Lesson From Joseph's Life in Potipher's House

Intro music: Glory, glory hallelujah... (Hymn) [Speaker 1] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] The Lord be praised. We thank Him again [unclear: best guess] for bringing us into the month of October. Today being the first day of the month and incidentally also a Saturday that we are having our Adolescent and Singles' Club. The singles are having their own program... the adolescent are having their own program in their own venue, while we the singles, we are together this morning again online. Those of you connecting with us on Mixlr and those of you connecting with us on Telegram. We thank God for His mercies, taking us through January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and now we are in the month of October. May His name be praised forever and ever in the name of Jesus Christ. Once again, you are welcome to the October edition of our Singles' Club. And I trust the Lord that it's going to be a time again of refreshment in the presence of the Lord this morning in the name of Jesus Christ. Let us have a word of prayer as we connect together this morning. Precious Father, we are grateful to You. We thank You for the privilege of prayer. We thank You for the privilege of fellowshiping together. And You have been helping us since the first Saturday in January. Now we are in the tenth month. You have been helping us through in sustaining the program, Singles' Club. We bless Your holy name for this sustenance, and we commit ourselves into Your hands. Lord, we are praying, Lord, we are saying that as we gather unto You again this morning, Your presence will work within us among us. Those of us who are here physically, our brethren who are joining us on Mixlr and those joining us on Telegram. Lord, may we experience the power of Your presence in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, as we fellowship together, we look up unto You. Let there be seed for the sower and let there be bread enough for the eaters to eat and be full in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Almighty Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We will be stepping further in our topic for today. It will be a stepping forward or a moving further on the matter of Joseph that we started about two months ago Singles' Club. We looked at lessons from the life of Joseph as a teenager and it was a time indeed that was so refreshing for us all. Today we want to take a step further in the life of Joseph. For last month, we were able to look at the need to understand the season, understanding the time. That was our focus in the month of September. For those of you who may not be part of us in the September edition and you are on Telegram, you can just go to the recorded version. It is there. Or you pick it up on our website. Today we want to look further again into the life of Joseph as we look at lessons from the life of Joseph in the house of Potiphar. That is our focus this morning. Joseph in the house of Potiphar. Joseph as a young man in the house of Potiphar. What lessons can we learn from the life of Joseph? So we will be going to the text. Our text is Genesis, where we have the story of Joseph. Genesis chapter 37 was where the whole story of Joseph began from and in 37, it concluded. And that was where we concluded. We looked at an aspect of the life of Joseph, the life of Joseph as a teenager. We stopped at chapter 37, verse 36, where the Bible says, "Now the Midianites had sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard." That was where we left the matter two months ago. So we want to pick the matter from there now. Joseph in the house of Potiphar. Lessons from his life in the house of Potiphar. In chapter 37, verse 36, the Bible says the Midianite who bought Joseph from his brothers, when they got to Egypt, they sold him to Potiphar. That is how Joseph got to the house of Potiphar. In chapter 38 is the story of Judah, the story of Joseph brothers, those who sold him. The Bible just gave us an overview of what was happening to their own life at the other end. So we will not be looking at chapter 38. It's just about the story of Judah. The matter that concerns Joseph picks itself from chapter 39 from verse one. That is Joseph in the house of Potiphar. So since we will be looking at this text, it will just be good to read, just to remind ourselves of the story again before we begin to draw the lesson from the life of Joseph as a young man and then lesson we can draw for both brothers and sisters today in the life of Joseph as a young man. As it says in Genesis chapter 39: "Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph and he was a successful man. He was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house and all that he had he kept under his authority. So it was from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he did not know what he had except for bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph." That's a lustful look. Some other version makes us want to understand the meaning of cast a longing eye. It's talking about interesting him. So the Bible says that she cast a longing eye on Joseph and she said, "Lie with me." But he refused. He said to his master's wife, "Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house and he had committed all that he had to my hands. