What To Do When You’re Forgotten

But let’s start reading in verse 12. Chapter 40 verse 12. The Bible says, and Joseph said unto him, this is the interpretation of it. The three branches are three days. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head and restore thee unto thy place and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand after the former matter when thou wast his butler. But think on me when it shall be well with thee and show kindness I pray thee unto me and make mention of me unto Pharaoh and bring me out of this house For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. In verse 23, the Bible says, yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph but forgot him. Let’s pray. Dear Lord, I pray that you’d help me as I try to bring the final message, Lord. It’ll be It won’t mean anything if you don’t get in it. And God, I pray that you’d guide and direct and just take over. And God, would just speak to our hearts tonight and help us and Lord prep us. And Lord, I don’t know what we’re gonna face tomorrow but you do. And God, I pray you’d put something deep in our heart whether we’re going through something already or Lord, it’s something that’s gonna be in the future. I pray that you would, Lord, just help us to see the truth of the word of God that we might be able to just, Lord, in the difficult time trust you and Lord, be an overcomer and be like Joseph. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

So we see this section of scripture where Joseph, all the things he’s been through, if you know the story of Joseph, Joseph is in a big family. Joseph is the favorite son of his father and his brother his brothers hate him and they they wanna kill him and they end up doing something really probably worse in some ways, selling them into slavery. And I can’t imagine that scene. I’ve often dwelled on that and really thought about that and the Bible gives a vivid depiction when the brothers are talking and the brothers find out that they’re having trouble in Egypt and they begin to talk amongst themselves and Joseph overhears them but they don’t know that it’s Joseph and they don’t know that he understands their Hebrew.

And they’re speaking to each other and they start to talk about when we saw him and he wept and the way he looked at us. You know what mean? I’m paraphrasing but there was some really deep talk that happened. And you could get this picture that these innocent eyes of Joseph are looking at his brother and begging them, what are you doing and and and why are you doing this to me and I’m your brother.

And yet they just they cut him off and they sold him into slavery. And Joseph was treated very very wrongly and I can see him on that that trail heading all the way out from the the place. I’ve been over in that region of the world, been in Shechem and and those places and I can’t imagine slaves going all the way down to Egypt. I don’t know if you ever looked at a map. I mean, people have heard of the death marches of Bataan and other the Trail Of Tears and so many of these type of things. Joseph was on that.

And he gets all the way to Potiphar’s house and because he’s got an excellent spirit, he rises up and yet there’s someone that lies about him and he ends up in the dungeon and all these things happen to Joseph. And yet Joseph still has an excellent spirit and he comes in with a little bit of joy in a dark place and there’s a butler and there’s a baker and he just can tell by their countenance that something’s troubling them.

I mean, what an amazing young man that he would look on someone and have care for them and say, what’s going on? Even in the dungeon. And then Joseph shows kindness and God allows him to interpret their dreams. But now Joseph makes one request. He says, don’t forget me. Don’t forget me and listen, tell someone about me here so that I might come out of this place. And we read the scripture, yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph but forgot him.

I mean, how tragic. The title tonight is What to Do When You’re Forgotten. What am I supposed to do when I’m in the position like Joseph and someone that I love or someone that I’ve asked, they forget about me. I believe there’s a message here and, you know, it’s not a fun thing to be forgotten. I don’t know if you’ve ever been forgotten. Don’t if you’ve ever had your birthday forgotten or something important.

So you’ve asked someone to do something, they didn’t do it. I don’t know if you’ve ever been a child and was forgotten. Anyone ever get left anywhere? Back in the eighties, boy, we lived was a different world. Our parents didn’t know where we were. I can remember, I mean, getting left at the store, getting left at the grocery stores. People don’t wanna admit that like today that they forgot their kids somewhere. Right? That’s that’s not the thing to say but but it’s a bad feeling when all of a sudden you wake up and you look and you’re a little kid and you’re going, where is everyone? At first you’re terrified but then later I especially my sister Alisa, she’d tell you. I’d say it’s like almost like a grudge there. They forgot about me.

