if   you're too wrapped up in just what's going on in  your life, just serving other people will shake   you out of that stuper and remind you that other  people exist and have needs as well. And it's kind   of a cycle that work. And then once you do that,  you're more aware of needs and you find more ways   to serve. I want to encourage you that's a great  way to form your heart and your soul is to serve   others. To walk your path, you have to know your  place one in the lives of others and number two in   the future. To know your role, you have to know  your place in the future. If I was to talk to   uh if I was to ask everyone in this room, what  are your greatest fears right now? A lot of   those fears would have to do with the future. Um  you know, will I be a part of this next round of   layoffs? Will I ever be able to conceive? Will I  ever finish school? Will my marriage improve? You   know, is this health thing that I'm worried about?  Is that test going to come back positive? And so   sometimes we respond to those, you know, fears  about the future by trying to just get control of   everything. We think, no, no, no. The more I can  control, the more peace I can have. That is a lie   that we tell ourselves. You are not in control.  The greatest way to peace is acknowledging you're   not in control and submitting to the one who  is. And so we see this in the story. One of  

the things that happens when we read these Bible  stories is um we almost forget that these are just   regular like these are just regular people. So  we think like man that would be hard if if you   had to move from one place to another u because  there's a famine in your land. But good thing   these are Bible people cuz they're fine. No, no,  no. It's hard for them too. And there there there   are more things going on with that in this  story. But you know, Jacob is an old man,   a father and a grandfather, and Joseph is a son  and a brother and a father. And God is sometimes   upending their lives for this bigger picture.  Look at um Genesis 46:3. God is speaking to Jacob and he says this. God said, "I am God, the God of  your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt,   for I will make you into a great nation there. I  will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also   bring you back." Joseph will close your eyes  when you die." Jacob left Beersa. The sons of   Israel took their father Jacob and the wagons  Pharaoh had sent to carry him along with their   dependents and their wives. They also took their  cattle and possessions they had acquired in the   land of Canaan. Then Jacob and all his offspring  with him came to Egypt. His sons and grandsons,   his daughters and granddaughters. Indeed, all  his offspring he brought with him to Egypt. Now,   of course, God is reiterating the the plans,  the promises he'd already given his father and   grandfather. He will make a great nation of them.  And God is saying, "Yes, um, I understand this is  

an interruption to the plan. I'm telling you,  you should go to Egypt." And he's reiterating,   I will do what I said that I will do. Surely  Jacob is wondering, can God be faithful to   what he said if now there's this famine? He's  promised us this land and we have to go to this   other land. God is saying, "This is hard. Trust  me, I'm at work. I have a bigger picture at work.   You can go to Egypt. I am going to provide for  you there." And so, Jacob obeys and he takes   everything to Egypt. Look, I I moved a few years  ago. It's only five of us and it was horrible.   70. This is like 70 people that they're picking  up and moving. And I do not think that they could   rent U-Hauls back there. And they go and they  trust God. One of my questions for you is how   do you respond when it seems that God is calling  you to something that didn't that is not your plan   for the future? When you get a curveball,  do you listen with open hands? Some of us   may need to work less so we can love our family  more. Some of us may need to make sacrifices to   love our neighbors better. Are we open-handed  enough to listen when God tells us to go?

Then listen what happens in uh chapter 46:30.  Because now Jacob is reunited with his son Joseph.   Right now he gets to Egypt. He hadn't seen Joseph  in decades. And it says, "Israel said to Joseph,   I'm ready to die now because I have seen  your face and you are still alive." This   is a joyous moment. He's seeing his son again.  But when he says, "I'm ready to die now," it's   not just because he's happy to see his son  again. It's because seeing his son again is   a picture that God is the promisekeeping God  that he said he was. It's showing that God's   promises have not been stopped and interrupted  by everything going on in our lives. I wonder   what kind of things give you peace about your life  and if it has anything to do with God's promises. He's saying, "I'm so happy that I could die now,  even though he's been forced to move his family   to a new place." How do you gauge whether you  can have joy? The other thing is are how much   do you pay attention to examples that God is  keeping his promises? Some of us have a eagle   eye for something going wrong. We can sniff out  failure in the room from a mile away. But then   when there's a picture of God's doing work, we  turn into Stevie Wonder. We can't see it at all.

