The Trust Decision

Destination. Are we ready. You made the right decision today. You know why.

Cuz you're in church. You made a good decision. Look at somebody next to you and say, "You made a good decision. " And I promise that if you do it right now, that's the only time I'll make you look at somebody and say something, introverts.

I I trust me, even though I made you do that, you made the right decision by being at church today because our lives, all of you in here, is just an accumulation of a bunch of different decisions. Sometimes they're big decisions, right. Big life-changing, monumental things, and sometimes they're just really tiny ones like what am I going to eat after church today. I'm going to eat pizza.

And and so like there there's big decisions, there's little decisions, but every big and little decision has the ability to almost change the direction of your life, right. And so every yes, every no that we give can dictate our lives to turn it in a different way. And so one of the greatest spiritual skills that you and I can develop, I believe, is making not just good decisions, but God centered decisions.

And so we've been in this series for the last two weeks. And my prayer for each and every one of you here today and for everybody here at Destination is that we would be people that don't just make good decisions, but we make God- centered, God glorifying decisions that work for our good and his glory, right. Are you guys with me. Is it a good decision to keep going.

>> It would be really weird if you said no. I mean, if you wanted to, I could just scoot off. I'm kidding.

, I'm glad you're with me because I've loved this message series. If you've missed the last two weeks, I want to kind of recap where we've been, , to to get you up to speed. Okay, so we've looked at this guy named Joseph.

This isn't Mary and Joseph from the the Christmas story. This is the original Joseph in the book of Genesis, okay. The first book of your Bible.

And , we met Joseph, a 17-year-old boy on week one. And he was sold into slavery by his brothers. And so we looked at his brother's decisionmaking skills.

And we looked at how our emotions, the things that we feel are real, but they make real bad decision makers. So that was week one. Week two, last week we looked at Joseph's decisions.

Now, Joseph was a successful slave and prisoner. And I know those two statements kind of seem contradictory of one another, but Joseph in all of his decisions through his slavery, through his imprisonment chooses integrity. And that integrity chooses the God-honoring decisions in every tension that you and I have.

Now today the big idea is this that trust begins where control ends. Okay, this is the this is the head that we're going to hit here in the story of Joseph. Now this statement alone can bring a lot of feelings.

But I want to kind of bridge the context of where we're going to be today with a little bit of a story. Back in 2019, my wife and I were feeling from God like we were supposed to move from our house. And it was a really difficult decision because we had this beautiful 100-year-old flip house that was very well-maintained.

We had a really nice park across the street from our house that we would walk in all the time. , and it was it was a great place to live except for the neighborhood kept getting increasingly more and more unsafe for us. , which is a story for another day. But I remember as we were kind of praying about whether or not we should move, , do you guys ever have like unhinged prayers.

Okay, I can't be the only one that has unhinged prayers. Okay, I'm going to feel really alone here in this second. , sometimes I'll just start talking to God and I don't know if what's coming out is really like appropriate to say to God, right. Okay, this is one of those instances.

Okay, so I'm praying and I'm like, God, I need you to make it really obvious that we are supposed to move from where we are at right now. I often times will say this from stage. I pray this very often. God, make it obvious because I'm oblivious.

We want God to make it obvious. And so I'm praying and there's this for context outside of our house. One of the reasons why it was unsafe is because there was a four-way intersection with no stop sign. And so I started praying about that unsafe intersection and I said, "God, if we are supposed to stay here, put a stop sign at the intersection so I know it's safe. " And it's like God's way of saying stop, don't move.

And but then I said, unhinged prayer moment. And I said, "If if it's not, God, make it really obvious outside. Like, have something happen out there that just like shows it, right.

" , so a couple of days later, , I hear a big boom from the inside of our house. I open the front door to see car parts in our lawn. And everyone's okay in this instance, but two cars had sideswiped each other.

And the car parts that were scattered in our yard would have been where my kids were playing. And so I'm like, "Okay, God made it obvious. " So I start the process of house hunting, which gosh, if you're in that, let's pray for you. , and it was a long process. And in the process, , what I learned is that I was trusting God with this big decision.