And I think we all have a little of that in us. When someone Like how could you forget me? No. It’s it’s a natural thing because we’re busy and different things cloud our mind and it’s not always a malicious thing. But can I just tell you it’s not fun to be forgotten? I mean in any way shape or form, whatever’s important to you, it’s not fun to be forgotten. If it’s your your birthday, your anniversary or some other thing, that’s an important important thing.

But what happens when you really have been forgotten? I’m talking in life. I’m talking like someone’s turned their back on you. Someone that you believe loves you and then they don’t call you. Maybe they’re kin. Maybe they’re maybe they’re close to you, maybe they maybe you were close friends and you thought you were close friends, but now they don’t they don’t even talk to you. Maybe they left the church or they just they just left without saying goodbye. They they never they they used to talk to you all the time. Now they don’t talk to you at all.

What do you do when you’re forgotten? Joseph went through this. You know, he went through this emotional battle I believe. This this trouble in his life. And sometimes we can just feel forgotten. Sometimes we can be in the the congregation and yet feel all alone and feel forgotten. And and don’t you know that Satan will play on all that? Now we’ve been talking about caring for one another and trying to get those generations to to teach each other and to help each other and to work together seamlessly as a team and that there be no schisms in the body.

And I promise you, Satan wants things in your mind so that you have ought one against the other. And I’m telling you, if you haven’t faced it yet, you’re gonna face it and either you will feel forgotten or you will be forgotten by someone. It may not be malicious. It’s just what happens. And yet Joseph overcame all of this. And you know the story of Joseph. He rises to the governorship. He’s right next to Pharaoh. God blesses Joseph. God gives him children. When he has Manasseh, he says, God made me forget all that pain, all that toil. There was a lot of it in in Joseph’s life.

But by the time God had blessed him so much, it wasn’t that he forgot his family or literally forgot those things. It was like it was like all the good things overcame just were so big that they they took over and just covered all of those difficulties in his life when God gave him that son. And I’m just saying God can do that for you even though maybe you feel forgotten or underappreciated.

It can happen in marriage. It can happen in a family where we feel just like we’re forgotten or we’re not appreciated. And maybe you feel like that tonight. And again, I remind you, if it happened to Joseph, it can happen to you. Joseph wasn’t the only one that it happened to. We’ve mentioned already this week Job. I mean, it seems like if you do any preaching, Job’s gonna come up somewhere because Job Job, I mean, in the Bible, he went through so much difficulty.

And and listen to his words in chapter 19 verse 14. My kinsfolk have failed and my familiar friends have forgotten me. Here is Job and now he doesn’t have money. Now, I mean, he’s down and he’s depressed. Now he’s in awful sight. It’s uncomfortable to be in Job’s presence. It’s not easy. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in the hospital when someone’s so bad sick or maybe when someone’s died or they’ve lost their their child. It’s not easy to go into that house.

Now pastors understand about that but I’m just saying it’s not always malicious. Sometimes it’s just difficult. But people can go through difficult times and they can feel forgotten. Job, in the account of Job chapter 15, his friends then answered Eliphaz the Timonite and said, in verse five he says, for thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. And in verse 34, for the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

In other words, if you know the story of Job, they’ve they they charge Job foolishly. They say it’s because you have done all this wickedness and that’s why all this bad is happening to you. Do you know that can make you feel forgotten? Even though you’re in Even though you’re with people, you’ve got friends that are present and they don’t seem very friendly. And it just feels like they they don’t remember that I have done good. They don’t remember that that I was their friend. And listen, only God can see your heart. Now when God talks with Job, even though God said he was a righteous man, I mean anyone that stands in God’s presence realizes that they’re undone.

And Job says, I abhor myself. Now he wasn’t saying that in a bad way. He was just saying, listen, I realize according to I mean, in in contrast to the might of God who knows everything, who am I? And I mean, Job is able to be even more conformed to the to the image of Christ though in the Old Testament he would not have known him by name. He’s more like God in that sense. God was chiseling on Job and making him more like himself as he does us.

