This morning we turn in the scriptures to Genesis chapter 41. Genesis chapter 41, first book of the Bible. And for all visitors, we're working through this book. And this morning, we're going to consider the entirety of Genesis chapter 41. Let's give this morning our attention to God's Word. After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile And behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows, and Pharaoh awoke. And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time, and behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. and behold after them sprouted seven ears thin and blighted by the east wind and the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump full ears and pharaoh awoke and behold it was a dream so in the morning his spirit was troubled and he sent and called for all the magicians of egypt and all its wise men pharaoh told them his dreams but there was none who could interpret them to pharaoh then the cup bearer said to pharaoh i remember my offenses today when Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard we dreamed on the same night he and I each having a dream with its own interpretation a young Hebrew was there with us a servant of the captain of the guard when we told him he interpreted our dreams to us giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream and as he interpreted to us so it came about i was restored to my office and the baker was hanged then pharaoh sent and called joseph and they quickly brought him out of the pit and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes he came in before pharaoh and pharaoh said to joseph i have had a dream and there's no one who can interpret it i've heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it joseph answered pharaoh it's not in me God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. Then I awoke. I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. Seven ears withered thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them. And the thin ears swallowed up seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years. The dreams are one. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. It is as I told Pharaoh. God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that this thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. Now, therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint officers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of these years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities and let them keep it. That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land so that the land may not perish through the famine. This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find a man like this in whom is the Spirit of God? Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has shown you all this, There is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I've set you over the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garnets of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, bow the knee, thus everyone. He set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh. Without your consent, no one shall lift up a hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphonah-Paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenah, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. During the seven years, plentiful years, the earth produced abundantly. And he gathered up all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured. Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, priest of On, bore them to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. For he said, God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house. The name of the second he called Ephraim, for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt, came to an end. And the seven years of famine began to come. As Joseph had said, there was famine in all the lands, but in the land of Egypt, there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, go to Joseph. What he says to you, do. So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. But the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain because the famine was severe over all the earth. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Psalm 105, as I have rehearsed numerous times in this study, describes the terrible things that happened to Joseph in prison. I don't know that we think a lot about prison life. I don't know if we think about what it's like. Let me try to capture this this morning with an account of William Van Poick. He was sentenced for murder in 1988. He spent 25 years in jail before he died by lethal injection last year. They found some of his diaries, and I want you to listen to what he describes. Tomorrow, this is his cellmate, Elmer will be executed, and I'll be up next to bat with 15 days to live. I've already thrown or given away 95% of my personal property, the stuff that for years seemed so important. My magazines and newspapers stack up unread. I have little appetite to waste valuable, irreplaceable hours reading up on current events. Does it really matter to me now what's happening in the Middle East or on Wall Street or how my Miami Dolphins are looking for the upcoming new season? What's the point? Ditto the TV. I'm uninterested in wasting time watching programs that now mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. The other day I caught myself reaching for my daily vitamin. Really? I wondered as the absurdity of it all hit me. Likewise, after 40 years of working out religiously, that's out the window now. What's the point? On Tuesday they came and measured me for my execution burial suit. Sometime soon I'll be given the details on how the body will be disposed of following the legally required autopsy. I understand there are usually about two dozen witnesses to these executions, and I sometimes wonder about those who will be at mine, unknown, faceless men rooting for me to die, happy to see me breathe my last breath. The irony wasn't lost on me that while three of us on death watch are fighting to live, this poor