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Amen. Okay, so Genesis 41 now. Like I said, we'll see how we do, whether or not I stop sort of halfway through this or not. In terms of not with the verses, I want to get through all the verses, but as I have been doing, I'll be looking at a picture or a few pictures at the end of each chapter and I think there's quite a lot there, so we'll see how I get on with time right now. Last week we were in Genesis 40 where Joseph was in prison. If you remember, he met the butler and the baker and a candlestick maker. No, he missed the candlestick maker, but he did get the butler and the baker. They both dreamed a pretty vivid dream, each of them did, which Joseph then interpreted for them. The butler's was that he was going to get restored back to his job after three days. The baker's was that he was going to get killed after three days. That was probably pretty hard for Joseph to have to relay to him. He said to the butler to remember him, but even though it was only three days later and Joseph's prophecy was spot on, he forgot him three days later. We also looked at how there were a lot of pictures again in this chapter. Joseph represented Jesus Christ, the butler and the baker represented the thieves on the cross. Look back at the end of that sermon if you want to see those again. I find it fascinating, just amazing how the word of God does that. Just the last few verses there, Genesis 41 from verse 20, it said, And it came to pass the third day, which is Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. And he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them, yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph but forget him. And then Genesis 41 verse 1 begins with, And it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river. I'm going to pray and then we're going to get started. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for all the great lessons we can get out of this chapter, the pictures in this chapter, Lord. There are many things we can learn from this chapter. Help me to just impart those to your people, Lord, now just clearly, accurately and boldly, Lord, in the full of your spirit and everyone to just have attentive ears for distractions to be minimised and for everyone to just really be able to pay attention to your word now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, so we're two years down the line now. It said, And it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river. And we see in a bit that Joseph is 30 years old. It said in verse 46, And Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, went throughout all the land of Egypt. So he was 17 when he was enslaved, if you remember. So between the journey to Egypt, Potiphar's house and his prison stay, 13 years have passed in between all that time. But it's been two years since he told the butler to remember him. So, I mean, that must have been a pretty frustrating couple of years as well, you can imagine, for him. And he's now at this point around 30 years old. And it said in verse 2, And behold, there came up out of the river seven well-favoured kind of fat-fleshed, and they fed in a meadow. So this is now talking about the dream that Pharaoh had. Now, kine is the plural of cows, okay, if anyone's wondering. So these are seven well-favoured cows and fat-fleshed, and they fed in a meadow. And behold, seven other kind came up after them out of the river, ill-favoured and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other kind upon the brink of the river. And the ill-favoured and lean-fleshed kind did eat up the seven well-favoured and fat kind so Pharaoh awoke. So the first dream is seven skinny cows eating up the seven nice fat healthy ones, okay, that's the first dream. And he slept and dreamed the second time. Behold, seven ears of corn came upon one stalk, rank and good. And behold, seven thin ears, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears, and Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. So this time it's seven thin ears, or what we would call the fruit of the corn, eating the good ears. And if you dream two dreams like that, you'd probably want to know what they meant, wouldn't you? Some vivid dreams like that, they're pretty similar dreams, you know, eating up the ones that were before them. And you'd want to know, right, especially if you're Pharaoh, you're ruler of the land, and you've kind of got resources to be able to try and find out. It said in verse eight, And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled. And he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof. And Pharaoh told them his dream, but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. So do you think Pharaoh here sent for a load of tricksters, a load of clever con artists to pretend that they're doing magic with sleight of hand and elaborate shows? I don't think that's what Pharaoh did. The Holy Spirit said that he called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof, didn't he? And what's a magician? Well, Webster's 1828 says, And if you compare it with scripture, that's pretty accurate. You can kind of sometimes see it interchange. So look, when God the Holy Spirit writes that, and it says that he called for the magicians, well, he called for the magicians, and I don't think we're talking about con artists here. Now, turn to Exodus 7 to see an example of some of these magicians in Egypt doing, basically, some magic. Because, I want to tell you now, there are legitimate magicians. There are people that can do pretty amazing stuff out there in the world. Okay, they're out there. They always have been, I believe. You turn to Exodus 7, and I say that because there are those out there that believe that everything has a rational explanation and that there's no supernatural power at all. So you'll find, you'll come across a lot of people like that, a lot of Christians that kind of believe something like that. Even amongst Christianity, there are those that just want to explain away every miracle of God. Okay, and you might see that, you might have noticed, you might have heard preaching on it before. Maybe if you looked at the maps in the back of your Bible, and they want to try and change the route that wasn't, you know, the Red Sea wasn't parted, for example, etc. And there's this sort of