Joseph Factor

Week 13: The Rest of the Story

The Rest of the Story

The Rest of the Story• A series on the life of Joseph. • Learning applicable life lessons. • Key Message of Joseph’s Life: How do you stay on

course when your promised breakthrough seems nowhere in sight!

• Joseph knew his call—he was to a be a leader of nations

• Let’s look at an important way of thinking that can be instrumental in turning our nation around.

• This is the rest of the story!

The Rest of the Story• Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story• There is always more to a story than meets the eye.• We can all play a part in writing the rest of the story

for our lives. • Things in our future are not etched in stone. • With God’s help the end of your life can be so much

different than the beginning! • But, you and not luck and coincidence hold the key

to it!

The Rest of the Story• The key verse in Genesis 41 is clearly stated by Joseph

in verse 32: • As for having two similar dreams, it means that these

events have been decreed by God, and He will soon make them happen.

• As you may remember, Joseph had been called from prison to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams.

• The Pharaoh had 2 dreams which had the same meaning.

• Joseph states that these events foretold in the dreams were going to happen quickly!

The Rest of the Story• This verse brings up an important point for us. • God is ultimately in control of history and is working

through it to bring about His purposes. • But, we play a part in it all. • This is where many believers are confused. • There is an incorrect thought in minds of most

believers that needs to be corrected. • Classical Evangelical Theism• Before you yawn and fall asleep . . .

The Rest of the Story• Classical Evangelical Theism says that God in His

infinite foreknowledge has predestined events and situations to take place since the foundations of the earth.

• And, there is not much we can do to change it. • Our prayers are welcome, but they only change us

to line up with God’s will and do not do much to change God’s ultimate plan.

• So, for instance—the demise of America is in God’s predetermined will and really cannot be changed.

The Rest of the Story• Many have this approach to endtime events. • They reason that the rapture of the Church is coming,

so it doesn’t matter what I do concerning our country.• It creates a Que Sera, Sera Attitude. • And, we just resign to the belief that the collapse of

America is God’s will. • This is a part of the devil’s plan to destroy America.• He has to convince the American Church that this is

part of God’s plan, so why pray and do anything? • Pretty Slick? BUT, theological baloney!

The Rest of the Story• THE COLLAPSE OF AMERICA IS NOT GOD’S WILL!

• Here is the correct way to view this: God is all-powerful and can win any battle, BUT He has designed things so that the release of His power at any moment is dependent on the decisions, actions and prayers of His people.

The Rest of the Story• The Church has great influence. • Greater influence than you can imagine. • Our prayers can clearly change the course of this

country, and the devil knows this. • If he can get us to slip back into complacency and

be convinced that all this has to happen in order for the one world government to rise and the rapture to take place, then so be it!

The Rest of the Story• THE REST OF THE STORY: It is almost as if God has

left it up to us to write the rest of the story! • God has His will, but we need to pray it into reality. • The implications of this minor shift in our thinking

are staggering! • The prayers and the repentance of the Church can

avert this oncoming gloom. • It IS CRITICAL to understand this. • What it does is require us to do something and not

hit the snooze button and go back to sleep.

The Rest of the Story• For instance, God wants me to experience His

healing power.• Unless I appropriate the promises of His Word in

faith, it is probably not going to happen automatically.

• I must stand in faith and confess it and contend for it until BREAKTHROUGH comes.

• The same is true for our prayers for America!

The Rest of the Story• Looking at the events of this last week in

Washington, it doesn’t take a prophet to see that we need to pray for our LEADERS!

• We need to pray for godly leaders to be elected. • It is time for believers to stop voting by their pocket

book, and begin to vote for those who will stand for righteousness.

• As I read the Bible, Prosperity follows Righteousness and not the reverse.

• Godly leaders are a blessing from God.

The Rest of the Story1 Timothy 2:1-4: 1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. As you make your requests, plead for God’s mercy upon them, and give thanks. 2 Pray this way for kings and all others who are in authority, so that we can live in peace and quietness, in godliness and dignity. 3This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 for He wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.

The Rest of the Story• Prayer for our leaders can cause an environment in

our nation where the Gospel can spread freely. • As the leaders go, so does the nation go. • If our votes count in any election, how much more

do our prayers count!• Let me reverse these verses: Do you want to be able

to live godly and peaceful lives? Then, pray for your leaders! This is good and pleases our God!

The Rest of the Story• Another example: One of the greatest miracles of

the 1990’s was the peaceful resolution of Apartheid in South Africa.

• Most of us missed what really happened there. • South Africa was heading for a bloodbath. • It looked like civil war was imminent. • BUT, the Church of South Africa organized itself in

prayer and the bloodshed was averted. • Nelson Mandela came on the scene and extended

forgiveness instead of vengeance.