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her. But it happened about this time when Joseph went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment saying, "Lie with me." But he left his garment in her hand and fled and ran outside. And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, that she called to the men of the house and spoke to them saying, "See, he had brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me and I cried out with a loud voice. And it happened when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled and went outside." So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him with these words like this saying, "The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to mock me. So it happened as I lifted up my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled out." So it was, when his master heard these words which she spoke to him saying, "Your servant did to me after this manner," that his anger was aroused. Then Joseph's master took him and put him inside the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was in the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and he found favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority because the Lord was with him. Whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper. Praise the Lord. Now looking at this story, I just want to make this comment, just a general comment from the general reading. I want you to know as a young man or woman, as a young person, I want you to begin to know that yes, it is important for you to labor. Because the Bible says in every labor there is profit. The Bible says go and look at the ant. It does not have an overseer, yet the ants they are diligent to know when to gather their food. The Bible says he that does not work should not eat. So there is a place of working, a place of labor. But on a general comment, I want you to know, understand it very deeply that it is the Lord that prospers us. It is only God that a man truly prospers. If God don't bless the work of your hand, your labor will come to nothing. You will just be struggling. What brings real increase is the blessings of the Lord. I want you to know that very, very well. So above everything in your life, make sure you have the Lord's blessing. Live your life in such a way that you can have the Lord's blessing over all your labor. That is when you can truly prosper from your labor so that you can have a maximum prosperity from all your exact of your energy. It's so important for you to see that on a general note. It is the Lord that prospers. It is in God choosing to bless the work of your hand that you truly prosper. Now to the specifics about Joseph that we want to look at in Joseph chapter 39. Now Joseph was in Potiphar's house and the first thing I want you to see is that the Bible says the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house and all that he had he put under his authority. Now the first thing I want you picking a lesson from the life of Joseph, as a young person, it is very, very pertinent, very important to ask yourself which kind of person are you? From the way you are living your life, from what you do on a daily basis, your everyday life. Don't forget that we are coming out from a topic that we looked at two months ago, lessons from the life of Joseph as a teenager. We saw that something was pronounced very clear in the life of Joseph. Joseph loved the Lord. Joseph trust the Lord. Joseph was somebody who was seen to it that he obeyed the Lord. Now you will see that the Bible says when Joseph got to the house of Potiphar, the Bible says the Lord was with Joseph. The first thing I want to tell you as a young man, as a young woman, the greatest asset, mark my word again, the greatest asset, when you say you have an asset, I have something, your greatest asset in life is to have a life that is able to get God's attention. A life that... we said something in one of our fellowships the other time, when God becomes your focus, you become the focus of God. Be sure that as a young man, as a young woman, you have focused in God so much so that God is interested in your life. That is the greatest asset you can have as a young person. Live your life in such a way that God is with you. Live your life in such a way that... a Scripture is coming to me in Isaiah chapter 66. Let's quickly see that Scripture in Isaiah chapter 66 from verse one. It says, "Thus says the Lord: Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist, says the Lord." Do you see what the Bible is saying here? God is saying that He is the Creator of everything. What exactly do you want to give Him that you can say you give Him something? There is nothing. Because He owns everything. What do you want to give God that you say yes, I really gave God? You only give God from what He gave you. You are giving to God from what God gave you. So in actual sense you cannot really give to God because it is from what He gave that you are giving back to He. So it is still His own. Everything in your hand is still His own. That's what the Bible is saying actually. No man can actually give to God. Because that thing you want to give to God actually belongs to Him. He gave it to you. So in actual sense when we say we give to God, the reality about it is that we are just living a life of obedience to God. It's not really as in the strictest sense of it you cannot give to God. There's nothing you want to give Him. You say you give who owns the life? Is it not so? So there's really nothing. When men don't give God their life, they are only rebels. He created all things for His pleasure. So you are created for His pleasure. When you don't give Him pleasure, you're only rebellious. So when you are giving Him pleasure, you are not really giving Him anything in the strictest sense of it that you actually gave Him. He owns all things in the real sense of it. So in the real