stuff that goes on, and you want to explain it away. Do you ever wonder why, if someone claims to believe the Bible, why they want to explain away miracles? I sometimes wonder that maybe it just stresses them out, the thought of something they can't explain, that they can't understand, just, you know, people, you know, just find that difficult to deal with, don't they? So they want to just put everything into their own kind of so-called knowledge or their own understanding. Exodus 7 is now well over 400 years later, by the way, in Egypt. And it says in verse 8, So if you remember, you know, they want to, you know, be let go out of Egypt, and the Lord's saying to Moses and unto Aaron, this is what you need to do, take your rod, cast it before it's going to become a serpent, okay? Now, that's a pretty cool thing to happen, isn't it? And you can imagine that's pretty amazing if you saw that, if I had a stick now, some sort of rod, and I just kind of put it down this pulpit and said, watch this, guys, it just turned into a snake, you would be pretty, I don't know, I think you'd be pretty amazed, and you'd be wondering what's going on, has this turned into a Pentecostal church or something? Well, this is what happens here. Verse 11 says, Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. So it seems as though at least some, if not all of these wise men and sorcerers are also referred to as magicians, yeah? So he said that Pharaoh calls the wise men and the sorcerers, and it's used interchangeably here, then he says, Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. So these guys were able to mimic this miracle. That's amazing, isn't it? They were able to mimic this miracle, yet their power was inferior to the power of God. So they might have been able to mimic it, yet Aaron and Moses' rod, that just swallowed up all of theirs, okay? But it didn't stop here. So after this, Moses turned the waters into blood. Look at verse 19. It says in verse 19, And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, and upon their streams, and upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood, and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded, and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants, and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. But look at verse 22, And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them as the Lord had said. So they were able to do something similar. That's a pretty amazing thing to do as well, isn't it? If I just did that with a glass of water here, and managed to just turn it into blood, that would be amazing, wouldn't it? And these guys did it, it says similar, it says, and the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments. So they, I mean, considering a lot of the water is already blood, I don't know if they did something, you know, with something different, or maybe there was some water that wasn't, maybe they waited and then did it, but either way they did something very similar. And like I said, aside from me, even if there was just some so-called magician, some sort of, you know, guy out there in the world doing stuff like this, that would be amazing, wouldn't it? Really amazed to be able to just turn water into blood and all that, and I know there's a lot of sleight of hand and stuff, you know, people in the public eye do this sort of stuff, but that would be amazing. Think of, you know, when I think about magicians, some reason in my era, I think of a guy called Paul Daniels, anyone remember Paul Daniels? And with Debbie McGee, was it Debbie McGee, wasn't it? He didn't marry her in the end, did he? Was she like about 20 years old? He was about 60 or so, it's very strange. But anyway, Paul Daniels used to do a lot of tricks and stuff, but it was all just, it was con artistry, it was tricks, it was, you know, trick photography, or maybe, you know, there was sleight of hand, he'd get your focus somewhere else while he did something, you know, that you didn't notice, and all this sort of stuff. But this is real magic, though. This is something different. This is that God, the Holy Spirit, he's telling us that this is what they did. He didn't say this is what it looked like, no, they did this stuff, okay? Now, jump forward to chapter 8, where the same happens with the frogs. Verse 5 in chapter 8 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and caused frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. I mean, again, imagine witnessing that. And the magicians did so with their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. Again, amazing. They managed to just bring up frogs upon the land of Egypt. Now, you might say, well, where are these magicians now? Okay, bringing up frogs, you know, doing this sort of thing, turning rods into snakes, turning water into blood. I'll tell you where they are right now. In this nation, these types of people are maybe, to a lesser degree, in the psychic fairs. Maybe the medium events. In the witches, my wife keeps reminding me it's apparently a coven, not a coven. Okay, witches, covens. But they're also in other false religions as well. There's weird stuff and strange experiences in all sorts of false religions. Okay, look, it's not that just a load of people are just completely moronic. Look, some of these guys are moronic. But sometimes they witness some pretty crazy stuff and pretty amazing stuff in their lives. Think, for example, you know, the Catholic exorcisms. I don't know if anyone's ever seen some of that stuff. It's not all just, like, make-believe. Some of that is some crazy stuff that goes on. And, you know, some of that is very hard to explain. The Pentecostal signs and wonders. Now, some of it is just pure charlatans. But there is some amazing stuff that goes on sometimes. People do some crazy stuff sometimes. Now, some of them it's fake and they make stuff up but sometimes there's some pretty weird stuff that you see. And sometimes people find it hard to explain some of this stuff. Now, what about the magicians in things like voodoo and other witchcraft-type religions? Does everyone just think that it's just complete make-believe and that they've pulled in literally millions, if not multiple millions of people worldwide to believe and put a lot of effort and time and belief into this sort of stuff? It's because there is some power there, isn't