But then, if I'm being honest with myself, I slowly started to take over the process. So, as we were looking at houses, each house was a collection of different dreams and opportunities of what we could do in that house. And each house had new obligations.

What do we have to maintain. What do we have to update. I'd write procon lists.

And I'd come up with all of these ways to go about our offer, right. And then time after time of making house offers was just met with discouragement after discouragement. And what I had forgotten in this process of looking and inspecting and all of the failed offers is that the God that I trusted to lead me to this decision was no longer the God that I was trusting with the outcome.

I was trying to control the outcome. And so one day we started looking at homes that were out of our price range that had been sitting on the market for over 30 days. And we found a fixeruppper in the neighborhood that my oldest daughter was going to school.

We made a really low offer and we prayed and we trusted and we prayed more and we got the house. And it was this amazing story of God kind of refining me in this opportunity to trust instead of taking control. And has anything like that ever happened to you.

Where you set off with some kind of decision to make only to realize that you're trying to take that control and control that outcome. And that's what we're going to see in Joseph's story. Not only in Joseph, but in ourselves. Am I trying to control the outcome. So, if you have a Bible next to you, grab it and pull it open to page 36.

We're going to be in Genesis 40-41. Yes, two chapters of Genesis today. I hope you don't have lunch plans.

I'm kidding. I talk fast, so don't worry about it. But hey, by the way, if you don't have a Bible, take that one home with you.

We've given away ready almost 200 Bibles as a church. And I'm really really psyched about that number cuz that number gets Bibles into the hands of people that want to be transformed by the word. And so we believe that we go to the word for all of these big answers to all of life's big questions. The other thing that I would say just as a quick caveat before we start reading, , take notes. Take notes because I believe that God is going to bring you to decisions, big ones and small ones, and you're going to need to look back on some of this stuff to see how God was speaking to you.

Now, I want you to remember Joseph was in prison or he was a slave and then he was falsely accused and then thrown into prison. And that's where we're picking up the story. So, it says this, sometime later, sometime later, he's in prison as a prison guard.

And sometime later, remember that detail, the cup bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with the two officials, the chief cup bearer and the chief baker, and put them into custody in the house of the captain of the guard. In the same prison, oh, this is convenient.

In the same prison where Joseph was confined, the captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph. And he that's Joseph attended them after they had been in custody for some time. Each of the two men, the cup bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt who were being held in prison had a dream the same night.

And each dream had a meaning of its own. Now, I want you to lock in on on verse six here. Look at this conversation.

When Joseph came to them the next morning and saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh's officials who were in her were in their custody with the master's house. Why do you look so sad today.

We both had dreams, they answered, but there is no one to interpret them. Then Joseph said, do not interpretations belong to God. Tell me your dreams.

Okay, I want to pause here because what we can do as we read the book of Genesis and read the the story of Joseph is we can get so entrenched into like wanting to hear what this dream is that we miss these little details that are happening here. This is so cool because what Joseph does here is he is in prison and he has an obligation to fulfill but he goes above and beyond that obligation and chooses ownership. And this is what trust does over control.

Trust chooses ownership over obligation. And what I mean by that is that Joseph could have just did his prison guard thing, right. Like he could have just like ignored the fact that they were looking dejected and he could have ignored asking them, "Why do you feel sad.

" And he could have ignored the request about the the dreams, right. But Joseph kind of goes above and beyond and takes ownership of the assignment that God had put and the opportunity that God had put right in front of him because there's a contrast here. Obligation for us says, "What do I have to do.

When ownership says, "What can I do to make things better. " One clocks in and one leans in. And let's be honest, I'll make this confession time for me, okay.

If this applies to you, we'll we'll see. But you and I sometimes will do what is just asked of us or the bare minimum or just do enough to get by the path of least resistance. And we do this because it makes sense. But we miss sometimes that through those obligations that God is sometimes trying to present to us an opportunity, an opportunity to to share our faith, to share his love or to even experience his love.