sense of it, what God is only testing in our life is obedience to Him. That's all. That's just a simple thing. It's like a father gave son one million naira and then asked the son to help him buy a phone of a hundred thousand from the one million. You know that if he bought the phone and he has given to the father, in the real sense of it, he don't really given to the father? It's actually a test of obedience. That's what I want you to see about our relationship with God. God needed to test our obedience. God tests our obedience. How obedient we are. That is the actual bottom line about all of these things talking about giving, talk about this, I give this, I give that. It's just a test of our obedience, our allegiance to Him, our worship of Him, our appreciation of our salvation. We are actually appreciating God. We are saying God, thank You. Every service to God is actually a thank You. Thank You for saving me. Thank You for giving me. So the bottom line of everything we do is living a life of being grateful. You are grateful to God that's what you are doing when you are obeying Him actually. Nobody can really give to God. That's what God is saying here in Isaiah 66 very simply. He said, "The Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build? Which house are you building for God? And where is the place of My rest? What do you want to build that God says okay let Me come and yes, yes, you have given Me something that I can rest with." No. "All of these things My hand made them, and all these things exist, says the Lord." Now look at what He now said. He said, "But to this one will I look." Another version says, "This is the man that I will esteem." That's the NIV translation. Let me read to you the NIV. NIV says, "Has not My hand made all these things, and so they came into being, declares the Lord. This is the one I esteem." So there is something God esteem in our life. I want you to get that. It is not so much about the giving we are just looking at. It's more of a test of obedience. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word." Do you see it? What God really wants to see in our life is obedience. The person that God esteem is person who is now giving it willingly and joyfully to God. The person who is serving God wholeheartedly, joyfully. He is there. He is grateful. That's the person that God looks like. What God is looking at is the attitude of our obedience. It's a test of our obedience. He said to this person I will look. The person who trembles at My word. The person who find delight in Me. The person he's doing it but there is this joy. He delights in the law of the Lord day and night. He wants to... that is what God is really looking at. And that is one thing that marked his life. That's what I am calling your attention to. If you look at Joseph as a teenager, that was one thing we emphasized. So what I'm showing you in the life of Joseph in the house of Potiphar is please get me very clear. Certain things don't just happen in your life. No. Certain things, they are consequences of certain things. God was with Joseph. God was not just with Joseph. There was a life Joseph had been living. And my question to you today as a young man, you have gone beyond being a teenager. You're a young man. Oh yes, I'm no more a child. I'm a teen plus. Legally I'm now an adult and all of that. That is what we are trying to look at today. You are growing up beyond your lower teens. You're getting gradually into your 18, your 19, your 20s, on and on like that. We are looking at the life of Joseph that look, be careful. God can be with you. It depends on how you live your life. The Bible says God was with Joseph. That was his testimony. How are you living your life? How are you living your life? It's a very important thing. And I'm showing you what it takes. To this man I will look. The person who humble himself before the Lord. The person who is contrite, that is he is repentant. The Bible says he who covereth his sin shall not prosper. But the person who is repentant, he says he who confess and forsake them shall be shown mercy. Are you somebody who covers sin? Do you have secret sin, hidden sin, all those things in your life? You are not contrite. Are you somebody who trembles at the word of God? You see when these things are in your life, humble, contrite, trembling at the word of God, the truth is that you will be having a particular asset. That asset is that the Lord will be with you. And that is the first thing we are learning in the life of Joseph. It is not what his brother does not understand is that what is important in life is who is God with. Anywhere you go, as long as God is with you, it will be well. That is the bottom line. That is the bottom line. It is not about the place. It's about the man. The kind of man. Do you remember our last month when we were looking at Isaac? Isaac wanted to go to Egypt. He thought it was about the place. God said don't go to Egypt. Stay in this land where there was famine and I will bless you. And Isaac stayed in that land. Bible says he sowed in that land and the Lord blessed him and he reaped a hundredfold and the man went forward. Genesis 26. And he began to grow. He became great and he became exceedingly great. The Philistines began to envy him. They began to block his well. So the matter is not about the place. The matter is that where is God in your life? The brother thought that since he's now sold into slavery, his dream will die. They don't understand that the reality about a man is who is God with. The Bible says "If God be for us, who can be against us?" The simple English statement, one with God is