And Job felt forgotten. And in verse one he says, miserable comforters are ye all. And again, even though we’re in church and even though we’ve got friends and family that are Christians, I promise you you can feel this way. Sometimes it’s just a feeling. Sometimes it’s reality. I mean they forgot The butler forgot about Job. I mean forgot about Joseph. I shouldn’t have chose two j’s. Note that’s a that’s a little help for the younger preachers. But but listen, I mean the butler literally forgot about Joseph.

He didn’t bring him up. And you know I I I got thinking about that and thinking why would he do that? As I think about Job in the Bible and I think of just Job’s friends in the Bible and and how, know, Job at one time was the most popular person. And a lot of times people forget you because you’re not the most popular anymore. They like you when everything’s going good.

And what can you do for me? But you know, you’re gonna go through ups and downs and sometimes it just happens that way. These men, Job was no longer popular. And then I think that they forgot about Job because he could no longer give them anything. I mean Job at one time was the most wealthy man. And I think they forgot about Job because they believed God was judging him. We read the scriptures.

They just thought God’s judging him and maybe we just need to step away from this man. But getting back to the story of Joseph and the scripture says there yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph but forgot him. You know, as we think of Joseph in the Bible and we understand how he acted, I I want you to kinda put yourself in that position. Because maybe you have done your best to teach a Sunday school class or to give to missions or to be a good wife or a good husband or to be a good mother, be a good pastor.

Can I just tell you, we’ve got some things that we gotta draw out of the story of Joseph and apply them to our life tonight? Because Joseph was kind to the butler and Joseph had genuine concern for his well-being. This sets the stage for great disappointment. He was so good to him. He was so kind to him. He helped him so much and he genuinely, his heart was toward him. You know, the ones you care about the most can hurt you the most.

Joseph interprets the butler’s dream. Most of all, Joseph gave him hope when the butler had no hope. I mean, that’s a big deal. This guy was thinking, it’s the end. I’m in the dungeon. I mean, a lot of people just would have given up and he’s saying don’t give up. You’re coming out of this place. Boy, what a great friend. Someone coming by your side and saying, hey, stick with it and don’t give up and listen, the sun will rise in the morning.

And Joseph was that guy for the butler. All Joseph made was one request. Remember me. Just remember me. And how disappointed he was. I find, you know, as I live my life and I ask maybe few things, it’s even harder when you ask few things or one thing and that one thing is forgotten or that one thing is not taken heed to. And I believe Joseph was facing that.

And I think the butler forgot Joseph for a number of reasons and it’s sometimes the reasons that we need to take heed because we do the same thing sometimes. Joseph, you know, he helped the butler but the butler, he gets out of the dungeon and the butler is just consumed with himself. You know, a lot of times we forget about people because we’re just we’re consumed with what we’ve got to do. We’ve got a lot to do.

And yet we look at the butler and say, how could he do that? And then we do the same thing. And the butler is consumed with himself. And then the butler forgot Joseph because he was not willing to put his job in jeopardy. Can you imagine going to Pharaoh and saying, hey, Pharaoh, remember when you were mad at me and you threw me in the dungeon? I don’t think you’d be bringing that up with Pharaoh.

Oh, by the way, yeah, there’s someone in there that I want you to meet. I don’t think that’s he ain’t gonna do that. Sometimes we tell people what they wanna hear. You know, maybe the butler said, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’ll I’ll I’ll speak well of you as soon as I get out. You know, you just tell them what they you want that what the people wanna hear.

But Joseph, don’t the butler I don’t think was willing to put his job on on the line. And the butler didn’t wanna associate anything with the prison. And you say why? Well because it was a time in his life he was trying to forget. Do you know it’s it’s easy to do that. That we forget about people and we forget about things because sometimes it’s just it’s something we want to forget.

And this was a difficult time in the life of the butler. But then a need arises and you know the story. I mean, the pharaoh has a dream and all of a sudden all of a sudden the butler says, oh, I have an epiphany. I know somebody. Right? And he says, okay, Joseph’s in the prison. This is two years later. And they get Joseph and they give him a change of raiment and shave him and clean him and usher him in to see the pharaoh.

And Joseph of course interprets the dreams and they say how can You know, we we find such a one as this, the spirit of God is in. And the pharaoh listens to all that Joseph has. But listen, when you’re forgotten, understand that God’s timing is perfect and God knows what he’s doing. God allowed Joseph to be forgotten for this such a time as this so that he could save the nation.