Brothers and sisters, I I want  us to be the kind of believers   who have an eagle eye for God's grace at work, who are easily encouraged by seeing the spirit  working in other people's lives. You know,   that's good for um the the morale of a loving  community. Some of us are great at pointing   out flaws in people's lives, but we are  not very good at seeing and calling out   and encouraging where we see the spirit  of God at work. Some of us are saying,   "God, please show me a sign that you're at  work." And God is like, "I keep showing you,   but you're not looking." I want to encourage you.  Pay close attention. Pull out a magnifying glass.   Look for all the ways Yeah. that God is reminding  you that he is keeping his promises in your life. The last thing here I want to talk about as we're  talking about the future is that you know Jacob   he so he gets to the land. He lives there for 70  years. God continues to keep his promises. They   continue to grow as a family. And this is what  happens in 48:21. He says this to Joseph. Look,   I am about to die, but God will be with you  and will bring you back to the land of your   fathers. The interesting thing about him talking  about death this way is usually death is the end   of our story. I love that he says, "I'm about  to die, but God will be with you." He's like,  

"I'm not going to be able to walk with you in  this next season. Who knows what's going to come?   I won't be able to see all God's promises come to  pass. What I do know is that God will be with you. This is someone who trusts in God's promises  and their role in the bigger picture. He still   has hope even though his time is done. And  then he gathers everyone around and he says,   "Let me tell you about what's going to happen  next." Now, if you are on your deathbed,   I would encourage you, don't do this unless  God told you what was going to happen. Don't   just make up prophecies for people. But Jacob,  God had told him what was going to happen. And   so he begins to talk to them about what  the future will look like. And he trusts   in God in part because of what he's already said  elsewhere that God has been so faithful. He says,   "The God who has been my shepherd all my life to  this day, the angel who has redeemed, he's like   God has been faithful and I trust he'll continue  to be." And here's what he said. So, as he goes   through all of his sons and he tells them what's  going to happen based on what God has shown him,   one of the most interesting parts is when he gets  to Judah and he talks to Judah and he talks about   this scepter, this this reign that's not going  to leave from the line of Judah. And the reason   I bring this up is because of course we know that  King David came from the tribe of Judah and that   the Lord Jesus himself is a descendant of King  David. That Revelation 5 talks about Jesus as   the lion from the tribe of Judah. And what's  so incredible to me about that is that all the   way back then in the book of Genesis, the first  book in the Bible, God was already thinking about  

his plan to send Jesus. That in the same way that  all the way back before the famine even happened,   God sent Joseph ahead in order to save his  family. That way before you even existed,   that God had already planned and had sent the  Lord Jesus ahead for your salvation. And in a   way that's even more amazing than salvation from  famine. It is a salvation from separation from   God, from not being whole, from brokenness that  he sent Jesus. And one of the ways that encourages   me is if I'm confused about if God's plan is  big enough to endure through all of life's ups   and downs. It's an incredible reminder that  God had already planned it way before I even   existed and he executed that plan. This is the  God whose bigger picture we find ourselves in.   We have to know our place in the lives  of others in the future. And finally,   number three, in the midst of pain. We have to  know our place in the midst of pain. The reason   I say that is because pain has a way of making us  just focus inward. Right? When when we're hurting,   we're just thinking about our pain and how to  care for ourselves. But what we see with Joseph   is someone who has been through an incredible  amount of pain. He doesn't just focus inward.   I know that um you talked about forgiveness a  bit last week in the last section of text, but we   still see more with Jacob's incredible forgiveness  in this part of the text. I remember when   um I first got married, I read this book and there  was an insight on forgiveness that I've never been  

able to forget. Well, he reminded me in this book  that um our spouses when they sin against us are   not only sinning against us, they're primarily  sinning against God. And then when we only think   about it as a sin against us, we're not able to  respond. So let's say my wife, now I'm going to   make something up. I'm not going to bring up my  wife's actual sins here. That would be rude. Um,   but let's say my wife was a liar. She's not, for  the record, not a liar. She doesn't lie to me.   But let's say she lied to me. If my response is,  how dare you even think about lying to someone as   important as me? And that's where it stops. I  have not served her or loved her well because   this is my life is not just a story about me. We  are two characters, two sinners in a story about a   big God. And so what I want to think about is how  can I help my wife and how she relates to God to   not be a liar? The best and most healthy thing for  her is not just to consider her just a character   in my story. Some of our marriages, I think, would  be more healthy if instead of just thinking about   our spouse's actions and how they relate to us,  if we thought about our spouse's actions and how   they relate to God in this bigger picture. And  this is what Joseph does here. So his brothers,   their dad dies. They're worried. Uh Genesis 50:15,  it says this, "When Joseph's brothers saw that   their father was dead, they said to one another,  "If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will   certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused  him." Like, stop for a moment. You can tell they   feel guilty. This is if this is one of their first  thoughts after their dad died. And then they say  