The Rest of the Story• It is a social phenomenon that no political scientist

could have predicted. • Just compare South Africa with what happened in

Zimbabwe. • What is the difference? • The leader who took over—Mugabe or Mandela. • What was the difference? • The prayers of the Church.

The Rest of the Story• Also, do you know how slavery was defeated in

England in the 1820’s? • The nation was headed for major confrontation

over this issue, and the believers banded together to pray and fast!

• God raised up a godly, wise leader in William Wilberforce.

• The power of slavery was broken, and they do not even have the prejudice problem in England that we have here.

The Rest of the Story• Too bad our ancestors didn’t learn that lesson from

the motherland! • We went to war, and there is still a strong prejudice

spirit that exists among the races here. • I do not believe that a civil war was God’s will.• The Church could have averted it!• How will issues like Abortion be defeated? • The same way! • The choice is ours! Which path are we going to

take?

The Rest of the Story• We need to begin to pray for godly, quality leaders

like Joseph to be raised up in our country. • We need statesmen and not politicians! • Good leaders are a sign of God’s blessings, but the

opposite is true as well. • Look at Joseph, he was the man born and prepared

for the hour in which he lived. • In his excitement of the moment, he gushed out

with a plan after he had interpreted Pharaoh’s dream.

The Rest of the StoryGenesis 41:33-40 – 33 "Therefore, Pharaoh should find an intelligent and wise man and put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt. 34 Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years. 35 Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead and bring it to Pharaoh's storehouses. Store it away, and guard it so there will be food in the cities.

The Rest of the Story• 36 That way there will be enough to eat when the

seven years of famine come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise this famine will destroy the land."

• Sum: Joseph suggested that Pharaoh take 20% of all the wheat in the abundant years and store them away for the lean years.

• We need to be prepared for the future.

The Rest of the Story37 Joseph's suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his officials. 38 So Pharaoh asked his officials, "Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the Spirit of God?" 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are.

The Rest of the Story• 40 You will be in charge of my court, and all my

people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours."

• There is a great need for wise, insightful leaders today in our country.

• When you have a great leader, remember that he or she is a gift from God.

The Rest of the Story• William Gladstone, who was a prime minister of

Great Britain during the 19th Century, was once asked, What makes a great statesman?

• His response is quite interesting: The man who knows where God is going in the next 50 years.

• Joseph was such a leader. • He definitely saw where God was heading in the

next 14 years.• He correctly laid out a plan on how to follow God

during those years.

The Rest of the Story• There is need for leaders who can look down the road

and see the pitfalls that lie ahead and make the necessary corrections to avoid them.

• Today, most leaders want to do what is politically expedient and not what is best for the country.

• Because of that their decisions are short-sighted.• Instead of complaining, what should our response be? • Prayer and repentance! • Remember that Judgment begins with the household of

God. (1 Peter 4:17)

The Rest of the Story• The Day of the lame, namby-pamby prayers is over! • Don’t just pray once and then quit. • Pray until there is breakthrough! • Breakthrough can come, but it is not going to be

automatic. • We must contend for it! • It is time for the devil’s strategies to be exposed

broken up.

The Rest of the Story• Jesus has the Breaker Anointing to break up the

plans of the devil! • In fact, the BREAKER is one of His Messianic Titles!• Micah 2:13 – One who breaks open the way will go

up before them; they will break through the gate (the attacks of the devil/the restraints of sin and fear and sickness) and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the Lord at their head.

• Jesus is the BREAKER!

The Rest of the Story• We need to pray until Breakthrough comes or until

The Breaker shows up! • Jesus can come in and break us out of this place

where we have been hemmed in! • Maybe you are in a pen of sickness, bondage to a

bad habit or just not seeing the answer to your prayers—

• The Breaker has the Anointing to bust you out to a new place of Freedom and Deliverance!

The Rest of the Story• This year can be the year of BREAKTHROUGH for

the Church! • BUT, once again, it is not AUTOMATIC! • It will come to those who contend for it and believe

in faith for it to come! • Let’s call on the Lord to come and visit America

once again to:– TRANSFORM it– raise up godly, wise leaders like Joseph – because we are living in such a CRITICAL HOUR!

The Rest of the Story• The future of America is in the hands of the

American Church! • We can determine the ending by our response to

this hour! • We can write the rest of the story!• The Church is receiving a WAKEUP CALL—but many

of us have hit the SNOOZE BUTTON and rolled over.• Wake up, O Church, and Advance. • Our response now will determine what our future

will be like! We can write the rest of the story!

Joseph Factor

Week 13: The Rest of the Story