And so God’s plan is bigger even than the butler, even than the one that would do the forgetting. And Joseph is able to stand in front of the pharaoh and and be able to be used of God and the rest is history as they say. Joseph becomes the leader of the of the known world at the time, second only to pharaoh, and saves the world by a mighty hand.

But as we’re looking at the story of Joseph, we don’t wanna just look at a historic account. We want to be able to make application tonight. We wanna be able to go outside of this meeting and we wanna be able to say, listen, I wanna live in victory and I wanna know what to do and I wanna be able to have the excellent spirit that Joseph had and how do I do that? How do I come out of it like Joseph did?

Joseph maintained an excellent spirit throughout all of it. We talked about Job. Job never charged God foolishly. How do I get that? How do you get that? I mean listen, what do we do and how can how can we overcome? What do what to do when you’re forgotten? What do you do when you’re forgotten? Well, I’ll give you one thing tonight because we we know the king of kings and lord of lords. We live in a time where if you’re saved, you’ve got the holy spirit of God. But we know that Jesus died on the cross and we have a bible. We have so much more than what those old testament saints had.

And so I wanna encourage you to run to the shepherd, the good shepherd. Listen, when you are forgotten, run to Jesus. Run to the good shepherd because he has never forgotten you. He is not capable of forgetting about you. The Bible says, I will never leave thee. Jesus said, I’ll never leave thee nor forsake thee. I mean, that’s in his word. Hebrews, 13 verse five, the Bible says, for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper.

That’s talking about Jesus. The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall do unto me. I wanna reference John chapter 10 tonight. John chapter 10 and verse two, the Bible says, but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. Jesus as the good shepherd. The good shepherd hears his sheep. He knows his sheep and his sheep know his voice.

And listen, we can run to the good shepherd. The Bible says to him the porter openeth and the sheep hear his voice and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. Jesus is the the great shepherd. He the good shepherd that leads you in and leads you out and you can run to him. What do you do when you’re forgotten? Run to Jesus. Run to the good shepherd. The one that’s prepared and ready and willing and able to lead you in and to lead you out even in the dungeon, even in the pit, even in front of Pharaoh, even when your brothers, I mean, sin against you.

God’s bigger than all of that. Listen, I’m sure Joseph took those scars to the grave but God gave him an excellent spirit in spite of all of it. That’s an amazing thing that God can help us to be an overcomer in the midst of all of that turmoil, all of that pain. Job lost all of those children. I don’t think he ever forgot them. I don’t know, you know, we read. Well, he he got he got more. He got he got more sheep. He got more oxen. He had more children.

Listen, you lose kids. You don’t ever forget them. And praise the Lord that you have other kids and that’s the blessing of God. And Job was blessed. But let’s not look at it like no one ever has any difficulty or pain or all of a sudden you don’t have a bad day. But even when we have a bad day, God is there to meet us and to help us to be an overcomer.

What to do when you’re forgotten. What to do when you’re forgotten. Well, we see in first Samuel 30 and verse six the account of David and David was greatly distressed. We talked about that this week about Ziklag when the city was burned with fire. And the Bible says, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. So what do you do when you’re forgotten? Encourage yourself. If you’ve got a Bible and you’ve got the Holy Spirit, you can encourage yourself in the Lord. You and God are a majority. Amen.

I know we think, well, I’ve got to have someone else. I’ve got to have my spouse. I’ve got to have my children. I’ve got to have the preacher. I’ve got Listen, it’s great to have others helping and encouraging and loving us. But listen, David stood basically all alone and he encouraged himself in the Lord. It’s available. It is available. The Bible says rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.

What does that even mean? Rejoice. Well relive your joy. Think about all the things that God has done for you and relive it. Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always and I again I say rejoice. So many times we get caught. Let’s be honest though the record plays in our mind. We get caught. What are you talking about? Well, our thoughts. Our thoughts. Our thinking patterns. We get into negative thinking patterns and different things pop up in our mind and different things trigger it.