this, now this part I I'm not they might be lying.  I'm not sure. Um, listen. Because they they sent   a message to Joseph. Hey, before he died, your  father gave a command. Say this to Joseph. Please   forgive your brothers transgression in their  sin. The suffering that caused you. I mean,   did he say that? I don't know. It's pretty  convenient. Hey, before dad died, he said,   "Give me $1,000." He said it. I don't know. But  they said, "So therefore, please forgive the   transgressions of the servants of God of your  father." Here's how Joseph responds. Joseph   wept when their message came to him and said,  "We are," they said, "we are your slaves." Uh,   his brothers also came to him, bowed down before  him, and said, "We are your slaves." But Joseph   said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place  of God? You planned evil against me. God planned   it for good to bring about the present result,  the survival of many people. Therefore, don't be   afraid. I will take care of you and your children,  and he comforted them and spoke kindly to them."   This is radical forgiveness. Some of us when we  forgive, we forgive a little bit. Like, I forgive   you, but only cuz Jesus said, "I did." You're  lucky Jesus said that. That's not what Jesus does.   Some of us like the credit of having forgiven  people while also wanting them to still feel,   you know, the pressure that, but just so you know,  I didn't forget what you did. [laughter] That's   not what Joseph does. He [music] completely  says, "Uh, I forgive you. Do not be afraid."  

And he speaks kindly to them and promises to  care for them. This is radical forgiveness that   we are uniquely and able to do because that's  the way we have been forgiven by Jesus. Yeah.   Sometimes the the self-righteousness that cannot  believe that another person would sin against you   forgets about how kind God has been in forgiven  us for sinning against him in much greater ways.   We should be the forgiveness people. We're the  ones who have been forgiven greatly by God. Now,   that does not take away from what people do. They  still have responsibility. But God has called us   to this kind of radical forgiveness. It is a great  way for you to show what Jesus looks like in your   life to forgive people. And it doesn't have you  can forgive people even who did something to you   a long time ago as Joseph does here. And I think  it is very powerful that Joseph seeing the big   picture is saying you meant it for evil but God  meant it for good. It's hard to understand how   someone could do evil and it was still part of  God's plan for good. There's one author who who   helpfully said that um that God does by their  hands what he himself has decreed. So it's like   um God had a plan. They do evil and God uses their  evil act to do what he already planned to do.

And family, that should give us a kind of peace  and hope like nothing else. If even when someone   tries to do the worst harm to me, God just uses  that action to do good to me. If even when you   plot and plan and do evil, God uses it as part of  his good plan, then what could you ever do to me? Even your worst Even your worst intentions  get superseded by God's good intentions. Oh, we serve a sovereign and good God. Even  when people are up to evil in your life,   God is up to good. You know when you haven't heard  from somebody in a long time, you're like, "Man,   I wonder what they up to." You know what God is  up to? Good. All the time for all of eternity.   Sometimes you haven't heard from somebody in  a long time and you find out they're not doing   well. Maybe there's scandal. Maybe there's  difficulty with God. There is never scandal.   Look into it. What is God up to? Goodness.  What is God up to? Love. What is God up to?   Righteousness. Goodness always. And that's the God  who's saying you're part of this bigger picture.   It's not discouraging that that our part is  just a part of his bigger picture because it   is a beautiful bigger picture to be a part of. And  we see that in the lives of Jacob and Joseph. The   reason that that that Joseph can't forgive is  because he understands God God's plan cannot be  

overtaken. In chapter 50, Joseph is dying. And he  says something similar to what Jacob said. Verse   24. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about  to die, but God will certainly come to your   aid and bring you up from this land to the land  he swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." So   Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath. When  God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones   up from here. Joseph died at the age of 110. They  embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.   Joseph dies. And I what I find very  interesting is that this book Genesis   that began with the creation of life, it ends  with the death of one of our our favorite   characters. But that does not mean it's the  end of the story. He's saying, "I'm dying,   but God will continue to do what he promised  to do." And that's true of all of our stories is that God is at work with the bigger picture.  I'll close by saying this. Joseph was an   incredible example of forgiveness that we could  follow and and we watch him do it and then he   dies. But there is someone named Jesus who was an  incredible picture of forgiveness, an incredible   example. And he did die, but then he got up from  the grave. Not just as an example of forgiveness,   but as the one who forgave us and the one who  empowers us to forgive. He got up from the grave   and then called us to come after him into a life  of forgiveness and wholeness and love and joy. And  