majority. So the point is how are you living your life today as a young man? Do everything to have this asset. What you first need in life is not money, is not riches, is not gold, is not silver. Joseph don't have all those things. But Joseph has something that will bring all those things. And I'm telling you that is the reality. That's the reality of it. He has something. There is this asset in his life. It is this asset each every young person should possess. God was with Joseph. You will see it. When he moved to prison again, he was blackmailed. He was thrown into prison. What did the Bible say? Joseph was a prosperous man why? For God was with him. So the bottom line is a young person that has this asset. Do you have this asset in your life as a young man? Do you have this asset in your life? Is discipline part of your asset? Are you somebody that God esteemed? God said to this man I will look. It's not about your money, it's not about your sacrifice, it's not about... no. That's why the Bible says that even the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to God. God is not interested in so many things we first seem to think. It's not as if sacrificing to God is not a good thing. But know to obey is better than sacrifice. God is not as if sacrifice is bad. If you look at Psalm 40, he says sacrifice and offering Thou dost not desire but my ear has Thou opened. Obedience. Obedience to God. The reason why there are so many sacrifice today and yet there is less impact, there is less response from Heaven, is because those lives are not obedient lives. All it takes for God to be with Joseph, Joseph was not in any particular fellowship. Joseph was in his master's house. There was no fellowship going on. There was no "Let's attend this on Monday, attend that on Tuesday." Please understand me, there's nothing wrong with these activities. I'm only talking about setting things right. What Joseph had was a life, a life that has this asset. God was with him. And how would that happen in the life of a young man? We look for a young man who is humble, who is contrite, who trembles at the word of God. So it's not just that I am a born again Christian, not just that I read Bible, I pray. No, it's beyond all of that. Which kind of life are you daily living? What do you do? Your thought life? How responding to God? Is pleasing God your focus? Is pleasing God your focus? That was the focus of Joseph. And the Bible says because he was humble, contrite and trembles at the word of God, the Bible says God was with him. And I'm telling you a Scripture is coming to my mind now, something that most of our young people don't know today. Proverbs chapter eight. Look at something there in Proverbs chapter eight. Something for us to learn from. Proverbs chapter eight. Just to show you something about this asset of God being with you above all other assets that you may think you have in life. If you look at Proverbs chapter eight, look at what the Bible says from verse one but I will be very fast. "Does not wisdom cry out and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of a high hill beside the way where the path meets. She cries out by the gate at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors. To you O men I call." So who is he calling to? Wisdom, understanding, they are calling to men. "My voice is to the sons of men." Do you see that? Who is he calling to? Sons of men. Wisdom personifies Jesus Christ. Christ is the wisdom of God. Christ is the power of God. So wisdom is calling. "O you simple ones, understand prudence. And you fools, be of understanding heart. Listen and I will speak excellent things and from the opening of my mouth will come right things. For my mouth will speak the truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lip. All the words of my mouth are righteousness. Nothing crooked or perverse is in them. They are all plain to them who understand and right to those who find knowledge." May you understand and find knowledge as a young man in the name of Jesus Christ. May you understand, may you understand and find knowledge as a young woman in the name of Jesus Christ. He says, "Receive my instruction," talking about obedience. "Receive my instruction and not silver." Do you see that? Don't prefer certain things to obeying God. "Receive my instruction and not silver and knowledge rather than choice gold." Are you hearing something? He says, "For wisdom is better than rubies." That is the mistake many of us are making today. The first asset to have in your life is God. "And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her." Are you seeing that? Everything you are thinking of getting in life, you cannot compare it with having this asset in your life. You cannot. "I wisdom I dwell with prudence." You can see that it's talking about a person. You can see that person that was with Joseph. "I wisdom I dwell with prudence and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." Are you seeing it? A contrite heart where we are coming from. It's to hate evil. Pride and arrogance and the evil way and a perverse mouth I hate. Are you seen him again? He who is humble and contrite. I'm only showing you Isaiah in Proverbs but I'm going somewhere here. He says, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil," that is to be contrite. You are repentant. You don't go the evil way. Pride and arrogance and the evil way and a perverse mouth I hate. Look at what he says. "Counsel is mine, sound wisdom. I am understanding and I have strength." Oh may the Lord be your strength in the name of Jesus Christ. We are talking about strength. He says