And listen, I mean, it just seems to go in that same rut and and those brain waves are like a rut. You know what I mean? It just it just goes right back to that way. That’s why the Lord says you gotta take every thought into captivity and those thoughts will come in there and we’ve gotta give it to God and so that it’s in the obedience of Christ.

But Lord help us to practice this scripture of rejoicing so that we might encourage ourself in the Lord. It’s available. What to do when you’re forgotten. Run to Jesus. What to do when you’re forgotten. Encourage yourself. Encourage yourself in the Lord. Let me give you the third thing. Psalm 95 and verse one. What to do when you’re forgotten. Sing. Sing. Sing, brother. Sing. Sing, sisters. Sing. Children, young people, young and old, sing.

Psalm ninety five one, oh come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Some people never sing loud. Praise is a loud thing. Amen. Read your bible and he is worthy of it. You say I can’t sing good. Sing in the car. Amen. Sing in the shower. Go out to the mountain where we were. Know? Where it’s all quiet and no one’s there and you can pollute the quiet with your singing and God will hear it and he will love it.

Learn to sing. We teach young people to sing and old people to sing. Why? Because it’s a big part of our worship with God. It’s it’s Boy, I I tell people, listen, you teach your kids to to read and write. Teach them to sing. You are hurting them. I mean if you’ve got young kids, I can make a recommendation. Put them in music lessons. Help them to learn to sing because it’s such a big part of what God has commanded us to do. And it’s a big part of our emotion and our connection with God.

Praising God. I mean praising God does amazing things in our heart. I’m so thankful that my wife is an avid music player. What does that mean? She just plays music. I mean in the morning she plays good Christian music and music’s going on. Now, you know, I used to be someone that had music all around me all the time and I had the devices to do it in the olden days, kids.

Now I got these devices. I don’t know what to do. I don’t I wouldn’t know how to put a song on my phone. I gotta pay someone to do it or something. I don’t know how to do it. But you know I start hearing that music and all of a sudden I start thinking about God’s goodness and that music starts ministering to my heart. You know it takes me to a heavenly plane and takes me out of these sorrows and this wicked old world. It’ll take you and seat you in heavenly places.

The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of men. When they started singing at the dedication of the temple, I mean, and I can’t imagine what that would have been like. David had a generation of musicians and a generation professional. I mean, these people that was their living. That’s what they did all the time. They were born and raised to sing and praise God and to play instruments.

And then Solomon builds the temple and all of them start singing in courses. Thousands and thousands of people singing and playing instruments. And the Bible says that God descended. I mean after that music came, listen, there’s some music that God loves to be around. Amen. There’s music that Satan likes to be around too by the way. That’s right. There’s music that Satan don’t like to be around and him and his cronies flee.

That’s why you gotta have the right kind of music. But sing that kind of music and sing it to God. What to do when you’re forgotten? Sing. I don’t feel like singing. Sing anyway. We come into church and we’re down But you know what? The song leader gets up there, he starts singing and we’re good Baptists so we gotta start singing. Shall we gather around the river?

But you know, after a little while, I’m thankful we got a good song leader. You got a good one here. And you got some people here that wanna sing. It was great to see these men up here. You know, that’s a rarity. A bunch of men singing today. I said keep on going with that because I’m telling you, you get in and you don’t feel like it but all of a sudden God will lift you out of the muck and mire of this world.

What to do when you’re forgotten saying. Number four, remember others. Galatians five fourteen, for all the law is fulfilled in one word. Even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. One of the best things that you can do if you’ve been mistreated is go treat someone else good. You’re having a hard time, someone forgot about you? Go help someone. Make it a life calling. We were here and someone’s going through some difficulty. I made a phone call. I said send them $250 now.

I’ve sent personal checks. I don’t I’m not saying that I’m a great giver or I’m anything. I’m just saying I know what it’s like to be injured. I know what it’s like to not have money and have to get a loan because because I’ve been injured and and I went through that in the first year of our marriage. Everything was going great. I had a house. I took my wife to Europe for a honeymoon. Everything was I mean, I was on top of the world. Had a good job. And then guess what? Boom. Got injured.