there? It's dark power but there is some power. Shamanism, things like this. This stuff's all over the place in certain nations. Now, here's the thing is that we, in this nation, we like to believe that we're beyond all of that. We're actually a lot more rational and there's a scientific explanation for it all. And it's kind of those silly foreign types that get into all that magic stuff, you know? But that's just because they've just gone on the pride of maybe the Western psyche and tried to hit the whole rationalist side of things. But the reality of it is there's just a flavour of false religion for everyone, isn't there? And with false religion and with this sort of stuff, there is some power. Like I said, they like to think they're more intellectually advanced in this nation but I'll tell you what the magicians are doing in this nation. They're concocting all sorts of witchcraft potions. They just call it drugs instead. Like seriously, some of the recreational drugs that they make and do, I mean, that's straight witchcraft. It's Hubble bubble toil and trouble. They're like stirring and putting in a bit of this and a bit of that and all these weird processes and everything else to make someone. And sometimes, what's the answer? What do a lot of people say about certain drugs? That they get a spiritual experience from it. Like the spiritual effect they got from this. Some people take certain drugs because they think that they can then they have a door into the spirit world. I mean, that's witchcraft. All day long, it's witchcraft. And you know what? It's not just recreational drugs either. So there's the recreational drugs and for me, look, that's the same sort of stuff. It's magicians, basically. Look, if a magician's going, well, I need a bit of this ingredient, a bit of that and a bit of this and a bit of that and it's going to make you feel like this, you'll be like, okay, well, that's some weird witchcraft. It's the same stuff. They take a bit of this, they do a bit of that, they boil it up here, they process this, they process that and then people, next thing you know, they've got some sort of mental effects of it, physical effects of it. But sometimes our magicians in this nation wear lab coats and spectacles and it's still a Hubble bubble. It really is. And people, I know I've been on this a bit in Proverbs as well. For example, just to give you an example, if anyone's ever looked into the ingredients of certain drugs that they like to shove into babies and stuff, I'm talking about the special ingredient of aborted foetal cell lines. Dead baby cells grown in a lab from a dead baby and multiplied and multiplied and put into a so-called medication. That's straight up witchcraft. It's magic. How's that meant to make you healthy and well? And it's not just aborted foetal cell lines. Bovine serum. That's cow's blood. I mean, this is the sort of stuff that you would imagine in some old fable in some old mythological movie or something going, we've got to go and get that cow's blood to add to the witchcraft potion to be able to make us healthy and well. And this is what they're doing. The only difference is they've got a special lab coat on and usually they try and act like they're really smart. It's the worst one for me. I don't know. It's not really the worst one. Sorry, the aborted foetal cell line is the worst one, but this one just always just raises my eyebrows. Green monkey kidney cells. Green monkey kidney cells. Green monkey kidney cells are apparently one of the most used things in biology, biological studies and medicines. Green monkey kidney cells. And the thing is, you're not just having, well, when I take this medication, when I shove this into my baby or my child, this one's just a little bit of green monkey kidney cells, the rest of it's all healthy stuff. That's usually a concoction of all this stuff. It's magic, isn't it? It's just modern magic because you're meant to believe that this stuff's going to make you healthy and make you well and make everyone, you know... I mean, why wouldn't you put that? It's crazy, isn't it? Oh, but we're so rational here. All that magic stuff, that's for all those crazy foreign times. No, because over here, you know, we're not into all that. We just inject bovine serum, green monkey kidney cells, a bit of heavy metal here, a little bit of this there, a little bit of, you know, you name it, stuff cultured on eggs. It's pure witchcraft. Pure witchcraft. But do you know what these people are great at doing, by the way, with all this stuff that we've just seen an example of with the mass witchcraft going on during Covid recently? It's causing plagues of one kind or another. They're great, isn't it? Oh, they love causing a plague. They love a pestilence or an illness. Here in Exodus, it was only God that was able to remove the plague. So these guys could create, they could mimic, they could make illness, they could make sickness, but they couldn't get rid of it. It says here in verse 12, They couldn't do it. They couldn't stop it. They could replicate, they could make illness, make sickness, make plagues in one way or another, but they couldn't remove it. And then verse 16 for the final plague says, And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice upon man and upon beast. So there's some power out there. There is some power out there, but the devil does not compare to God. And I never get conned by this, like the devil's in battle with God. No, God could just destroy him like that. It would be as simple as that, but he allows him to exist. There's no comparison. They could not do this, and that's ultimately what they're going to, is the power of the devil. They couldn't do this. There was lice upon man and upon beast. They could not do the same. And just quickly, because you can preach this sort of stuff, and some people get scared of this stuff. You don't have to be scared of this stuff, okay? You don't have to be scared of the power of these clowns. It says, you don't have to turn there. 