those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. He says, "I have strength." We are talking of real strength, spiritual strength, real strength. A strength that is beyond what food, what bread and butter can give. He says I have understanding, I have strength. Look at what he says. "By me kings reign. By me kings reign and rulers decree justice. By me princes rule and nobles and all the judges of the earth." Look at what he says. "I love those who love me." Are you seeing the bottom line? "I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me." As a young person are you a diligent do you love the Lord? Are you seeking Him diligently? "I love those who love me." These are practical things. Christianity is not magic. I keep telling people. There is no magical thing about Christianity. You learn the principles, you apply the principles, and you will get the same result. They are principles that can be handed over. That is why He told the disciples, "Everything I have taught you, go and make disciples of all nation teaching them what I have taught you." And the disciples said what did they do? They taught men. Those men taught men. Look at what Paul said, what I've committed to you, speaking to Timothy, "Commit you to other men who again commit to other men." So the things of God can be transferred. They are not magical things. They are principles to learn. You learn them, you apply them, you have the result. "I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me." Look at where I am going. He had told you earlier that you should love me above riches, love me above silver. But when he got to verse 18 what did the Bible say? He said, "Wisdom is with me, strength is with me," understanding is with me. When he got to verse 18 look at what he said. He said, "Riches and honor are with me." So do you see that eventually it will give you riches and honor? I am telling you the right way to redirect your life. The first asset you need in life, God was with Joseph. Riches and honor are with me. Look at what he now added. "Enduring riches and righteousness." Hallelujah. May your riches be an enduring one in the name of Jesus Christ. Enduring riches. A riches that does not have sorrow to it. A riches that will go from generation to generation. A riches that will last. There are enduring riches. Things, things that nothing can take away. May we enter into the frequency and dimensions of God in the name of Jesus Christ. I keep telling you as a young person, your best is in God. I am telling you your best is in God. This is not Yahoo riches. This is not riches that cannot endure. This is not riches that EFCC will be looking for you. It's not riches that you are afraid. It's an enduring riches. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So the first thing we are looking at in the life of Joseph is the Lord was with him. He was with him in the house. When he was thrown from that place into the prison, the Lord was with him. But we are still looking at Joseph in the house of Potiphar. Later we will be looking at Joseph as a prisoner. That will be under discussion again for us. But in the house of Potiphar, I'm showing you that there was something that the Bible began the life of Joseph with. The Bible says the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. And that is what I want you to first see in the life of Joseph. The Lord was with him. And if the Lord can be with you, if you can live your life as such, how blessed you are as a young man. How blessed you are as a young woman. If you can live, if you can so live your life, how blessed you are as a young person if your life can be such. So we move on looking at that reading about Joseph chapter 39. The Lord was with Joseph so much so that the Egyptian saw it. The Egyptian saw it. I wonder how an unbeliever, an idol worshiper, could see God in the life of a man. That's why I tell people if you really walk with God, it's a visible thing. People will see God's glory in your life. The glory of God is visible. That's the real thing. It's a visible thing. It shows that people will know that no, there is something different about this person. May you make that difference in your generation. There is something different about this person. It's something that is possible with you. Don't just read this story and just read them. "Ah Joseph," no. These things are written for our learning. So that we can pattern our life after these things. It says and his master saw that God was with him, and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. The master was a pagan but he could see God in that life. God was traceable, God was evident in his life. That was the asset that that young man took everywhere he was going. And that made the difference in his life. And I pray may you by this make difference in your generation. There is something different about this person. It is something that is possible with you. The Bible says he put all that he had under his authority. You are in your office you say you are not promoted. They are not committing things to your hand. They are not allowing you to rule over others. They are not giving you promotion. They are not making you to rule. There is a way you will carry God as an asset that when in the place in your career advancement and everything, men will soon see that you are different and they will place you above others. Don't you understand that promotion does not come from the east or from the west or from the south? That promotion comes from God? The Bible says God the righteous Judge, who put down one and lift up another. Young man understand, young woman understand this truth. Understand