I was invincible. I mean, if if if if I didn’t have work, I’d find side work. I could always make turn a buck. I could always make money. Not when you’re injured. And then then I I lost use of my hand and they had to put my hand back together. Then I got appendicitis with the hand injury. And then if that wasn’t bad enough when they put me down, they paralyzed my vocal cord because the yahoo that put the tube in there wrecked my vocal cord.

And if it wasn’t for the grace of God, it was paralyzed for over six months. And I was just flat on my back. And listen, nothing against the people of God. God does this to you by the way sometimes. We have good people in our church. I’m not speaking bad of them. But you know, when I was going through that time, no one gave me a nickel.

No one to my recollection called me and tried to be a help. And you know, the heathen guys from the union passed the hat around and got some money. You know, Satan will do that. And Satan will come by and say, Them church people don’t love you. They forget about you. And he’ll say, These these people really care about you. These are your real friends. It’s a lie.

Listen. God’s people are the best people I know. Amen. We don’t always do everything right. But what do you do when you’re forgotten? Go help someone else. Amen. Go help someone else. You’re You don’t have much money. Go help someone else. You ain’t got enough money to pay all your bills anyway. You might as well help someone else and see what God does. Say, that’s crazy. You just try it.

I’m not saying be a bad steward. A lot of times we’re in financial trouble because we’re a bad steward. Then we blame it on God and say God’s not taking care of me. That’s another message. Well, me started. I’m gonna be encouraging tonight. It’s the final night. Remember others. What to do when you’re forgotten? Remember others. What to do when you’re forgotten? Be a friend. Proverbs eighteen twenty four, a man that hath friends, we referenced it this week, must show himself friendly and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Listen, if you’ve been forgotten, you have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He’s by your side.

So he’s a friend to you. You can be a friend to someone else. Joseph did When we look at the life of Joseph, Joseph I believe he did so many things that were right. He didn’t say, well I helped the butler. I ain’t helping no one else. No. He went out there when the pharaoh called for him. He helped him. He he he prayed for him. Daniel was the same way. I mean you think of Daniel in the Bible. You wanna see an amazing young man? A young man that helps the king that butchered his people.

When I preach and teach about Nebuchadnezzar, I mean I reference the holocaust because that’s what it was in that time. He didn’t just invade that land once, he invaded it once, twice, three times while Daniel was over there. Study your Bible. And yet he cared for the king and he helped the king. That’s an amazing young man. And he probably at least gave the order to have his parents butchered. I mean Nebuchadnezzar was a wicked man and yet Daniel had an excellent spirit.

And I think what is my problem? How can how can that kid with all the things they did to him physically, all the things they did to his parents and his country and he’s got an excellent spirit, Joseph is the same way. And Joseph keeps helping and he’s a friend to others just like Jesus Christ. What to do when you’re forgotten. Stay faithful. The Bible says, and Joseph answered Pharaoh saying, it is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. Joseph never gave up on God.

Joseph never gave up on the dream that God gave him. God gave him a divine dream and there was no question. I mean whether he was in Pharaoh’s house and that wicked woman was coming after him. Joseph says, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Joseph’s faith is strong even though all the bad things that were happening in his life, he never turned on God.

He could see that his brothers were the ones that had done wrong. And then he’s able at the end to say God meant it what? For good. And he sees the timing of the butler forgetting him and all of it. Stay faithful. What to do when you’re forgotten? Stay faithful. Joseph stayed faithful and he interprets Pharaoh’s dreams. You know, you say, preacher, I’m locked away and they’ve forgotten me.

Stay faithful. Stay faithful. Serve. Serve others. Serve while you’re in a prison. Maybe it’s a prison of your own making. Maybe it’s a prison that that others have put you in or maybe it’s the prison of of of just physical limitations or whatever it is. Listen, stay faithful. There’s a God in heaven that loves you and cares for you. And serve as best you can. Serve others. Pray for others.

Be like Jesus Christ. He’s the model. He is what we all need to model ourselves like. And he’s worthy of it to be selfless as he was, to gird on the towel, to be like our Lord and savior. Joseph never lived the life of a victim. When you study his life and you see his spirit, he never lived the life of a a victim. You don’t see him bringing these things up. Matter of fact, his brothers, when his dad dies, they come and they say, oh, dad said not to kill us, you know. Joseph weeps again. He’s sitting there saying, you guys never understood.