1 John 4 says, You of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Okay? So if you're saved, you've got the Holy Spirit in you, you don't have to fear any of this stuff. Okay? In Psalm 91 to 13, it says, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder. The young lion and the dragon shout thou trample under feet. And don't ever let these people scare you. Don't ever let, whether it's a magician, the false prophet, the wicked, reprobate in one way or another. You don't have to fear them. They don't scare me. We're just going to trample on them. You trample on the young lion and the dragon shout thou trample under feet. Because we have the Spirit of God in us, we have the Holy Spirit. Verse 19 said, Then the magician said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. And you know the same applies to interpreting God's word. These false prophets, these magician types, they can mimic God, they can copy, but they can't understand the Word of God. Genesis 41 and verse 8, back in Genesis, and 41 and verse 8 says, And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof. And Pharaoh told them his dream, but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. They could trick, they can deceive, they could do impressive things as well, but they can't really interpret the Word of God. They can't personally interpret the Word of God. Now, they could have heard Joseph interpret the Word of God and copy what Joseph said, but they can't do it themselves. They don't understand it. Remember that before you go to Old Testament rabbi interpretation. Before you go, Oh, well, I just need to understand what this means in the Old Testament. Let's go to the rabbi. He doesn't understand the Word of God. Okay, they don't even believe the Word of God, because had they believed Moses, they would have believed Jesus Christ. Your Catholic early church fathers of Christianity don't understand the Word of God. These absolute idiots out there go on about, Well, the early church fathers? What did the early church fathers say? Well, I'd like to know, because we know it's probably wrong. What did the early church fathers know? Let's put it this way. If there's enough info about them, they probably weren't saved, because if they had any fame and any notoriety and everything else, the reality of it is usually, you know, when it's up here in stuff where you're still talking about in history to come, they probably weren't saved, because that doesn't really happen with God's people, does it? Your Congregationalist, by the way, that's what religion he was, C.I. Scofield, with his ridiculous reference Bible, he doesn't understand the Word of God. That's why it's full of a load of nonsense, that he's basically plagiarised off people like, you know, John Nelson Darby and others. It's nonsense. These people don't understand the Word of God. You don't need to go to a reference Bible to understand the Word of God. You go to the Holy Spirit. You do that by comparing Scripture with Scripture. You do that by reading and learning, and keep reading through your Bible and understand where to go and start to have that where the Holy Spirit will give you verses and you'll start to think things in your head. Actually, I've heard that. I know what goes with that. And you can find it. That's how we understand the Word of God, not from all these clowns, not from all these unsaved magicians out there, these false prophets. They can't interpret God's Word. He said in verse 9, Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day. Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker. And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. And there was there with us a young man in Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams, to each man according to his dream he did interpret. And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was, me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged. Now, I don't know. When I read that, I sometimes think maybe he's referring to a previous Pharaoh. Maybe there'd been a change of Pharaoh over the last couple of years, do you think? Because he says, and it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was, it wasn't that Joseph restored him. He said, me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged. So it is, remember, it's two years later. And think about this as well. Had Joseph somehow got released thanks to the butler, do you remember he wanted the butler? He said, remember me, etc. after he told him. Joseph would have likely been long gone by now, wouldn't he? Back in Canaan? I mean, unless he got released back into slavery, which I don't think would have been the idea. Perhaps ready to eventually die in the famine. You think about how this all worked out in the end. Because although he, you know, we want immediate answers, don't we? So remember, he just, he gave this interpretation, he said, remember me. He wanted, obviously, understandably, to get out of jail, but God sees a beginning from the end, and his timing's always better than ours, isn't it? So remember that when you think you know what God should be doing, how he should be answering your prayers, how he should be guiding you, how things should work out in your life. God knows what's going to happen in the future. And maybe God keeping you in a position that you don't like might work out for the best in the future. And don't be frustrated and start, I just can't believe he's not answering my prayers. Maybe he knows better how to answer your prayers. This is in verse 14. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and brought him hastily out of the dungeon, and he shaved himself and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. So I'm guessing he didn't smell or look so good in being in what was described as a dungeon. Verse 15 says, And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it, and I have heard say of thee that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. And do you remember in the last chapter, Joseph did the same, he gave all the credit to God, didn't he? That's just another great example. Joseph, he's such a hero of the Bible, isn't he? He's already done a couple of previous dreams. He's pulled out because of that. He could have got puffed up and gone, Yeah, I'm the dream man, you know, and maybe given himself a little nickname like some of these magicians probably did, but instead he just says, No, it's all God. It's all God. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river, and behold, there came up out of the river seven kind, fat-fleshed and well-favoured, and they fed in a meadow. And behold, seven other kind came up after them, poor and very ill-favoured and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness. And the lean and the ill-favoured kind did eat up the first seven fat kind. And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ill-favoured, as at the beginning, so I awoke. And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good. And behold, seven ears withered thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears, and I told this unto the magicians, but there was none that could declare it to me. And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one, God has showed Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good kind are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years, the dream is one. And the seven thin and ill-favoured kind that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh, what God is about to do, he showeth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, and there shall arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt. And the famine shall consume the land, and the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following, for it shall be very grievous. And for that, the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice, it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. So he's interpreted the dream, okay, but he doesn't stop there. So from this interpretation, he explains it to him, he makes it clear to him, he then goes on to give counsel. So he stopped interpreting the dream now, and he goes on to give counsel from verse 33. Now therefore, let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, this wasn't the dream, okay, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years, and let them gather all the food of those good years that come and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be forstored to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land perish not through the famine. And I say that because God isn't just there to solve the unknown, okay, that's not just what we need God for. He's not just there to solve the unknown in our lives, solve the unknown in the world, for example, what's to come in the end times. That's not just what God's there for. Some people, that's kind of what they just think God's there for, don't they? They just want to know about end times. It's like, what's coming, what's going to happen next? And some people will even be drawn to go to maybe a lot of false Bible teaching as well, just to find out about what's to come, when's the end of the world, what's this Armageddon stuff all about, you know, et cetera. What's this beast system that all these kind of people are going on about during the COVID times and everything else, right? They just kind of, sometimes that's just what people want. He's not just there to tell us how the world began. Some people will go to things like the book of Genesis just to find out, well, how does the Bible say the world began? He's there to instruct us to, isn't he? He's there to guide us, to help us navigate life, to help us make decisions. That's what God wants to do as well. He doesn't just want to give you some secrets of life. He wants to help you in various ways. He doesn't just want to get you saved. He doesn't just want to give you the mystery of salvation, which is to most a mystery, isn't it? Because they're just trying to work out which works they do and don't have to do. He doesn't just want to show you that it's a free gift. He wants to do much more. And he does that through his word, and he does that through men of God preaching his word, which is basically what Joseph's doing here. So he's interpreting the dream which was of God, and he's interpreting it. And then on the back of that, he's then guiding Pharaoh as to what to do because he's a man of God and he's basically a preacher, isn't he? He's a man of God showing what to do. And that's what preaching does. And again, look, you've got to read the Bible. Read it, read it, keep reading it, keep reading it, and you'll get guidance from the Bible. You'll understand the Bible. You'll be able to search the Bible. The more you read it, you should be reading it every day. If you're not reading it every day, you're not right with God for me. You need to be reading your Bible every day, make it part of your routine, and you shouldn't be budging on that. That has to be one of the top priorities in your day before anything else. And that's why, for me, it should be done first thing in the morning because it's just easy. If you start letting that slip, if you don't read your Bible first thing, next thing you know, that day starts to go by, and then you might be finding a quick excuse to get a chapter in in the evening before you fall asleep or something. Read it early, get your Bible reading in early, set your alarm, get up, read your Bible. But preaching's so important as well, isn't it? Because with preaching, the preacher will hone in on specific things that you maybe need. Well, maybe really expand on a topic that you would have spent five seconds in in your Bible reading, but instead you're hearing just preaching, preaching, applying it to your life, things that you might not always want to hear as well. Sometimes it can be rough, can't it? Listening to preaching, and I know I talk about this a lot, but I think it needs talking about a lot because this is unlike most churches in the nation, isn't it? Where you're actually hearing sin stuff in your life, you're hearing it preached, it's being preached from the Word of God, clearly from the Word of God. It's a spirit-filled man of God preaching it, and I'm not trying to lift myself up. I'm saved and I'm preaching the Bible, and God's going to use me, not because I'm this great person, just because God can work through me and help you so much in your life if you're willing to be helped. Or you could sit there and just switch off and just kind of listen to it and just kind of endure and not really try and apply it and everything else. It's your choice, really. But you know what Joseph's doing here? He's now guiding Pharaoh to make some big decisions. So you can sit there, you can take in the preaching, you can make mental notes, you can make physical notes, you can do a hundred different things. You can go away and go, I'm going to apply this to my life because God put a message there that spoke to me tonight. Or you could just go, yeah, whatever. And