the secret of life. May you be promoted, may you be lifted, may you be established in the name of Jesus Christ. He put everything under his authority. What I am trying to show is that there is a way when we have God as an asset that being the first thing I want you to see, certain things will begin to become consequences in our life without experiencing promotion. Another thing we can see in the life of Joseph is that that asset brought promotion. I'm showing you the secret of how to move there. How to move on in your career, how to move on in your academics, how to get ahead of others. You can be lifted. How somebody will just single you out and say, "That contract please give it to that company. Give it to this company. That job give it to that young man." We prefer this person for the job. "The next managing director, let it be so-so person." Don't be thinking of people being lucky. It's not about luck. Prepare yourself for lifting and you will be lifted. We move on, something else again in the life of Joseph. That should be number six now. The next learning we are learning in the life of Joseph in this reading is the battle of sexual purity. Joseph's faithfulness was tested. That is true. But I'm showing you something again that is quickly associated with it. The battle of sexual purity. Let me just say this to you as a young person. If you don't win the battle of sexual purity, then you have lost the battle of life. That is what I want to make you see. If you don't win the battle of sexual purity, you have lost the battle of life. Our life and our sexuality, the way they are divinely connected is something that is mind-blowing. Our destiny, our future... one of these days I hope that we will be looking at fatherhood in the life of children. Maybe as a young man you need to understand what fatherhood is like. All this you call parenting. I'm a mother, I'm a father. We will look through Scripture and you will see how greatly connected with what children become is this sexuality thing. If you go back to creation, when God said I will make him a help suitable for him and God was to make the woman, He said now be fruitful and multiply. Do you notice that there is a connection between creation and multiplication of the human life? When you talk about the female, you are also talking about the generation. Without the female there cannot be a generation. So and it is also the female that will abuse when we go into sexual impurity. It's an abuse. How you handle sexuality has to do with the opposite sex, the male and the female relationship. That relationship is the beginning of creation. That relationship is the mother of humanity. That relationship is about everything about human existence. Human beings are spirits yet they are outcome of sexual intercourse. Does that not tell us that sexual intercourse is a very, very spiritual thing? So what I just want to make you see this morning is that like Joseph you must pass the test of sexual purity. Pass the test. Do everything to be chaste in life. If you have made a mistake somewhere, please repent. Don't continue in your error. Bible says flee fornication. The Bible says will a man fall and not rise up again? If you have fallen, don't remain there. Stand up, dust yourself. You don't fall into mud and remain in the mud. Wash yourself. Repent. That's why we use it where we started from. It says a contrite man, a contrite heart. Do everything to be chaste, to be sexually pure. Avoid all form of sexual perversity. Because if you don't win the battle of sexual purity, you have lost the battle of life. And winning the battle of sexual purity, I want to quickly inform you does not have to do with getting married. Being sexually disciplined has nothing to do with marriage. Whether you are married or unmarried, sexual purity is a battle you must win. If marriage solved the problem of sexual indiscipline, men like David should not see Bathsheba and still be looking for somebody to sleep with. Joseph was not married. The woman was the one offering herself. Joseph remained pure. David was married. The woman did not offer herself. David mistakenly saw the woman and yet he could not take his desire, his eyes and his desire off her. So you must get life right. Of course to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife. But what the Bible is saying here is that if you begin to have sex without having a wife, you are committing fornication. So if we desire to have sex then let us marry. That's what it's trying to say there. It's not saying that marriage will create in inside somebody sexual discipline. That's why you will have so many extramarital relationship today. Directors sleep with secretary, lecturers sleep with students. Married people, they are yet to... all married people, yet they did not win the battle of sexual purity. Please win that battle. I see you winning and you will win in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's rise up to win. Somebody won. We are looking at his life in the house of Potiphar. As a young unmarried man he won the battle of sexual purity. He remained pure. It's possible to win the battle. It doesn't matter what is happening today. We can win and you will win. Make up your mind to win. You can do all things through Christ Who strengthens you. And as we look intently again at this story, lessons in the life of Joseph. Is that the woman had tried and tried and tried and tried, tried all kinds of things, do all kinds of things, but Joseph was disciplined. And after all the passes and passes, that is why I normally say that the issue of people saying that rape should be justified on account