Were talking this morning about that sinking feeling, dealing with failure. Peter walked on the water, and then he saw the wind, began to be afraid, and he sunk into the water. Weve all failed. Weve all experienced that sinking feeling when we go under, when the world seems to be coming apart, like our little pre-historic squirrel friend encountered there. In the chapter this week, Pastor Ortberg asked a very important question. He asked why for some people failure is energizing, but for others failure is paralyzing? It energizes them, and they grow from it. Its a catalyst to press on to other things, better things. For others, the fear of it paralyzes them so they wont even act. Or, if theyve acted, the failure devastated them so much that they quit. So, its an interesting dynamic. What weve found in resilient people, people that overcome failures, a very common trait is that when they fail, they persevere. They dont quit. The fear of failure doesnt keep them from taking risks. So, this morning, were going to look at a man by the name of Joseph. Youve heard the expression a mamas boy? Yeah, I was a mamas boy. All right? Well, Joseph is a daddys boy. He is born to Jacob who had 12 sons. He is one of the youngest. Benjamin was younger, but Jacob was one of the youngest sons. He was born to Jacob in his old age, so he became a favorite of Jacob. Jacob did not hide it or try to pretend otherwise. Joseph was his favorite. Joseph, by the way, would flaunt that. Lets begin reading in Genesis 37:2 (page 38 of pew Bibles), Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers…and he brought their father a bad report about them. What does that say to us? Joseph is a, what? A tattletale. Some of you parents, you know what thats like? Mom! Dad! Thats Joseph, only hes not a little toddler. Hes 17 years old. Something happens in the field, and Joseph says, Im telling. Yeah, go ahead Joe! You big baby! So he heads off to tell on his brothers to Dad. He was probably doing this all the time. In fact, theres a deep-seeded hatred that existed long before the faithful events of this chapter. That hatred was fueled by Joseph. Verse 3, Now Israel [or Jacob] loved Joseph more than any of his other sons… I know its kind of nice, I only have one, so I can always tell him, Youre my favorite son and get away with that. …because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. Now, we dont know what that means. Most times, its called the coat of many colors. Theres Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, the musical. Were familiar with the coat. We dont know exactly what it looks like. All we know is it was expensive, it was one of a kind, and Joseph probably flaunted it. Joseph probably let the boys know, Look what Dad made me. Look how cool this is. He wore it everywhere. It was an outward reminder that Joseph was the favorite son, something that caused them great pain. He had a dream one time. It doesnt say in Verse 5 whether the dream was from God or not. It might have been from God. Usually if a dream was from God, it will say, So and so had a dream from God. It doesnt say that here. That doesnt mean it wasnt. Thats just the pattern Scripture usually follows. Whether its a dream from God or not, knowing the content of the dream, the deep-seeded hatred that existed between Joseph and his brothers, it was not in his best interest to share the dream with his brothers because the dream involves the sheaves of grain. Verse 7, …out in the field when suddenly Joseph said, My sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it. His brothers said to him, Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us? And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. He is flaunting that. Once upon a time, when I was a younger man, I used to play basketball, competitively. You wanted to avoid an air ball at all cost because if you ever shot an air ball, and you were in the visiting crowd, the visiting gym, they would let you know about that for a long time. They would start a chant that would go something like this, Air ball, air ball, air ball; so while you were running down the court to play defense, the crowd is chanting air ball to remind you of this bad shot you took that didnt even draw backboard. Thats kind of what Joseph is doing here. Hes just constantly reminding his brothers through his coat, through his dreams, Favorite, favorite, favorite! Dad loves me more! And they just cant stand this guy. And he doesnt quit there. It even gets to the point where even his dad is fed up to here with Joseph. He says he had another dream. Verse 9, Listen, he said, I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon [Mom and Dad] and eleven stars [you guys] were bowing down to me. When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you? Even Joseph got fed up with his arrogance. This is going to lead to a downward spiral of events. The hatred is not a childhood playful thing. Hes 17; theyre all older than him. Theyre grown men. They hate him with a passion. They hate him in an I want to kill him kind of hate. Its very destructive, not childish. Lets put this in perspective. They set up a plan to kill him, and then one of the brothers said, No, hes our flesh and blood. Hes our brother. Lets just get rid of him. Long story short, they sell him into slavery. A caravan of Midianites is coming by. They determine a price. They negotiate over their