Gen 50:19+20, But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? "And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. 
	We are in the midst of seeing that everything that comes into our lives comes through the Hand of God in operation. As with Joseph, although his brothers had almost killed him, then sold him into slavery, after which he was falsely accused and thrown into prison, God used all of that to bring him to the place where he would be instrumental in the very survival of his entire family. 
	Joseph could easily have looked at his circumstances and been revolted and disgusted at his treatment. Then, with rightful retribution, he could have taken vengeance upon both his brothers and those in Egypt who had so mistreated him. If that had been the case, there would have been no more family of Israel by which the blessing of God could proceed forth unto us through Christ Jesus. 
	This brings us to the passage to the Corinthian Church in which the Apostle Paul explains the reality of seeing beyond our earthly circumstances into the truth of what God is manifesting, no matter how much difficulty and tribulation are a part of our walk in this life. Please open your Bibles to 2 Cor 4:15-5:1. 2 Cor 4:15-5:1, For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
	It is imperative, as Christians, that we come to know the full impact of what the Apostle is relating to us. Just as with all scripture, this is a passage in which we can take comfort and encouragement on a number of levels. One of those understanding sequences is especially for those of us whose physical bodies are slowly or not so slowly deteriorating with the passage of time, or through illness, or through improper maintenance, or substance abuse, or neglectful choices. On whatever basis we may find ourselves physically, we are facing the mortality of this earthly life. Yet, in Christ, we know that our physical bodies are not going to be our prisons for eternity. God has a perfect body prepared for us which will allow us to praise and to honor Him for all the ages to come without any physical issues, or illness, or suffering, or limitations.
	In another vein of encouragement, this passage speaks to us as we are mentality deteriorating, as well. Our capacities and our acuity are diminishing with each passing hour. Those things which once were so easy: learning, memorizing, remembering, conceptualizing, being coherent, are becoming more and more of a challenge as we face each day’s stresses and strains. Yet, in spite of this, we are to count on God to manifest Himself in our every waking moment to always and faithfully see us through to that which will glorify Him. 
	On a very personal note, even when my dad was at the worse point of his battle with Alzheimer’s, there was truly in evidence a heart and mind that remembered the Lord. There was sensitivity in his being when we prayed together or sang songs of praise or talked about the Lord. He would calm down and there was an apparent recognition of the fact that God was so important and that Christ was at work in spite of dad’s declining mental capacity. 
	These are but two avenues of the renewal and the promise that we have concerning the fact that God rules and overrules despite anything that is part of our daily experience in this realm. We must learn to keep our eyes and our minds and our hearts focused on Him rather than upon what is physically evident. Ask the Holy Spirit to work in you and in me to see beyond the so limited range of this earth to the reality of God at work so that we can give thanks to the glory of God in all of His creation. 
	Now, please turn to Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 1, verses 19-24. In this passage we have the Apostle stating that he does not fear the loss of his physical life. As a matter of fact, he would prefer to be at home with the Lord. However, for the sake of those who are in such need of his encouragement and his preaching of Christ crucified, Paul knew that his life was not his own to do with as he might prefer. Rather, each day was another opportunity to declare and to rely upon the grace and the mercy of God to be livingly expressed in the life that he was given to proclaim the truth of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. 
Phil 1:19-24, For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. 
	No matter what the Apostle encountered with regard to the treatment of his physical body by the powers of this realm, he knew that he was in the hands of God for the sake of the testimony of Jesus Christ on this earth. He counted on the Lord to give him every provision and strength to meet each day’s need and trial. He did not put any blame on God for the treatment that he was receiving at the hands of this realm. He pointed to the fact that his life was Christ’s to do with as would bring honor and glory and praise to God Almighty.
	The Writer to the Hebrews brings this to the forefront, as well in Heb 12:4-13, if you would now turn to it. Heb 12:4-13, You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives." It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. 
	Hopefully, it is becoming very evident that what we often see as punishment at the hands of this age is, in truth and reality, being used by God for the sake of establishing us into the eternal glory of Christ. Because He so loves us, He brings us through these times of toil and stress and trial and tribulation that will bring forth the very life and righteousness of Christ into us for the sake of a living relationship with Himself. This is the core of all that we undergo on this earth as we learn to walk in the light of Jesus Christ illuminating our every step. He is not beating us down to make us beg for mercy and for relief. He is working in us to the point at which we will know that He is our every source of supreme strength and comfort and energy and wisdom and assurance and love and supply. The vast treasury of heaven and all its glory is ours in the person of Jesus Christ as we so learn to draw and to live from Him and to count on Him to be our everything, every moment of every day that we live.
	Brother James also emphasizes this as we read in James 1:2-4, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. … that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. That is what God is doing in our lives. He is creating that which will stand throughout eternity in the perfection of Jesus Christ. All that He does He does in order to bring us into the fullness of knowing God as our Heavenly Father Who has only our best interest in love in His heart after us. 
Please note that we are to count it all joy in the fact that God is at work in our lives to so bring us into the spiritual and physical endurance which is able to hold up under even the greatest stresses and strains upon our lives and bodies. We are to look to the fact that it is the great love of God in operation to manifest Himself into the perfection of what our lives are to be in Christ. It all works to bring us heart to heart into the faith which looks beyond the visible unto the invisible which is the eternal glory of God’s so great salvation. 
	The Apostle Peter picks up this theme and this walk of faith into all the joy of our salvation in Jesus Christ as we can read in his first letter, 1 Peter 1:3-9. 1 Peter 1:3-9, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 
	 All the fiery trials of this brief period on earth, amounting to mere decades, does not compare to what is ours in the full weight of eternity in Jesus Christ! Not one of these writers of the New Testament is stating that this is an easy road. Not one of them is telling us that everything will be comfy and cozy after we accept the free gift of God’s salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Rather, every one of them is stating the exact opposite. This life will be filled with all sorts of trials and dilemmas and situations and tribulations that will bring us to our knees in need before God. And that is the purpose! That is the reason for each testing of fire! They serve to burn away any other dependence and thought that we can do all this on our own. We are brought, in all honesty, to see that we are absolutely incapable of living the Christian life by ourselves. It is all wrapped up and possible only as we learn to live by the faith that God is ruling and overruling in even the smallest detail of our lives. Nothing is possible for us apart from utter reliance upon God to bring us to the point of the very prayer of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Not my will, but Thine be done in the every instant of my life. 
We are in the process of knowing Jesus Christ as our life. It is not enough to know about Him, we need to know Him. When this is the course of our lives, we will not be blinded by all that surrounds us with all the false trappings of this age. Rather, we will be brought to the place where we truly look to Him and seek for Him to manifest Himself as Our infinite supply. It will be increasingly evident and clear and true that He is in charge of our every footstep.
As we are so encouraged by Our Lord, Himself, in Rev 3:18-21, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent. 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me. 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. So be it. 
But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? "And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is 1 Chron 16:8-12. Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth, Amen.