of indecent dressing is not true. Indecent dressing is wrong. Indecent dressing is not correct. What make dressing to be correct is that it covers our nakedness and every erogenous part of the body between the shoulder and the knee ought to be covered. Unfortunate for what's happening in society today. We know that everything above the knee and below the shoulder they are erogenous part of the body. So they are supposed to be properly covered. So I'm not supporting indecent dressing. It is wrong not to be decently dressed as far as Scripture is concerned. The purpose of clothes is to cover nakedness before you now add beauty to it. The first thing is it covering my nakedness and then how do I look in it? But if how I look become more important than what it is covering, then we have become unreasonable. We have become foolish in our reasoning. However, it is also wrong to justify rape, to justify sexual violence on account of indecent dressing. I don't know what and what this woman did to get Joseph. Anybody who is sexually disciplined no matter what the woman wears will still be disciplined. So there are two wrong things. One should not be used to justify the other. Because you are using one to justify the other, what you are saying is that men can be crazy. The problem is only about women. That will be very, very unfair, unjust. The problem is about the two of them. It's about the two of them. So we must address the two of them. We must address indecent dressing and we should address sexual violence. They are two different things. Even though you will say that yes there is some connection, but one should not be used to justify the other. It's very, very important. After all how do you explain children that are raped? Children of five, children of six, children of seven that are raped? Where uncles will rape children of six. Is it a matter of indecent dressing? Or men who have lost the battle of life? And if they don't turn to Jesus, we never win the battle of life. Now I am trying to conclude, I'm trying to round up now looking at the story of Joseph the last thing we are seeing there. The mistress could not get Joseph. Statistics says that one in every three female will have suffered some form of sexual violence. One in every three female. While for male it's one in every ten male. So the ratio is far very wide from themselves, very wide. The point we are making is that we must do everything to avoid what makes us vulnerable. You see one thing if you want to keep winning the battle of sexual purity, one of the things to watch against is to watch against seclusion. Watch against seclusion. And as we round up this morning about seven lessons that I want us to see in the life of Joseph in Potiphar's house. Of course eventually because of that violation Joseph found himself in prison. We will be dealing with that later. We want to look at maybe next month, maybe not next month, it depends on how the Lord help us. Learning from the life of Joseph in prison and lessons from his life in the house of Joseph... we're just looking at lessons that we can draw from this right life of Joseph, a young man, Joseph in Potiphar's house. I want to beg with you, I want to plead with you, let's imbibe these lessons, let's make them a part and parcel. These things are written for our learning. They are not just stories. Learn this thing, run by them, so that you can get into all that God wants you to become. I pray for you listening to me out there till we meet. We will be meeting on Monday for discipleship class, those of us who are connecting with us on Mixlr on Monday. And then next Saturday for Marriage Forum. And then next month again for another edition of Singles' Club. And as we meet to fellowship together again, I'm saying have a blessed and wonderful time. Let us conclude this morning in prayer. I should have start much earlier, even though our time is up now, but I will keep... I forgot to say it when we started part of our meeting. Once it gets to 11:30, if you have a question, we attend to that question. So any person that have any question while the meeting is going on, please send in the question either on the Telegram page or on the WhatsApp group page. The technical they will see it. Once they see it, they will bring it to us and then we can attend to such questions. Please always know that we have room for question and answer. But the question must come, we must see the question for us to attend to such questions. Praise the Lord. Let's pray this morning as we close. Our Father, we thank You again for another time in Your presence. We bless Your holy name, we give You glory. Our God we are asking this morning, looking at lessons that we will see in the life of Joseph, we are praying that You will help our young men, our young women, O Lord our God, to get it right in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we are praying for them, we are asking You concerning them. Our sons, our daughters, our young men and women, they will not be wasted. They will not be cut down, they will not be cut short. Rather, they will be established in righteousness, they will be mighty upon the land. They will be nation builders. They will be pacesetters in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are: discipleship class every Monday 5:00 PM, Adolescent and Singles' Club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, Marriage Forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, family life seminars, regular school outrages, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy Filling Station along Igera Road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.