my prayer is that God would give us the grace  to see that bigger picture and want all of our   life to exist in there, right? To be able to walk  our path because we know our part. Let me pray.   Father, we come before you in the name of  your son, Jesus. We thank you so much, God,   for everything that you've shown us in your  word. We thank you for your your grace and   your kindness, your sovereignty, God. Lord,  and we pray that you would give us peace and   joy to walk our path because we know our role,  Father, I pray for those of us in this room   who are wrestling to trust you that we would  see your power and help us to do it. Father,   for my friends who don't really  know where they are with Jesus,   God, we pray you would show them clearly  what he's like. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.

[applause] You know, I'm thankful for his words, the the  fact that we are a part of a bigger story. And   and I hope that as we've gone through the book  of Genesis over the past 20 weeks, that you've   realized that from the very beginning, you can  see a good God who's putting everything in order.   It begins by welcoming imperfect people, Adam  and Eve, Cain and Abel. You fast forward to Noah,   uh, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and today we  see the 12 tribes, and we see everything   is pointing towards the coming Christ. We see  that everything is a part of a bigger story.   I I love the New Testament is in Hebrews chap 11,  it points back to some of those names. It speaks   about how how they were credited righteousness.  It says it in Romans as well. They were credited   righteousness not because of their their great  deeds. And they did many incredible things   on behalf of the Lord. It says that they were  credited righteousness because of their faith.   And I just want to say to somebody this morning,  a relationship with God is not what you can do for   him. There there will be some of that to come  as he uses you for his kingdom. But there's no   amount of church attendance. There's no amount  of Bible reading or serving or benevolence that  

will allow you to be in right standing with  God. The only thing is repentance from your   sin and placing your faith in Jesus and  simply saying like Trip just preached,   God, I trust your bigger story. I trust that you  have sent Jesus for me. And so we would love to   have that conversation with you. We've got some  amazing folks over here in our next step room uh   who'd love to have a conversation with you about  placing your faith in Jesus, about what it looks   like to potentially be baptized into him. And  so, we'd love to have that conversation with you.   Feel free to head over there. But for the rest  of us, I pray that as we worship that we would   be swept up into this greater story, looking to  Jesus and worshiping him with [music] everything   that we have. Amen. Why don't you stand to  your feet and let's worship our great God.

Where [music] Jesus bless and died for  me. I see his words, [music] his hands,   his feet. My savior on that cursed tree. [music] His body bound [music] and drenched in  tears. They laid him down in Joseph's   the entrance sea [music] by heavy  stone. The sign is still in all the Oh, praise the name of the Lord our [singing] God.  [music] Oh, praise his name forever [music] more.   For endless days we will sing your  praise. [music] Oh Lord. Oh Lord our God.

[music] And on the third I break  [music] dawn. The son of heaven   rose [music and singing] again.  Oh, tremble down. [music] Where is   your stren? The angels ro [music] for  Christ the king. Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] You shall [singing] return [music] in robes  of white. The blazing sun shall [music] pierce   the night and I will rise among the  [music] saints. I gain strength on Jesus.

[music] Yeah. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Behold [music] the lamb upon the cross who  takes away [music] the sins of [singing] Oh,   forgiveness flows [music] from hands and  feet as violence meets the [music] prince  

of peace. Behold the king. The light  of the world. The lamb of the sl [music and singing] to say the  fullness of God won't be cut to   the grave. [music] Darkness. Your hour is over. Behold the [music] love his pleas.  Behold [music] the grace of Calary, that rugged cross [music] soon to be the end of a risen  king. Behold the [music] king of the world. [music] So mighty [music] to say the god won't be  in a [music] grave. The darkest [music]  

The light of the world was [music] mighty [music] won't be [music] away forever is over. [music] Oh, it's the good news today [music]  that nothing can stand against you, God. [music] No enemy can hold you down cuz  there's nobody [music] in the   grave now. One hand gets to wear that  crown cuz there's nobody [music] in the   grave now. No enemy can hold you down.  Cuz there's nobody in the [music] one.