Take for example a coach. Okay, my dad is a coach, my brother-in-law is a coach, and I I've watched both of them coach. And you would see or say that the obligation of a coach is to, you know, teach the players how to play the game, right.

It's to run the practices and win games, right. It's what we're all hoping that the Vikings do. So, we're that's that's what we're like imparting onto our coaches, right.

But every great coach knows that that isn't the real job because great coaches take ownership. They don't just build athletes, they build people. They teach discipline.

They teach character and teamwork and confidence. And years later, very few players will remember the score. They won't remember the record at the end of the day, but they're going to remember the coach that changed their life.

And that's why in every sports movie that we've ever seen, right, the ending isn't just about the championship. It's about the transformation that each of the players went through, right. That's the same idea here is that when we take ownership, God is going to use that ownership to build something way more beautiful than we could have built if we were just fulfilling obligation. Colossians - 24 says it like this. Whatever, it's what your teenagers love to say to you.

Whatever you do, whatever you do, work at it with some of your heart. Is that what it says. All of your heart as if you're working for who. The Lord and not human masters.

Since you know that you have received an inheritance from the Lord as your reward, it is the Lord Christ you are serving. Here's the big idea in Joseph's character arc here and for you and I in choosing trust over control. Wherever God has placed you, serve him fullheartedly.

Serve him fullheartedly. If you are a teacher, teach to the glory of God. If you're a manager, lead people in the glory of God.

If you're in health care, care for people as if you're caring for Jesus himself. If you're in the trades, build with excellence because your work represents Jesus. If you're a stay-at-home mom, know that just to love those kids that God has entrusted you with because he has. If you're a student, middle schoolers, talking to you, man. Study to the glory of God.

Not just to check something off, but to learn something new. And if you're retired, guess what. You're not done.

God still has an assignment for you to encourage and mentor and invest into the next generation. The question isn't do I like where God has me. The question is will I take ownership of where God has placed me, what God has put in front of me.

And Joseph takes ownership in verse 9. Okay, this is what's going to happen. I'm going to summarize because if we're going to read all of these chapters, you're going to hear a lot of redundancy.

, this is kind of what happens here is there's a cup bearer and there is a baker and Joseph wants to interpret their dreams. And so the cup bearer, he goes first. He explains his dream and then Joseph says, "You're going to be restored in 3 days to your position. " It's a good dream. In other words, he's interpreting it for him and he's saying, "You're going to it's going to go well with you.

And then verse 14, look at verse 14. Follow the numbers down to 14. Joseph asks him one little thing after this positive interpretation of his dream.

He says, "But when it goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness. Mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. " Okay, this is a very logical request of Joseph.

He's helping the cup bearer and the cup bearer in turn once he gets restored can help Joseph be restored as well. And so now the baker is like ooh ooh do me next like interpret my dream now. And Joseph interprets his dream and it's not a good outcome for the baker. Okay, he is not going to get restored.

As a matter of fact, he's going to get executed. And so Joseph gives him a very unfortunate interpretation. Now, here's what's crazy.

The interpretations that Joseph gives is exactly what happens. The cup bearer gets restored in 3 days and the baker gets executed. And so, you would think that this request in verse 14 would be a really simple one, right. That the cup bearer would be like, "Wow, everything happened like that guy in the prison said it should, so I should remember him and talk to. " Do you think that's what happened.

Look at verse 23. The chief cup bearer, however, did not remember Joseph. He forgot him. It's at this point, we have to just sit in this for a second, that at this point, Joseph has had a rough life. From 17, he's been betrayed by his brother, sold into slavery, falsely accused, thrown into prison.

Then finally, he gets a shot to get out of prison, and it doesn't happen. It just doesn't it's not happening for Joseph. Now, what was cool is when I was reading this story, the story of Joseph to my 8-year-old boy, I ended on chapter 40 or where we're at right now, I ended.