brother, and they sell Joseph into slavery. Joseph eventually ends up in the land of Egypt. What a dark experience. If you read the chapter, what a cave experience for him. Were certainly not justifying anything that happened or what his brothers did, but what lead him to that point is pride. Thats what brought him there. His pride, his arrogance, everything about Joseph was, Hey, look at me! Its all about me! If Joseph really wanted to have peace with his brother, he would have said, I appreciate the coat, but I cant wear that coat. Do you know how that would make my brothers feel? He would keep that dream to himself. He would say, You know, Im excited about sharing this dream, but I know what it will do to my brothers. No, Joseph wants the attention. Joseph enjoys being the top banana. Hes good looking. The Bible tells us that later on. Hes physically handsome. Hes a well-built young man. His father is rich. Hes his dads favorite. Life is good for Joseph. All of the sudden, its gone. Hes away from his family. Hes away from his mom, his dad, and his brothers, his homeland. Hes in another culture. When bad things happen to us, sometimes its outside of our control; but other times, its not. Other times, we have contributed to our failure. When we fail, we should ask ourselves a question, Why did I fail? Its a valid question, right? Why did I fail? Why did this bad thing happen to me? Sometimes its lack of preparation. Weve jumped the gun. Were simply not ready. It was a good thing that we were undertaking, but we werent ready to make that step. We took that step foolishly because we werent seasoned. We werent prepared. Ive spent many years of my life in preparation for ministry or in ministry, but I will tell you this: if I would have tried to start this work in Janesville any sooner than what I did, we wouldnt have made it. I needed to stay under the leadership of my pastor, gain that experience, make mistakes, learn from it, and glean. It wasnt just enough to have Bible knowledge, but I had to have other knowledge. I would have fallen flat on my face. Some people try good things too soon. They dont get the education. They dont get the experience, and they fail. Thats a valid reason. Others are careless. Its one thing to take a calculated risk. Its another thing to take a foolish risk. Did you hear the sad news about Lindsey Jacobellis, our Olympian who was going to be the first gold medal winner in her event? She is the one who is on all the American Express or Visa commercials. She has frizzy blonde hair. She was on her way, cruising to a gold medal. The silver medallist was a way distant second. She did her next to last jump, got cocky, grabbed her board to show off, style-kind-of thing, and she lost her balance and fell down. The woman just zoomed past her and took the gold, and she was entitled to the gold. She became careless, and sometimes we can become careless in what we do. Others of us, it could be a lack of giftedness. If were going to be honest, were simply not gifted in the area we want to pursue. We just havent faced reality about it. Its like the singers on American Idol who think theyre so good. Youre like, Tell them! Tell them theyre bad! Please tell them that for me! But they just think theyre the next Frank Sinatra or something. Sometimes youre just not cracked up to be what you thought you were. Maybe thats not the gift you thought you had. You have to be brutally honest with yourself and say, I guess thats not me. Other times, its a character flaw. It could be that a person is dishonest. You could be a person who has all the credentials in the world, or all the power in the world, but if youre dishonest, sooner or later, thats going to bring you down. You could be a person who has pride. What does the Bible say? Pride goes before the fall, doesnt it? Josephs problem was pride. He was a prideful man. It was all about Joseph. Look, youre going to bow down, and youre going to worship me. Youre going to bow down and acknowledge me. Im going to be in a position of great authority some day. You watch and see. Theres a reason Dad wants me to be the favorite. Thats because Im the best. Gods going to humble him. If youre going to grow from failure, the most important thing is you have to learn from failure. If you dont learn from your mistakes, what will you do? Youre going to repeat your mistakes. Youve got to learn from your mistakes. Remember reading in the book about the experiment with the pottery? There were two groups: Group A-they had to be concerned with quality. They had to make the perfect pot. They could take as much time as they wanted, work with that pot, and shape it to perfection. That was their task. It was quality. They were to produce the perfect pot. Group B had to work with quantity. Group B had to make all kinds of pots, pounds of pots. They had to try to make a certain amount of pots, so they worked fast to try to produce as many pots as they could in a given period of time. When the experiment was concluded, do you remember which group was better? Which group made better pots? Was it Group A who focused on perfection, or what is Group B who focused on quantity and made mistakes? It was Group B. By far, they were the better pot makers because they learned from their mistakes. They thought, Oh, thats the way not to do it. We wont do it that way again. My daughter was playing checkers with my son the other