I forgave you long ago. We don’t see Joseph bringing it up over and over and over again. Sometimes we do that. We bring up the things that really should probably just stay in the past. And I know the stuff had to come up in Joseph’s mind, but God gave him grace to be able to say, listen, God knows what he’s doing and I’m gonna follow God. I’m gonna live for him today.

Which brings me to my next point, what to do when you’re forgotten is realize what God has done for you. Joseph had an amazing ability and we applaud him for it because I don’t think it’s easy but I know it’s available. Joseph had an amazing ability to look at the positives in his life of what God had done and how God allowed his father to live and how he was allowed to be reunited with his father.

And the Bible says that Jacob lived to be an old man and so did Joseph. And Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob gets to bless him. Instead of focusing on all the years that I lost. I lost my whole childhood. I didn’t get to you know, spend the time. I lost all those years with my father. We don’t see that in Joseph’s life. Joseph is able to just be able to look at God’s blessing.

There’s so many things in our life that we need to look and and just see the wonderful works that God has done. And I think the indictment on God’s people many times as you read them, read about them in the Old Testament, it talks about the children of Israel in the book of Judges doing evil in the sight of the Lord and why. The Bible says, and they forgot the Lord their God.

First Samuel twelve nine, and when they forgot the Lord their God. And just all kinds of bad stuff happens. Psalm seventy eight eleven, and forgot his works and his wonders that he had showed them. You know, one of the greatest sins of God’s people is we just forget what God does for us. Do you believe the scripture that he daily loadeth us with benefits? Amen. I mean, do you really believe that? Do I really believe that? That every day He doesn’t just bless me.

He doesn’t just bless you. He loads us every day. He low We’re loaded down. Amen. By the way, thank you for your kindness this week. Thank you for shaking our hand and making us feel welcome and everyone that cooked and fed us and took us out to eat and just treated us good. I mean, God, you were used of the Lord this week. And God daily loads us with benefits.

And it’s not just the food we eat, it’s just everything. Everything. Stop and think of what God’s done for you. I believe we’re we’re guilty sometimes of forgetting the works of God. And we wonder why we struggle when someone forgets us. Well, we forget God. And then we look at other people and go, how could they forget fill in the blank? And yet we forget God. I know I do. I forget what God’s done for me. There’s things that I don’t know. Did I even say thank you for that, God?

Oh, we’re very guilty. Lord, help us. How are we gonna hold someone else to the furnace, to the fire? Joseph didn’t get out and become the governor of the land. There’s no account of him going, now where is that butler? He never did that. He just He had an excellent spirit. I find him to be an amazing young man and obviously filled with God. Obviously a type of Christ in the Bible. We need to bless the God of heaven and lift up his name.

You know, we need to just remember what he’s done for us. I like this scripture in the in the bible and it’s convicting in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah two thirty two, can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire? And the obvious answer is no. A maid cannot forget her ornaments or a bride. You know, on her wedding day, she ain’t forgetting her wedding dress.

She she’s planning for that. Then the Bible says, yet my people have forgotten me days without number. What a convicting scripture. As we’re kinda coming down to the bottom of this message and the close of this meeting, just want you to be reminded that God will never leave you nor forsake you. And if you feel forgotten, he loves you. He’s there by your side even if you can’t see him. Job couldn’t see him. Job couldn’t sense his presence but he was there.

And God worked it all out for good and he did it for Joseph and he’ll do it for you. And so when you’re facing difficulty in the weeks and the months and maybe in the years to come, maybe you can look back at the story of Joseph and say, God help me to be more like him. If that young man, and Joseph when all that happened to me was a young man, if he could be an overcomer, if he could lean on you, Lord, I know I can trust you and Lord, I can trust you with my future and Lord, with this day.

God will give you grace for this day. I mean, we don’t get grace for tomorrow and next week. We get grace for this day. Lord, help us to bless his name. Let’s all stand. We’ll have a verse of invitation as the piano player comes and