Pharaoh could have just gone, well, thanks for explaining it to me. See you later, Joseph. But instead, not only did he listen to him, but he acted upon it. He acted upon the man of God guiding him and telling him what he should do there. So Joseph, the man of God, is instructing Pharaoh how to deal with the famine that's to follow the seven good years. He said to get someone discreet. Now, which isn't, by the way, necessarily secretive, okay? Some people, they're just like, you know, discreet, they think it just means that you kind of whisper everything you say and don't let anyone hear anything you say. No, it's sensible, it's cautious, circumspect. And he said wise as well. And put him in charge, but to then put officers under him. And I think, by the way, in that verse there, it's to use the fifth part. So he said there, where were we, he said in verse 34, he said, let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint officers over the land and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. I think they're using the fifth part because it's so plenteous that therefore then the rest can be stored for those seven years of dearth. He says, and let them gather all the food of those good years that come. So I think they're gathering the majority maybe and only using the fifth at this point. And lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh and let them keep food in the cities and that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt that the land perish not through the famine. So it's a pretty good plan and I'm sure that they had some good storage techniques in case anyone's ever wondered that. Salting, curing, sealing, keeping below ground level, all that sort of stuff. I'm sure they had a lot of ways of doing it. And verse 37 says, and the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And that's how we should want to stand out from the world. We should want to stand out as people going, have you found a man like this in the workplace? A man who the Spirit of God is in him, or at least maybe they might not word it like that, but they go, this person's different. This guy's different. This guy is, just like Joseph was an example in Potiphar's house, just like Joseph was an example in the prison and became servant to the prison guard and everything was kind of went through Joseph's, to be able to just go, this person's different. He works differently, he acts differently, he behaves differently. Is there such a man as this? That should be our goal, shouldn't it? For people to say that, to just go, to say something along the lines of that and just say, can we find such a one as this? This is a man in whom the Spirit of God is. But you know what? I don't think it was because Joseph was just trying to stand out. So I'm sure Joseph wasn't doing his utmost to just appear holy, was he? His goal wasn't, how can I look? How can I look to other people? How can I shape myself so people are really impressed by me? How can I appear even more holy? If I just say a little thing here, act a little bit there, behave like that. I don't think that, that wasn't Joseph, was it? Joseph wasn't that sort of idiot. There's little to no Spirit of God in the holier than thou's. There isn't. There's little to none. There's, to people who aren't wise, they get conned by that stuff, wow. Such a holy person. But you know what? There's no Spirit of God there. And you can see it. You just see it a mile off. The arms for show types. There's a lot of those out there. Everything's for show. Everything's to just mention, to just point out their arms, to point out their good deeds, everything else. There's no Spirit of God there, a man in whom the Spirit of God is. It's the opposite. Joseph was able to apply God's revelation, God's word to his and others' lives. That's what Joseph was able to do. He's able to apply that dream, that revelation, and interpret it, interpret the word, and then apply it to others' lives. And that's something that we should all want to be able to do as well. To be able to interpret the word of God and apply it to our families' lives, as men here. To interpret the word of God and apply it to our, and help our wives apply it to their lives. Help our children. Help us to apply it to our families' lives. Help our children. Help us to apply it to our lives, to our paths, to our direction, and that's something that Joseph was able to do. Because you can learn knowledge all your life, but wisdom is to be able to apply it. And you can learn, you can listen to, and there are people out there that have knowledge, but they ain't got the wisdom. You can learn all sorts. You can memorise stuff, you can put real effort in, and there are the worst types of people that put real effort in to appearing to have the knowledge, but they don't have the wisdom. They can't really apply it. All they can do is copy. They can't apply it to their lives. They can't apply it. They're unable. But Joseph had real wisdom. He was able to take the word of God, take the revelation, and then apply it to what Pharaoh needed to do and relay it to him. It says in verse 7, None of Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God has showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, Bow the knee! And he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. Do you reckon at some point Joseph must have pinched himself? Imagine, he's just like, What on earth, you know? Things have suddenly looked up a little bit in my life. I reckon he probably kept a real wide berth from Pharaoh's wife, though, don't you think? After last time, he must have been like, OK, things are going well. I'm not going to be anywhere near Pharaoh's wife, because this could quickly go downhill again, right? But he must have just been like, What on earth? How is this, like, amazing, right? Amazing what's happened, how his life's gone. Verse 44 said, And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paeanea, and by the way, it's not exactly clear what this means. Some say, revealer of secrets, some preserver of life. There's a bit of debate there, but hey-ho. And he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of On, and Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Now, this is interesting, OK, that he was given this daughter of a priest as a wife, and the initial thought is, Egypt must be some false