Cuz there's nobody in the grave [music]  now. No enemy can hold you down. Cuz   there's nobody in the grave now. [music]  It's the way I creat. [music] Now can you [music] [music] see nobody? Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Yeah. Heat.

[music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Won't you die? [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] There's [music] nobody in the dream now. [music] Well, hey online family. What a wonderful  and beautiful service that just was that we got to   experience together. Uh my name is Derek. This  is Sarah, part of our online team. And Sarah,   we love getting to hear from Trip. Yeah.  But even cooler than that were all of those   baptisms that we just got to witness. It's so  fun for us, you know, as we're getting ready,   like we get to see all of those baptisms happen.  And you might be thinking like, what are the green   shirts? Cuz usually we have black baptism shirts,  but the green shirts are specifically for students   and campers that were made a decision at camp.  And so I think that's just so sweet to see like,   you know, camp's almost over, but life change is  still happening and students are still, you know,   being transformed by the gospel. And it's just  awesome to see being transformed by the gospel.  

And if you find yourself today impacted  by a decision that one of those campers   just made or maybe something that Trip said  that you would like to talk about this week,   we would love to talk to you. We would  love to connect with you, get to know you,   have a conversation with Sarah, myself, Braden on  our team. Uh Sarah, all you got to do text connect   to 733733 and that is the best way to get in touch  with us. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I love that   trip wrapped up our sermon series to the book of  Genesis today. And so we have a really special   sermon series for you online family starting next  week. We have gone through the book of Genesis.   So we're going into Exodus now. So we've got a  sermon series called the unexpected leader. And   we're going to talk about the story of Moses and  his life had a lot of unexpected twists and turns.   Just to see how God was equipping him as a leader  through every single season of his life is so   awesome. And we've got two really special people  that are going to be talking about that sermon   series with us. We're going to have Lucas Breeze  of Lincoln Baker campus pastor and then Bryson   Cook who's the Franklin campus pastor. So really  excited to hear from those two over the next four   weeks. It's going to be a really awesome sermon  series. It will. And the reason why we have a   special sermon series for y'all online is because  in person we have at the movies. And like I talked   about before service today, if you are near one  of our campuses, we would love for you to be here.   And I want you to pray about thinking who should  be the person to fill that seat next to you in   the midst of those four weeks. And so it may be  a a co-orker that you've been having lunch with   at the table in the break room and you've been  trying to invest in them. It could be a coach. It  

could be someone that lives in your neighborhood.  It could even be a family member. And it's one of   the easiest things that we could do as believers  is to invite people to this series, Sarah,   because at the movies, it's a great opportunity  to uh it's a low bar. It's one of our biggest   front doors of the year. We could invite people.  Uh but at the same time, I think people are really   going to enjoy it. I think I know I enjoy it. My  family enjoys it. Uh y'all, but there's a lot of   information about at the movies that you need to  know. It is not about uh which movie it is. It's   always a surprise. Sorry guys. It's gonna be a  surprise, but to find out all the information,   service times at different campuses, all you  got to do is text popcorn. Popcorn to 733733   and to be a part of that. Yeah, it's going to be  a really awesome next four weeks. Excited about   it. Uh but one more awesome opportunity for you  online family. One last call for our from Eden to   eternity large group. So, we are in the middle  of our from Eden to eternity study. And so,   just like cow, we have been really walking through  the book of Genesis. We tried to capture the whole   story of scripture in seven different episodes.  And so, those episodes have dropped weekly on our   YouTube channel. And because we did them podcast  style, we also have them on Apple Podcast and on   Spotify podcast. And so, we have a really cool  opportunity for you, especially if you're wanting   to grow in your knowledge of scripture. We have  two large groups coming up. The first one is   this Thursday, July 23rd at 8:00 p.m. Eastern  time with our very own Brandon Broad. And so   if you want to learn more about scripture or even  just learn more about this study or really get a  

behind-the-scenes look at what our online small  groups are about, this large group is for you.   But it's a twoight only event. So this coming  Thursday, July 23rd, and then next Thursday,   July 30th, make sure you text SE online to 733733  because you do need the Zoom link to register. And   so make sure you sign up for that. It's going to  be a fun time. It will be a fun time, y'all. And   it's been a fun day. It's been an impactful day,  inspirational day, and we are so grateful that   you decided to join us for worship. Y'all have  a great Sunday, and we will see you next time.