soul, living just 10 feet above us, stripped of all hope, had voluntarily surrendered his life rather than continue his dismal existence. When nothing but a lifetime of suffering lays ahead, with no hope, no promise, no opportunity to change your fate, the idea of utter annihilation can come to look appealing in contrast. Today's Mother's Day. And as I usually do at this time of year, I open my photo album and look at those old black and whites, those photos of mom. She was beautiful. I wonder how my life would have turned out differently if she had not died when I was a baby. If I had had a mother to love me, raise me, guide me, nurture me, a mom I could love, look up to, and be determined not to disappoint. These are for now unanswerable questions. But when I pass over to the next plane, I hope to get some answers. His last words in the diary? Set me free. When you hear that, what word captures what I just read? Misery. Misery. Did you hear what prison made him realize about life? No indication he was a believer. All the things we're valuing, all the things we're living for, Chargers games and Padres and hours at the gym and vitamins and pills and obsessed with world events in the grand scheme of things, what are they? It was the confinement of his life in that sorrow and misery that made him realize what it is and that he didn't have hope. What would set him free? You see, I believe the story of Joseph has been showing us what drove him in prison. Showing us that God's word of promise is what drove him through all of this. That whether it was, and this is the beauty of today, that whether it was in adversity or prosperity, he would trust God. I don't know where you are today in the period of adversity or in the period of prosperity, but the text shows you the path God wants you and where he wants you in either circumstance, in either extreme. And to understand what his goal is for you in that. To understand why you're going through it. We have been studying a rock of a man in adversity. Joseph has been the paradigm man for how to understand and handle it in the Old Testament. I mean, this is so encouraging to study. Never a complaint treated so spitefully He had been in prison for 13 years of his life. Had to have been in Egypt a lot like being down in Mexico in prison. Did nothing wrong. Bound in iron. They hurt him, Psalm says. Lied against, hated, sold, sold. Stripped of clothing. You name it. Year after year after year after year. What you have before you this morning is the path of exaltation. And it's a really powerful narrative to display the Lord's power and how quickly He can reverse this. And that's what we're looking at this morning, this path. And here He is before us, raised out of prison and revealed as this great prophet and seated as a king in Egypt. It's a powerful section to encourage us, but to show us what God is after in all of this. And that's where I want to begin with this morning. In verse 1, we read that two years passed by. And the question that I have as we opened up Genesis chapter 41, and we read through that long chapter, the question I have is, what sustained this man for so long? And that's the question we first have to come, what sustained him? How much can a man take, is what I asked last time. And what overwhelmed me was the emphasis in this text that really on two things. In the heart of his afflictions, he served others. But the heart of it came out when dreams were proposed to him. Dreams were proposed to him by the cupbearer and the baker. But that wasn't the first time Joseph had been introduced to dreams. I said last time, God didn't come down in the middle of the confinement And God didn't whisper in Joseph's ear and say, listen, Joseph, just a little bit longer. I know, here's the time period until you're out. He didn't do any of that. How could he get through it then? When did he get through it? Prison life, how did he go forward this way? And the answer was clear. In the last chapter, you had dreams given by God. And in this chapter, you have dreams given by God. But those were not the first instances that Joseph had received dreams. the first dreams that ever came to Joseph revealed his own story. Remember? He goes to his brothers and he reveals what God had obviously made clear about what the dreams mean. My sheaves, your sheaves, bow down to my sheaves. And what that means is, I'm going to reign. I'm going to be lifted up. Now that doesn't sound like much. But in the Old Testament, remember, They didn't have Bibles to open and read. Dreams were God's way of revealing his truth. Dreams were God's way of communicating with them. Dreams were God's way of telling them what he was about to do. And that's all Joseph had. And it was that that sustained him. Here lies the crucial difference from Van Poik. All those together in this misery, did you hear him? He had nothing to live for. You get up, all you feel is misery, All you experience is hardship. All you know is confinement. The prison, the small prison you're confined to, you know death's coming. Watch lockup if you don't believe me. Utter misery. Nothing to live for. And it's in that confinement that you finally come to a place where you feel that death is the best answer. If you have no hope. No reason to go on. No reason to live. Joseph in prison presents to us an entire perspective on how the believer is to think in adversity. God had already, before any of this, spoken a word of peace to him. Already. God had spoken a word of peace to him, and here's the beauty of all this this morning. God's already spoken a word of peace to you. And when we start to reflect upon the misery that we're in, and we feel it, and we feel it caving in, look what he has done. Look what he's told us over and over in the course of our lives. Look what he's done every Sunday, which is the beauty of worship, why this we have to treasure. He has said to you, I love you. I have intentions to you that are good. My goal has never been to harm you. But I've made a promise and I swore an oath. And if you don't believe it, you can go back to my servant Abraham when