religion priest. And maybe it was, I don't, you can't really say for sure, but I don't think it's maybe as clear cut as that. And just to kind of give you some food for thought, do you think the reward for Joseph from Pharaoh, who was like, right, he's a second in command, everything's going through him, I'm giving him this gold, I'm giving him this, I'm giving him the chariot, and everything else. Oh, by the way, you're going to have to marry this, like, false prophet's daughter. I mean, maybe, maybe he didn't get a choice. Maybe, maybe she was saved. Never wondered that. Maybe he was a false prophet, but maybe the daughter was saved. There's one option there, because that happens, isn't it? I don't, you know, don't know how many people here maybe have a false prophet parent, but it could be the case, right? It doesn't mean that there's no chance, right? But he gave him to wife, could indicate that Joseph desired her as a wife, desired her, and then Pharaoh gave him to her, to him. And don't forget, Joseph was a man of God. We just saw that they said, you know, a man in whom the spirit of God is, having said, can we find such a one as this, would he have just got hitched to some, you know, if it was as bad as that, she was unsaved, it was a false prophet's daughter. But maybe, maybe, but go to chapter 47, because the plot thickens when Joseph is buying up the land for Pharaoh, chapter 47. So he's buying up all the land during the famine, and then he's letting it back out for a tax of a fifth of the product of the land to the people of the land. So basically it's becoming Pharaoh-controlled owned land. And they make a law that the priest's land can't be bought. They make this law, Genesis, and remember, this is a man of God, yeah? Genesis 47, 26, and Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day that Pharaoh should have the fifth part except the land of the priest only, which became not Pharaoh's. So, you see, you know, and again, look, we don't know if Joseph maybe went downhill, but at this point in time at least, and this isn't a long time after, Joseph is a pretty spirit-filled man of God doing some amazing stuff. He's a great guy, right? And a great example, and he's, you know, we're looking at all this stuff just going, you know, what a great example, Joseph, what a great example. And then he's at this point, and he made it a law that the priest's land only would not become Pharaoh's. So who were these priests that had protection by law? Now, go back to Genesis 14 to see another priest. So go back to Genesis 14. Now, just while we're going back, I want you to think about this. Does anyone think that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the only saved people in their days? I don't think anyone thinks that, yeah? I don't think so. Lot was described as just, wasn't he? 2 Peter 2.8 says of him, for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing Vex's righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. Lot was clearly saved. Genesis 25, 17, you don't have to turn there, says of Ishmael, and these are years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years, and he gave up the ghost and died and was gathered unto his people. And that's a phrase we only see used for people, and the only other people it's used for is people that are clearly saved, the men of God, okay? And there were surely many, many more, okay? And of course, there were many unsaved as well, okay? Idolatry was rife as well from early on in the world's history. But there were saved people, and there was also some form of priesthood. There was some sort of priesthood from early on. Genesis 14 and verse 18 says, Genesis 14, 18 says, And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him, talking about Abraham or Abram at this point, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, which has delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. Now, whether or not he was a pre-incarnate Christ of, you know, and people have different opinions on this, he was there flesh and blood. There, this is a flesh and blood person here, bringing symbolism of the coming sacrifice with the bread and wine, receiving physical tithing. Just something to think about. Jump forward to Exodus 18, where there's another priest. Now, this time, it's the priest of Midian. I want to show you this as well in Exodus 18. Exodus 18 and verse 1, it says this, When Jethro, the priest of Midian, so Jethro is clearly the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. It says then, jump forward to verse 8, he's clearly called the priest of Midian, verse 8, and Moses told his father-in-law that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them, and Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. It doesn't sound like a false prophet to me. And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, and the thing wherein they dealt proudly, he was above them. Now I don't think this is a moment of realisation for him, rather that he's just stating the power of God. He's just making it clear here, because then look at verse 12, And Jethro and Moses' father-in-law took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came and all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. This wasn't some false prophet who's just got saved, because they don't get saved. This was the priest of Midian offering a burnt offering and sacrifice for God, and these other men of God coming and joining in with him. Now that's not to say that there aren't priests of false religions in the Bible. I'm not saying that, because there are. The Philistines have priests of Dagon in 1 Samuel 5, this is just a few that I looked at. Jehu called the priests of Baal in 2 Kings 10 to then slaughter them. Earlier on, if you remember in Judges, that dodgy Levite makes a priest himself, doesn't he? A judge is 17, and it goes on the story into Judges 18. But what I'm speculating here is that perhaps, who knows, Potipharah, priest of on, this Asenath's father, perhaps he was saved. Perhaps there was a priesthood there. Now, you can't know for sure, but maybe there's always been a priesthood. Something I'm wondering about. But again, I'll be interested in some views on that afterwards. But again, I don't know. And also, when I was looking at some pictures of this afterwards, then I was thinking, well, maybe not. Or