And he goes, "Wait. " Cuz he kind of knew a little bit about the Joseph story. He was like, "Wait, so how long did Joseph wait. " Look at what chapter 41 starts out with. It says, "When two whole years have passed.

" Okay, I want you to keep in mind so far how many times this story has said, "Sometime has passed. Some time has passed. " Now we have a full two years of Joseph being completely forgotten.

That's 730 more mornings waking up wondering why am I here. That's 7 and 30 more mornings where he fell asleep thinking is anybody going to get me out of here. And what Joseph was doing in those two years I have to imagine was trusting during the delay. That is something that is absolutely essential to you and I if we want to trust in God for the big decisions over taking control is trust during the delay.

Now here's the truth about this from a scripture perspective. We don't exactly know what Joseph felt after being forgotten, right. But I would imagine that in those two years of time, there had to have been some kind of discouraging days where he was like, "Man, this was finally it and and now nothing's happening.

" But just because nothing was happening from Joseph, it didn't mean that God wasn't working. And the same is true in your life, in our lives. But the truth is is that sometimes we mistake God's delay for God's denial when in reality his delay is actually his development.

God is developing you in the delay. And we assume that sometimes if God hasn't answered that it's a denial. And and it's true that sometimes God does say no.

But sometimes God is simply saying, "Wait, I'm doing something in this process. " And if we view delay as punishment, it can get us really just kind of just not really in a good place with God. And so what we need to be careful of is to know that in delay there is preparation happening in your heart, in your mind, in your actions, in your character. Okay, let me give you an example of this.

I I've talked about this often, but before I was in ministry, I worked as a full-time security guard at a hospital, okay. In the emergency room. And let me tell you, when I graduated high school, I did not think, man, you know what I really want to do. I want to get minimum wage, work a third shift at a hospital, and be the next Paul Bart mall cop.

Like, I that was not on my my list of things. But, , it was an opportunity for me to provide for my life, to provide for, , my daughter at the time, and to try and figure out life. But I remember just thinking night after night, day after day, man, I would rather be anywhere else but here. I would rather be doing anything else than this job right now.

And what I was doing not really fully realizing it was fulfilling this first point that we went over. I was trusting God with what he had put in front of me. And so every night as I look back, I was sharing my faith with doctors, with nurses, with people that were in the emergency room, with people that were having the literal worst night of their life. I got to sit bedside with some of them.

And so in that process, God was developing in me a different sense of calling of character that would unfold later in my life and is still unfolding in my life. God's delay does not mean he isn't working in your heart and in your mind. God is doing something.

And as soon as I became content with that, I I have this vivid memory of going around and praying on my nighttime routine as a security guard. I was like, God, I'm finally just going to be content. If this is where you've placed me, I'm going to be content and I'm going to glorify your name the most that I can as a nighttime security officer.

You know what happened. Two weeks later, I got a message from a friend who said, "Hey, our church is hiring for a youth and worship pastor. Is that something that you would be interested in. " And that started full-time ministry for me. Here's the point.

What I saw as delay, God saw as development. And sometimes the most faithful thing that you can do, aside from listening to God's direction on when you're supposed to move, sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is to stay planted in the place that God has placed you. And know that just because there's a delay doesn't mean God is saying no.

Maybe God is trying to develop you in that delay. And that's exactly what God does in Joseph. Okay, he doesn't force open the next door, but the next door, just like my security story, happens for him.

Okay, so let's pick up in in this next chapter. It says Pharaoh had a dream. All right, now we're going to get Pharaoh's dream. Just as forewarning, you ever tell a dream to somebody and you feel slightly insane as you're explaining it. If you're like, "Oh, it makes sense in my head cuz, you know, I was there.

" But then when you're spewing it out and the person's looking at you like, "Yeah. " , that's that's what's happening here. So, let's let's just read that with that in mind. , Pharaoh had a dream where he's standing by the Nile, and when he's out of the river, there comes seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, , seven other cows, ugly and grunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those of the riverbank.