I passed through the pieces. You can look at what I did. I promised you to give you a land. I promised you to give you eternal life. I promised to send you a deliverer. I've promised to be with you the whole way. I promised I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I promised there's an end to all this misery. I promised you. But I want you to live by faith because I'm going to try you and test you. I'm going to try and test you. Now, when does that begin to take shape in us? When do you really begin to appreciate that? All those promises that are spoken to you. It would be a tragic thing if it was ho-hum, what I just said, and no interest, right? Tragic. I was meditating on the Heidelberg Catechism statement on providence this last week, and it asked the question, well, listen to this, what does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by His providence? Listen to this. We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with a view to the future, we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from His love. Now, did you notice where the author started? You can be patient in adversity and thankful in prosperity. Now, why didn't they start with you should be thankful in prosperity and then patient in adversity? If I surveyed your own lives, would you say that you've been in seasons of greater adversity or in seasons of more prosperity? What would it be if you tallied it up in the course of your whole life? If you looked over the whole swing of your life and where you've been and what you've done, what have you enjoyed more? Have there been seasons of real blessing and abundance and when your heart's happy and you're cheered and the Lord gives you all things liberally to enjoy, when He gives you these things, I'm sure if you waited, even if you're in a valley now, you would say, you know, I have really, in the whole picture, I've enjoyed a lot of blessing and prosperity from the Lord. When did you most enjoy that? When did you most enjoy it? Take Psalm 103. He forgives your iniquity. He heals your diseases. He redeems your life from the pit. He crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. And then you're going to go home today and he's going to satisfy your mouth with all sort of tastes and good food that he likes to give to you so that you get to enjoy. And then he redeems your life from the pit. He loves to do this for you. When do you enjoy that? When are you really thankful in the prosperity? The authors of the Heidelberg teach us something. They knew something. You never know what it is to be thankful in prosperity until you've been trained in the seasons of adversity. Never. Want proof? We're entering this time of economic downfall and swings, aren't we? And all we've known in your lifetime is economic prosperity on unprecedented levels. Luxury. Every kind of luxury under the sun in the course of the United States. It's now getting stripped. Listen to James Boyce. When we had less, we went to church on Sunday and generally tried to practice what was taught there. Now we have money for vacation homes or we can spend on weekends or we take our trips in our campers or we go golfing at the country club. In reality, we think we don't need God. nor is it much different for those who quote don't have as much money we have enough to do whatever we want to do now it's a fight today in that environment to find a christian who counts the cost and who it's not like pulling teeth to get them even to value worship not as a burden but we can't get it out of our heads that this is some kind of forced duty or legalistic thing. But that which is the single most important thing you're supposed to enjoy in life. And do you see what God in grace does for us? Do you see what God in His grace does for us? As Heidelberg says, to have any understanding of what it is to be thankful in prosperity, you've got to be trained in adversity. Psalm 42 we sung out about. I will say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with the breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me while they say to me all day long, where is your God? Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him the help of my countenance and my God. Who's the rock today? Who's the oak today? It's those who know that cry. At some point in life, he's hoped in the Lord. He's been a servant serving others. Joseph has been waiting patiently on the Lord in this period of confinement. Well, the text now had left us in this great tension that he was forgotten. Who's going to remember him? And that's where we pick up. In verse 1, Then it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream. On the very day that God appointed, the end of two full years, Pharaoh's birthday, Pharaoh has a dream. Behold, he stood by the river. Out of the Nile, seven plump, good-looking cows come out. Those are the kind that come from Ramona. Then come seven weak, ugly, scrawny cows. Those are the kind that come from Hanford. Same thing with the ears of grain. And in both cases, the weak eat up the good. Pharaoh's troubled by this. Pharaoh's considered God. Remember, Pharaoh is out standing by the Nile. The god Hapai is there. That's the god of the Nile that supplies fertility and supplies abundance in Egypt. And there he is. No one can answer this. Two gods standing there. No one can answer this. No one knows what this means. No magician can give the answer. And it's at this point, at this point in the narrative, the tension built, the chief butler remembers, ah, I remembered my faults this day. There was a young Hebrew in prison when we were in prison. And when we told our dreams to him, he interpreted them. Verse 14, then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when Joseph had shaved himself and changed his clothings, he came in before Pharaoh. And I stop and I think, in one verse, in one moment, everything was reversed. See how quick it is? In a moment. In one moment, our powerful Lord reversed everything. And notice the first thing that's addressed. His clothing. He had been stripped from clothing twice. God puts it back on