day, and she kept looking at me, Is this the right move? I said, Im not going to help you. Youre going to have to make your own mistakes, otherwise you wont get any better. She made a good move. My son jumped, and then she jumped back really quick without examining her options. Instead of having a two-for-one, he ended up taking a two-for-one from her that lead to a king. Boy, she didnt like that at all. I said, You know what? You moved in haste. You have to take your time, with every move. What are the consequences of this decision? If I put my piece there, and take my fingers off, whats going to happen to me? If I would have rescued her from that and said, Oh no, no, no, she wouldnt have learned. But I let her go through that, I let her lose her checkers and lose the game. From then on, the rest of the game, boy, she was very fussy about where she put her chess pieces, almost to the point where you want to go, Come on! Your turn! Shes going to be tough next time you play her. Shell be tougher to beat. She learned from her mistakes. When Michael Jordan was in his prime, he was doing commercials all the time. Remember that? You couldnt turn on the TV without seeing a Jordan commercial. One of my favorites was his Gatorade commercial. It was really cool. It was kind of a dark setting, and hes walking out probably after a ball game. He was wearing a long coat, walking past security, nodding at them, walking out of the arena. While hes walking, silently, he is narrating his own commercial, and he says this, Ive missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. Ive lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, Ive been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. Ive failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed. Did you watch the slam dunk competition last night? There was a 5 foot 9 inch guy from New York, tried 14 times to do an incredible dunk; and every time he missed, he learned something until he could finally pull it off. He won the thing! He was only 5 foot 9 inches tall! The way he won it was by jumping over Spud Webb, who was also 5 foot 9 inches and won the dunk competition 20 years ago. He literally jumped over the guy and dunked the ball. If youve not seen that dunk, its amazing! If youve taped it to watch it later, I apologize. I just ruined it for you. Ill not do that in the next service, because I know for a fact some people taped it in that service. So, did Joseph learn from his mistake? Joseph learned. Look at Genesis 41:16 (pg 42). Were jumping ahead. Pharaoh is going to ask him to interpret a dream. He says, I cannot do it, Joseph replied to Pharaoh, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires. Look at Verse 52 of Chapter 41. Joseph has a son, and he names him Ephraim. He said, It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. Joseph learned from his mistakes. Joseph learned. What you see with Joseph from here on out is a humble man who says, Anything I do, any gift of leadership I have, is from God. Any success Ive been granted is from God. Any dreams I can interpret are from God. You find Joseph acknowledging God every opportunity he gets. Joseph is now a humble man. This is a man who has learned that his pride and his arrogance only lead to his heartache. Joseph is going to encounter more problems. Joseph is sold to a man by the name of Potiphar, who is the chief guard of the Pharaoh, a very important man. He was in charge of the prison. He was in charge of executions, not a man you want to mess with. Joseph realizes that. Joseph does such a good job with the affairs of his household that he makes him his number one guy. Potiphar trusts everything to his care. Now, we said that Joseph was a good-looking individual, and Pharaohs wife has a hard time resisting him. She tries to make advances. He resists the advances. She becomes offended and wants to get even, so she sets him up. She grabs his tunic when he pulls away, and then she says, Look what this Hebrew did to me! He tried to seduce me! The husband hears this, and he has Joseph tossed into prison. Now Joseph is in prison for an act he did not commit-he did not do. While in prison, he again has favor. Notice that Joseph is able to develop his gift of leadership even in adverse circumstances. It says he becomes the number one guy in the jail. He leads all the affairs of the jail for the chief jailer. Hes a prisoner, but he leads the prison. Thats an unusual thing, isnt it? Joseph learned that he could use his gift no matter what his circumstances in life. Do you know a definition of success that really has served me well through the years? I always envisioned success as when you attain this position or this level or this thing, and then youre successful. So you never deem yourself successful until you reach that point or that plateau. Someone said to me, Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal. Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal. You may not be what you think you will be someday. You may not be in the position that you want to be right now, but if you are progressing, you are learning, and youre growing and discovering, youre using and developing, then you are a success right now. You dont have to wait until high in the sky, by and by. Youre successful right now. Joseph was a success even in prison, because even in prison, he was using his gifts of leadership and administration, and he was growing in his gifts. So, two men come to him. One is a cupbearer, and one is a baker. They have dreams, and they want Joseph to interpret the dreams. Joseph says, I cant interpret them, but God can. In Genesis 40:14, he says to the cupbearer, But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon. He didnt have to like where he was at. God was able to use him in spite of that, but he didnt have to like it. He didnt have to want to stay there. He wanted out. In Verse 23 (page 42), it says, The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him. [Genesis 41:1} When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream. How easy it is to casually read over Verse 1 of Chapter 41. Two full years had passed. Its one thing that two years is a long time, but to spend those two years in jail? And to spend those two years in jail for a crime you did not commit? The cupbearer forgot him. I was reading the top ten things that Bill Gates passes on to the next generation. The number one thing he says is, Life isnt fair. Learn that early. Were trying to teach politically correctness in our society. Everybodys a winner. Everybody gets a A. There are no wrong answers. He says, Thats not life. Life is not fair. Life is often unjust. How will you respond to that? The cupbearer forgot him. People are going to forget you. People are going to pass you by for promotions. People are not going to notice what youve done. There will be people who will judge you, people that will judge your motives, people that will judge you without getting the facts, and people that will gossip about you. I found out being a pastor certainly doesnt exempt you from that. In fact, you get some pretty sizzling arrows shot at you ever once in a while. Boy, if you knew the story, you wouldnt be shooting that arrow at me! But it happens. Its a part of life. People are going to mistreat you. People are going to judge you. People are going to forget you. Its going to happen. What will you do when those setbacks come? What did Joseph do? Does Joseph quit? Does Joseph say, Well, if this is what it means to follow God, then forget about it!? Some people do, you know. Some people get offended and quit. How many of us know somebody who was once actively involved in a local church? But a pastor hurt them, somebody on the board hurt them, or a ministry hurt them. They said, If this is what it means to be a Christian, if this is what it means to belong to a church, Im out of here! Anybody know anybody like that? Sure. Things go bad in the work place, If this is what it means to work here, Im gone. People will even do that with family members. If somebody is offended in the family, theyll write the family off. If this is what it means to be your son or daughter, if this is what it means to be your dad or mom… whatever it is, people actually write off family members because they were offended or hurt. Instead of choosing to forgive, they become bitter and quit. Joseph could have easily done that. He could have said, You wanted me to be a great leader, and here I am in prison for something I didnt do. Here I am sold into slavery. If thats what it means to follow you, God, Im out of here! If you want to treat me like a criminal, Ill act like a criminal. Joseph doesnt do that. Joseph overcame the setbacks because he knew that God had a purpose for his life. He would wait. It wasnt where he knew he would be someday. He didnt see the jail as his future, that cave experience as his destiny, but he persevered because he knew God was with him. He persevered because he knew in spite of those adverse conditions, he was going to grow. What does the Bible say? The Bible says, Humble yourselves under Gods mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. If you think youre not where you need to be, youre not where God wants you to be, persevere. Just like pride leads to a fall, humility will lead to exaltation. In Genesis, Chapter 41:39-40, it happens, Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to you… By the way, Pharaoh had a dream, and in Pharaohs dream (theres a couple different dreams. They all meant the same thing.), there were seven really healthy cows, and they were swallowed up by seven gaunt cows with ribs showing. They were starved. Joseph says, That means seven years of plenty are coming, and then seven years of famine are coming. So youve got to store up for it, and youve got to save from the time of plenty so that you will have enough when the time of famine comes. Pharaoh says in Verse 39, Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. Because Joseph had learned humility, God was able to exalt him. Hed learned from his mistakes. Hed rebounded from that character flaw that he had. He became a person of great influence. He became a person of great leadership who would lead a nation, in fact, an entire region, that being the greatest power of that day. Pharaoh was the most powerful man, and now Joseph was the second most powerful man in the known world. He was faithful. He persevered in spite of his setbacks. In spite of his character defects, he learned and he overcame. Now the drama gets even more intense when his family comes to Egypt to pursue grain because Jacob has sent them there. Joseph doesnt know the fate of his father. Hes accepted the fact that hes in Egypt. This is his life. This is his destiny. Hell never see his brothers or his father again, but thats all about to change. He recognizes them, but they dont him. He was 17 when the event took place, and now hes a man close to 40 years old. He looks different. Hes in a setting they dont expect to see him in. They think hes long gone or dead. Hes speaking Egyptian. Hes using an interpreter to speak to them. They dont know that he can understand them, so one thing leads to another. He decides to keep Benjamin, the youngest, and they know thats going to cause grief to their father, Jacob, so Judah begins to beg for Benjamin to be able to return to their father. Then, Joseph breaks. He cant take it anymore. He has to disclose whom he is to these men. He has everybody leave the room except his brothers. He cries so loud that the Egyptians in the palace can hear whats going on. Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 45:3, I am Joseph! Is my father still living? But his brothers were not able to answer him because they were terrified at his presence. Theyre thinking, Uh oh. Were toast. Uh oh. This is the same guy we sold into slavery, and now he is the second most powerful man in the world. He could have our lives at the snap of his fingers. If Joseph is as angry and bitter as we are, were done. But thats not what Josephs heart is like. In Verse 4, Joseph says, Come close to me, When they had done so, he said, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years, there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. You know what humility is? Humility is not saying, Im a scumbag. Im not worthy of anything. Im no good to anybody. I cant do anything. Thats not humility. What that is, is a debasing self-image that will hurt you. Thats not what God wants you to think. Do you want your children to feel that way about themselves? Certainly not. Nor does God want his children to feel that way. Thats not humility when you say, Im just scum. Im just nothing. Humility is when you have a realistic view of yourself, how youre gifted, and how youre wired, and you give glory to it-to God. Joseph says, Im a leader. God made me to be a leader. God put gifts of administration in me. He put gifts of delegation in me. He put gifts of leadership in me, that I can influence people, and I can make a difference in their lives. Thats simply the way it is. But God is the one who made me this way. God is the one who gets the glory. Joseph says, God sent me ahead of you to save lives because he knew I could. He knew He gifted me to do that. Hes given me a mind that thinks through these kinds of problems and is able to lead change of a nation. God has equipped me in that way. Friends, if God has made you a teacher, theres nothing wrong with saying, You know what? God has given me the gift of teaching. Im going to use that gift to help people and to serve the Lord. If God has made you a craftsman, and you can build things, or youre a mechanic and you can fix things, theres nothing wrong with acknowledging that and saying, You know Gods given me the ability to fix things or Gods given me the ability to build things. Im going to do that. Im going to help people and serve the Lord. Gods given you the ability to make money. You can be arrogant about that or you can say, You know, Gods given me the ability to be a good businessman and make sound decisions. Im going to use my ability to make money to help people and to build the church and serve the Lord. Gods given you a smart mind, and you can figure things out, or you can sing, or be an athlete. It was amazing to me. I told you Im now into American Idol. I am so bad that I went to the Bio page to look at the backgrounds of the contestants. Im going to say like 18/25 sounded like they were Christians. The first person you want to thank if you win this competition? God, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Over and over and over again. These young people are saying, We have an ability, but that ability was given to us by God. Thats not pride. Thats not arrogance. Thats healthy. Joseph had gone from being this prideful, arrogant young man, Its all about me. Look at me! Im going to be great! to a broken, soft man. Even when he was in the second-most powerful position in the known world, he was humble and contrite and said, Anything Ive accomplished, God gets the glory. He learned from his failures. He learned through the difficulties of life. He refused to allow setbacks to detour him. He expected those setbacks. He knew life wasnt fair, but he persevered through them. He came to a very realistic understanding of who he was in his God. At this time, Gordy, Steve, and Jerry, are going to come and minister to us in a song called Cry Out to Jesus (Lyrics @ http://www.christianrocklyrics.com/thirdday/cryouttojesus.php) Its a song that speaks about this very thing, that when we are in those times of sinking feeling, one of those times when we feel like were going to be all alone here. As Joseph was traveling in that caravan, looking up at the stars in that Middle Eastern sky, how abandoned must he have felt? But he knew God was there. As Joseph looked up at the ceiling in his prison cell, in that dark dungeon, how lonely and afraid he must have been. How alone he must have felt, but he knew God was with him. If youre in a cave experience, or youre going through overcoming failure or loss at this time, or fear, let this song minister to you as they sing about crying out to Jesus.