The cows that were ugly ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. And then Pharaoh woke up. It's a weird one. He's gonna have another one. He fell asleep again and had a second dream.

This is the night of dreams for him. Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stock. After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up by the seven healthy full heads.

Then Pharaoh woke up. It had been a dream in the morning. His mind was troubled.

This is one of those dreams that you can't forget. You know, usually you fall back asleep, you he can't forget. He was troubled by it.

So he sent for the magicians, the wise men of Egypt, and Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him. Bonus point here. , how many times do you and I go to wisdom of the world before going to God first.

Like this is exactly what Pharaoh is doing here. He's going to the magicians, the self-help, the AI. He's going to Google and he's like, "I had this weird dream.

Can you tell me about it. " Like that's what's happening here. But then look at who finally remembers Joseph after 2 years. He must have made an impression.

Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, "Today I'm reminded of my shortcomings. " Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. Each of us had a same dream, and each dream had a meaning of its own.

Now, a young Hebrew, this is Joseph, was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams and get this, he interpreted them just as as they happened and the things turned out exactly as he interpreted to us. I was restored to my position and the other guy was impaled.

Okay, you remember that Pharaoh. That's what he's saying here. Then he says, "So Pharaoh sent for Joseph and he was quickly brought up from the dungeon and he shaved his head. His clothes were changed. He made look for presentable for Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, as soon as Joseph is before the king, picture this. I had a dream, but no one can interpret it. But I have heard that you, when you hear a dream, can interpret it.

Don't read the next line. Get the tension of this. Lock into the tension of this.

Can you imagine for Joseph. He has been waiting years and has never had an opportunity like this to stand in front of the Pharaoh. He's standing right there in front of him. And all the Pharaoh is teeing him up.

Is is setting Joseph up to say, "Hey, I heard you're the guy that can do what I need. I heard you're the guy that can interpret the dreams. " Look at what Joseph responds with in verse 16. I cannot do it. I cannot do it, Joseph replied to Pharaoh.

But God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires. In the moment where he could have taken credit, Joseph instead uses this opportunity to build God's glory more than his reputation. And this is the third thing that trust chooses.

Trust chooses his presence over your performance. A lot of time when we make choices, you and I want to go solely based on our performance, what we can bring. And if we want to let go of control, we need to know that a lot of times when we're trying to control an outcome, it's with performance. Think about it like this. What is the goal of a resume.

It's to tell people why you're the right person for the job, right. What's the point of a job interview. It's to convince somebody that I'm the best candidate, right.

And don't get me wrong, cuz this can be really misinterpreted really fast. Performance has its place, right. If I walked into a church interview to to interview for like a pastor job and I said, "Hey, I can't do this job, but God can. " Like, they'd probably be like, "Thanks, but no thanks.

" It's like there needs to be some proof of God moving. Joseph isn't saying that he didn't have preparation and that he can't do this task. But what he is saying is that the confidence for what he is about to do is coming from God. You see, Joseph's greatest qualification wasn't his performance.

It was God's presence. It was God's presence in his life. And that destination is your greatest too.

It's God's presence in your life. And this for Joseph, I you can see it proved because now he gets to interpret the dream. And so if you read verses 28 through32, this is what Joseph kind of says. He in summary says that there's going to be seven years of really good abundance. There's going to be great livestock.

There's going to be awesome you know animals, different things, food, everything is going to be provided for for seven years. And then he says the ugly cows, the the grain that's been scorched up, that represents the next seven years. The next seven years are going to be completely opposite. Joseph says, he says the next seven years are going to be a famine. And then Joseph says, he interprets those two dreams and then he says this.

He says,"Allow me to make a plan for you, Pharaoh. " And he makes this plan for Pharaoh. He says, "For the next seven years, I want you to store up all of the things, all of this abundance, so that for the following seven years, you can provide for people. " And Pharaoh is so taken by this interpretation. And he is so taken by Joseph's plan to to address this dream and he is just he so he puts Joseph in charge.