him and puts on royal clothes right back on him. And the Lord wants you to see his power. In his trial he was stripped and all of this and now everything is reversed standing before the greatest monarch of the time. Every detail here. Pharaoh says, I've heard that you can answer dreams. Here's what I love about the story. In adversity, when the butler and the baker were in prison with him, what did he say about who can interpret dreams? I don't have that power. God has that power. He'll do it for you. Now he's lifted up out of the pit. And look at the fruit of this in verse 16. It's not me. God will give Pharaoh answers of peace. You see what the adversity just did? In the period of adversity, he gives glory to God. That's when we, if you're a believer, that's when you know you have nothing. You have no strength. You're cast upon him. And now look at the shining moment. Look at the testimony of his boldness. Look at this. You hear what he's saying? Look at who he's saying it to. God gives the answer. Pharaoh's the single great God in Egypt. You don't challenge Pharaoh that way. God will do it. My God. Tell me, what holds us back from being faithful witnesses? Is it not fear of men? Is it not our tie to this world? Is it not, and the ultimate thing is that our interests during the busyness of life are really not set upon the Lord but upon building our own little kingdoms. prison stripped it prison stripped him and what did he have to lose you see what's happening here and and and he has something for pharaoh pharaoh tells the dreams and joseph says god's telling you what he's about to do pharaoh there's going to be these seven years of plenty and and and seasons of prosperity and then will come a season of adversity that will be so bad that none of the prosperity will ever be remembered. He stopped and he said, is that America's story? You know what God's about to do? We know the purpose of this. Why did God send this awful season of adversity to bring His people to Joseph that they might be delivered? But if God had never done this to Joseph, if God had never put him through the period of adversity Himself, there would have been no deliverer. There would have been no one and the covenant line would have died out and you would not be here today. God had sent them ahead to save them. And God is showing you His plan. God's demonstrating His plan and you have it now. Hasn't God told you this story that a great hour of testing is coming upon the whole world? He says this to you all over the Scriptures. That the Lord is testing this world. He's telling them, and here's where we come in. Joseph says, Appoint a man to rule and collect one-fifth of the produce of the land in the seven years of plenty, and it will create a reserve that the land may not perish. Pharaoh says, Who is like this man? The Spirit of God is in him. What does Pharaoh do? Everyone look at 39. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has shown you this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are, you shall be over my house and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only with regards to the throne will I be greater. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I've set you over the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand, put it on Joseph's hand, clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain on his neck and made him ride in his chariot, commanding everyone to say, Bow the knee to this man. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh. And without your consent, no one shall lift up hand or foot in all of Egypt. And he called his name Zafinoth-Paneah and gave him in marriage Asenoth, the daughter of Potipharah, the priest of On. So Joseph went throughout over the land. He was 30 years old when he entered the service. Raised to the right hand, clothed, 30 years old, everyone's commanded to bow the knee. Your name, says Pharaoh, is Zaphonath-Paneah, which means God speaks and he lives. He labors in the kingdom. He stores up grain. And we read that anyone who needed grain, Pharaoh, or bread, Pharaoh would say, go to Joseph. Go to Joseph. And what did God do for him? Well, Joseph looks back over his life, and now he has two sons. and he names Manasseh forgotten. Meaning all of my former hardship, all of my trial is over. And then he names his other son Fruitful. That God has made me forget and then he says, what does he do with Fruitful? He encourages him that God has flourished him again. And Joseph always would look at his sons and remember what God had done for him. What an encouragement this morning to be patient in adversity, isn't it? What an encouragement to be patient in adversity. You're not like that man stuck in prison who has no reason to live. God is chiseling and God is refining you so that when you come out of this, You know what it is to be thankful in prosperity because I know myself, you know how it goes. There are so many of us right now running through life. Our heart is set on anything and everything else and you see it in your devotion to Him. It's like pulling teeth to get you here. A season of adversity will come and He loves you enough to work in you that way. But why don't you be thankful to Him in prosperity now? Now, how about enough of us? Let me tell you the real story here. Joseph, raised from the pit, puts on new clothes, sat before the king, and what story then is this? It's the story of God remembering His Son in the grave. It's the story of when the first sermon was preached and Peter announced God raised up his son having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it. God raised him up and what did they find? Peter goes to the grave and he looks and there's the old clothes sitting there. They've been laid aside and he has been raised glorious. God would not allow his soul to be left in Hades. His body would see no corruption. The whole scene we have here is in a moment, quickly. Joseph is raised out of the dungeon. Garments are changed. He's clean shaven. And Christ, throughout His entire ministry, when we look at Him and we look back, in the time He