at least maybe the idea is in the picture, maybe not. But just something to think about. We just don't know for sure, do we? Just because we see priests, we see Egypt. It wasn't that it was only the Hebrews that were saved people. There are other people that are saved throughout the Bible. Again, it's not just clear. Then they preached the Gospel, then they preached the Gospel. These guys are preaching the Gospel, right? How did a lot get saved? How did others get saved? They got saved because the Gospel was preached to them. Verse 40, and that means that there were saved people all over the place. Verse 45 says, And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-pae-en-ia, and he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of on, and Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt, and Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls, and he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt and laid up the food in the cities, the food of the field, which was round about every city, lady up in the same. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much till he left numbering, for it was without number. And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of on, bear unto him. So bear in mind, she's also bearing sons, which end up basically taking on two portions, don't they? Joseph gets the two portions of which the birthright should have gone, obviously, to Reuben, the eldest there. And again, that doesn't mean she was definitely saved, or even that her dad was definitely saved, but it's interesting at least. And Joseph called the name of the first one Manasseh, for God said he had made me forget all my toil and all my father's house, because that's what Manasseh means. And the name of the second called he Ephraim, for God had called me to be fruitful, meaning fruitful in the land of my affliction. So again, you can imagine after everything that he went through, this must have been an amazing time for him. Imagine after everything else, now he's got two sons being born, again, like I said, he must have just been pinching himself, this guy. You know, after, what a hard, what do we say, 13 odd years that he's had up until this point. It does get tougher, but not a lot tougher than that. And the seven years of plenteousness that was in the land of Egypt were ended, and the seven years of Dirth began to come, according as Joseph had said, and the Dirth was in all lands, but in the land of Egypt there was bread. And Dirth basically means famine, okay. Verse 55 says, and when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried unto Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph what he saith to you do. I mean, that's some power there, isn't it? And the famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold unto the Egyptians, and the famine wax saw in the land of Egypt, and all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn, because that the famine was so sore in all lands, which was the start of Egypt becoming the world power that it was at this time, okay. So, and again, there's some different, the historians find it hard with this, you know, because they don't really have enough, they don't really want to trust the Bible, so they're kind of trying to look for anything else they can. But Egypt basically became a world power around this sort of period, they accept that, and this is how it became a world power, really, I believe. Now, at this point, I think that there was some, obviously there was some, you know, they had some power, obviously, but it's from this, because it's all the world. Now, I think that when we look in, you know, other verses, it looks like it was particularly bad, the famine in Egypt and Canaan, because what ended up happening was obviously his brethren and Jacob coming, but it was all around the world, as we see it, wax saw in all the land of Egypt, but it says, and all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn, because the famine was so sore in all lands. So this really, and what happened with Egypt becoming such a power? Well, then, they could be, eventually, they were made such an example of, and the power of God was shown, you know, through that massive world power just getting destroyed, basically, in the Exodus. Now, like I said, I've got, there's a lot of pictures here as well, and we're getting out of time, we're up to about 50-odd minutes so far, so I'm going to wait till next week with that, because I could not get through, I don't think I could get through them in 20, 30 minutes, really. So that took me probably a bit longer than I thought to get there. So we're going to go through the pictures next week, and there's a lot in there, and you know what, actually, it works quite well, because it's something I wanted to preach on anyway, separately in the topical, so we're going to put that all into one sermon next week, so be here next week if you want to hear some preaching and some pictures and some end-time stuff, we're going to have a look at that, and on that, we're going to finish up in prayer. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for, well, the example of Joseph, Lord, and what a great example he is to us, and just what a great man and god he is, and Lord, help us to just follow in his footsteps to try and be more like Joseph, and ultimately, as Joseph just follows in Jesus Christ, well, footsteps to come, and Lord, we thank you for just all the great lessons, the great teachings that we can get out of your word, it's just so rich and just so full of different layers that we can keep peeling back, help me to show those pictures clearly next week, Lord, and help us to just grow in our faith from those as well and understand a bit more about things to come from that, and Lord, help us to just apply what we've heard today, just some of those lessons, some of those teachings, just be confident in that, yeah, there might be power out there, but ultimately, none of it compares to the power of you, and help us to be confident knowing that we're children of you and we have your power within us, Lord, help us to not be fearful of all this sort of magic and stuff out there, and just keep serving you and keep taking strength from the word of God, help us to get home safe and sound tonight, and to have a great soul winning marathon on Saturday. Jesus' name we pray, amen.