He gives him more responsibility. Now pause just for a second. How many times have we seen this happen to Joseph.

He gets put and treated as a slave and then all of a sudden he is the slave with the most responsibility. Then he's put in prison and then he is the prisoner with the most responsibility. Now he is before Pharaoh and Pharaoh's like, I'm going to give all of this job to Joseph. And listen, it's not because of his giftedness.

It's not because he's organized. It's not because he has a resume. It's because of what it says in verse 38. The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to his officials.

So verse 38, so Pharaoh asked, "Can we find anyone like this man on one in whom is the spirit of God. " You see this is what we need to know to get the statement, the weight of this statement. Does anybody remember, you can shout it out from week one how old Joseph was when he was pulled into slavery. 17 years old.

He was 17 years old. And remember how many times we've read this phrase last week and this week that some time had passed. Some time had passed.

Do you know what we find out at the end of this chapter and at the beginning of the next that at this point Joseph is 30 years old. Okay, 17 to 30 years old. That is 13 years. That is 13 years in this trust and dependence and wanting to take control. And how did Joseph make it when life was unfair.

When he was mistreated or forgotten, how how did Joseph continue. And how can we continue when we don't feel that sense of God's presence in our lives. It is with this very thing that Pharaoh notices with the spirit of God.

You see, in order to trust God fully with an outcome, instead of controlling an outcome, it requires the Holy Spirit. That's the gift that Jesus gave to you and I. And control is often our attempt to play the Holy Spirit's role with only what the Holy Spirit can do in our lives.

And the Holy Spirit wasn't given to each and every one of us who believe to make us more self-sufficient. It was to make us more God dependent. Paul teaches of this in Galatians chapter 5. He says this, "Since then we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. " And so what Paul is saying here, what we learn from Joseph's story is that in every decision that you and I make, we sometimes have this tendency to want to veer off of those decisions, to not keep in step.

But God gave us what he called as a helper, a person in whom is the Holy Spirit who walks with us, who guides us. And for us not to trust that is for people like Pharaoh not to notice that there is God living in us and through us and guiding us. And so for us that trust begins where control ends. This is the trust decision that you and I make. So to recap, you and I in our trust and control, okay, we are to take ownership.

Wherever God has placed you, serve him fullheartedly. Trust God in the delay. Don't mistake God's delay for God's development. And lastly, choose his presence. Let God's presence, let the direction of the Holy Spirit shape your life more than your performance.

And as we respond to this, I believe that God is calling all of us to a deeper level of trust in him. So I want to just invite you to to bow your heads, close your eyes for a second. This is something that we do every week at Destination. Not meant to be weird, but just something to just shut out the noise and just really make way for God to speak to you. And as I invite the worship team up and we respond, , I want to ask you this question.

Every single person in this room, what do you need to do today to trust God more tomorrow. What do you need to do today to trust God more tomorrow. For some of you, it might be taking the first step. It might be saying, "I just need to put my trust in the one who sees all, who knows all, who is with me, and who loves me.

" And I promise you that will be the best decision you ever make to put your trust in Jesus. And so, if that's you, I want to pray for you today. Our prayer partners want to pray with you today.

We can meet you at the back table. But for the rest of us, for those of us who have been following Jesus, Jesus is calling you to a deeper level of trust. Will you trust him today. With the thing that you're trying to control, with the thing that you're trying so desperately to hold on to, when God is saying, "Give it to me. My burden is light.

I can carry it for you. Give it to me. I will guide your steps. Give it to me.

I will make your path straight. Give it to me. I haven't left.

This is just a delay. God is with you. He's calling you to trust on him with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but trust in him.

So, let me pray for you. God, we thank you so much that you are here. In every high and every low, God, we will bless your name.

We will walk in trust knowing that you are good, that you are great, that you see all, that you see what you're developing in us, that we don't need to walk from your presence, that your presence is with us. And so God, let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us praise your name and let us trust and end control and follow you with our whole hearts in Jesus name.