sent, the Father sent His Son to the earth. He was constantly revealing what the Father was about to do. And God is revealing in His Son what He's doing in the world. God is so, when we look at the Son and we understand His message and we hear Him, what we learn is that God is so ordering this world, economic situations, prosperity and adversity. Why is He doing that? The upswings and the downswings. Why is life getting hard? Why do these things happen? Here you're given insight. For what end does God send prosperity? And what end does God send adversity? That men in prosperity would do what? Now, do you not know that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? When Paul was preaching to the pagans, remember what he said? He didn't leave you without witness. He gives you food and he gives you rain and he gives you fruitful seasons. All these wonderful things filling your hearts with food and gladness that men would repent. That's why he gives you all this. Who is taking seriously his message of peace and prosperity and thankfulness? We live in our paneled houses and we forget God and we get comfortable worshiping the wrong God, the wrong Jesus. All that I read earlier about the wrong Jesus is birthed out of an American prosperous life. That's why you get that kind of Jesus. And what happens to the churches? The church is empty. Worship is not taken seriously. They trash his worship and they compromise. And I'm telling you, adversity's coming. Can't you see it? Can't you see it? That people would turn to him. That's why he has to send it. We'll never turn in this. There's going to be periods of prosperity and then there'll be periods of famine and there will be pestilences and wars and famines and earthquakes in various places. There will be hardships. And why? Because the gospel's going out to the ends of the earth and He's shaking up the nations that people would turn to Him whether it be in prosperity or in seasons of adversity that they would come. When will the churches be full again? When will we not be embarrassed for standing about something? Let a little famine come to Egypt. Let a little famine come to Egypt and we'll come. You come then to a real God. You see, not the God who we've created is tucked away in the Nile to be used for our purposes or a God tucked away in our little Beatles hole but a God who has the power to deliver us. Then we'll see Him. And Pharaoh says, who is like this one? Who is like this one who is in the Spirit of God and what do we say about Jesus? Who is like Him? No man ever spoke like Him. No man ever opened up hearts and revealed the secrets of men's hearts. In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In him. In famine, we ask, where do you get bread? Pharaoh says, go to Joseph. Jesus says, I am the bread from heaven. The father says, go to my son. We read, so the famine had spread over all the land. Joseph opened up the storehouses. This is just an awesome scene. And sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth. Christ has opened up heaven. And guess who's coming to him today? The nations. That's the end of this chapter. The nations are coming to Joseph. The nations are coming to him. They're buying wine and they're buying bread without money. That's what's happening. God is shaking up this world right now. That's why it's so chaotic right now. He's shaking up nations, holding king's hearts in his hand, stirring up economies, raising up and casting down that people would come to the single great desire of the nation. The one who has bread. The one who has life. And that's why we need famine. The true bread. That if you eat that, you'll live forever. His storehouses are full. He has enough bread for every weary sinner. This Jesus God has exalted to the right hand to be what? Prince and Savior. Hebrews says, who was made a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honor far above principalities and powers. What has God declared about him? What did God do for him? God gave him the name that is above every single name. Notice how Joseph was named. He has given him the name that was given above every single name that at the name that Jesus is what Lord, every knee should bow. They all bowed to him. We bow to this one and confess that he is Lord. Pharaoh said, Joseph, all the people shall be ruled by your word. God gave his son and it's his word that rules all things. If for a little while, if needs be, you suffer. For to this you've been called. Why? Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. And as you've seen the end intended by the Lord, whether today you're in a valley or on a hill, remember why you're here, dear Christians. Remember why you're here. Trust his word. Value his worship. And give an answer to those who ask you for the hope that lies within you. Give an answer. In just a little while, in just a little while, here's the message. In just a little while, in a moment, at the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, you will be changed. You'll be lifted out of this misery forever. You'll be given a brand new body and you will forever be with the Lord. Let's thank Him today. Heavenly Father, we have to confess as we've heard this this morning of our worldliness and we confess that we give you scraps and we are thankful that you send us seasons of prosperity to enjoy but the tendency of our hearts is that we forget God and that seasons of adversity are necessary. And so for those in seasons of adversity, may they be greatly encouraged today that there is an end. You'll lift them out in a moment. You'll strengthen them. you'll give them to call on your name and then the worship of you will be sweet. And those in prosperity today, if we can say our plate is full and we can just keep saying, oh, we're so blessed, we're so blessed, we're so blessed. Proof's in the pudding. It'll be seen in our love for you to worship. Let us demonstrate that. Whether in seasons of adversity or seasons of prosperity. And thank You for giving Your Son to lift us out of the misery that we chose. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.