7 days. Away stock and human Africa get any talent and has an abundant. 7th Day Adventist Church a program of. Me and when I send my meat products. And. The. Troops. Coming up next please stay tuned for it is written presented by Pastor John Bradshaw. It has stood the test of time. The Bible. Still relevant in today's complex world. It is written. Sharing hold over around the globe. This is it is written I'm John Bradshaw thanks for joining me today there are many good reasons why you can believe the Bible why you can be convinced the Bible really is the would have God And today we're dealing with one of the great reasons that you can be confident in the would of God and that reason is. I'm being joined today by not just add a professor in archaeology Dr Michael Haas a doctor has a welcome to it is written thank you it's good to be here John thanks for joining me let's talk about archeology today and we're going to get to the place where we discover why archaeology is faith building Ok faith building for the believer in Jesus and the Bible but let's begin by having me I ask you what archaeology is I think many of us we have this idea of Harrison Ford running around with a hat on and a shovel over his shoulder what is always he what does it do What's it what's it for What's the philosophy of archaeology it's a good question I do have a hat and I do carry a shovel when I'm in the field but those are important things but it's a lot more than that archaeology is a discipline that studies basically the peoples of the ancient world and tries to understand how they lived how they interacted with one another it's a part of anthropology the study of people it's part of history. Study of the history of civilizations and in doing that we can understand not only how they lived but also understand where we came from and how life is not that much different today is it fair to describe you as a biblical archeology Yes that is how would you describe the comparison to archaeology as a whole that's a very good question I was trained as an anthropologist and as a serial Palestinian archaeologist that is I specialize in the ancient Near East and particularly in the area of Israel Syria Jordan that part of the Middle East archaeology is global it's study of civilizations of the past all over the world you can study the past in China and early Chinese history South America don't ask me questions about the Incans or the Mayans I don't know a whole lot about we specialize very much geographically so when we talk about biblical archaeology we're focusing on the ancient Near East and those periods that interact with the Bible and help understand the history that the Bible is is speaking about specifically So how has. Helped us to understand the Bible and me some examples the Bible is written over a huge span of history giving important historical details about history and about various peoples throughout history but one way that archaeology does help is that the Bible doesn't necessarily focus so much on what people say and what kind of houses they lived in and what their civilizations were like it's interested in political history religious history it talks about God's intervention in history through the lives of his people what archaeology does it helps flesh that out so to speak and gives us a better understanding of how people in ancient Israel lived their everyday lives and helps us understand also what happened when they went off into exile in Babylon for example archaeology can help contextualize things I'll give you one example. I brought a coin here today this is the coin a silver coin it has a face on it this dates to the time of the Hellenistic period this is the coin of patrol me the 1st the successor of Alexander the Great now what is interesting is this coin was minted entire which is located up in Lebanon modern Lebanon today the Israelites had to decide what kind of temple tax they were going to take from people that were coming to visit the temple during the festivals during Passover we just celebrated Easter recently this was the Passover time what kind of temple tax and they had such an aversion to the Roman culture because the Romans were oppressing the Israelites during during Christ time on earth that in fact they didn't want to use Roman coins they didn't want to use Roman coinage or accept Roman coinage you remember Jesus went into the temple one time and overthrew the tables of the money changers Why were they exchanging money because they only works up to a certain kind of temple tax and if you didn't have the right tax there were money changers there to make sure you had the right tax so what do they chose they choose chose a coin minted entire with a face not of Caesar on it because they couldn't stand Caesar they have a face of Mel Kurt who is the Phoenician bail so they preferred a pagan deity like Bale to be on the coins accepted at the temple over the face of Caesar that just gives you a glimpse into the depth of animosity the depth of discomfort they felt with with supporting the Roman regime at that time and that's a genuine this is a genuine coin from that from that time period how do they define what it come across today depends we looked at a site cure but k. Often Israel and we found over $600.00 coins in a period of about 7 seasons of excavation 7 years of excavation but that was with hiring an individual with a metal detector. Or who went through our areas of excavation on a regular basis and helped us otherwise we would have maybe missed quite a few of them because some of them are so small they're there no larger than the than the fingernail on your pinky What's that like to be digging around and finding stuff that this was used in the Bible time somebody may have had this to somebody in the temple when Jesus was alive that's going to make their history come become very alive Well it's incredible I mean take this coin for example this coin could have been in the pocket if Jesus had a pocket or the disciples pockets as they went around and bought things in the market and so forth you know we live in a media driven world today and people want to touch and feel and see many times faith is something that well I can't I can't I can't see it I can't touch it archeology helps us I think in one way to get back to the lands of the Bible when you find a piece of pottery where you find a coin where you find something like this for the 1st time it's an amazing experience because you wonder who held this last who held this in their hands 3000 years ago before this was buried in the sand and sometimes even find a fingerprint in our f.b.i. Databases don't go back that far but if they could whose fingerprints was that on that piece of pottery It's like reaching back and shaking someone's hand. It's a remarkable discoveries that have brought to light civilizations and individuals from the Bible and just a moment we'll find out about some of those We'll be right back. Every word is a one minute Bible based daily devotional presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed especially for busy people like you look for every word on selected networks or watch it online every day on our website is written dot com. 813 autobahns saw a flock of passenger pigeons so luggage that it took 3 days to pass but in 1914 the last passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo where they lived alone in a cage for 4 years now the passenger pigeon is extinct how is that possible Well the short story is that they tasted good and were easy to catch and so today there is gone as the dodo in the South Island loving our now you don't want your faith in God to end up like the passenger pigeon in Revelation 311 Jesus says behold I'm coming quickly hold fast what you have that no 1 May take your crown God Your faith in Jesus don't become spiritually Kayleigh so casual be sure that every day you invite Christ into your hot Don't let your faith in Jesus become extinct I'm John Bradshaw for it is written and it's live today by everyone. This is it is written I'm John Bradshaw thanks for joining me today I'm being joined by Dr Michael hostle an archaeologist and a professor of Buckie ology at Southern had been to university. G. Has often been demonstrated to validate the Bible Dr Hal has. Demonstrated the Bible is a valid and trust with the book what of some of the the big moments in Biblical archaeology archaeology is a tremendous tool because it can go into the history of the Bible lands and look into the civilizations that existed at that time look at the people the places the events archaeology is very good at giving broader sweeps of ideas of how people live sometimes it's not as good as dealing with very specific events but we have some great examples of that as well I'm going to talk 1st about civilizations in the 19000 was great skepticism about the Hittites the Hittites were a group of individuals a group of people mention in the Bible over 20 times their mention in different contexts are mentioned earlier in the patriarchal period in the book of Genesis and then there are mentioned much later in time as well you're right here in the time of David for example which was many many years later who were these had tights Well they weren't mentioned in any classical sources they weren't mentioned anywhere outside of the Bible and there were a lot of scholars that were saying you know this this group of people didn't exist that this was an anachronism a mistake that the Bible writers had made it wasn't until 1000 or 6 that excavations began in central Turkey at a site called to show us bogus quite what's the was the original name of the city where they I should say the the modern name of the city that archaeologists not uncover and not only uncover the capital of the Hittites but they uncovered an archive of thousands and thousands of tablets that demonstrated a extensive language and mixed. History and tradition for the Hittite culture of course they didn't even have to do that in 1006 much earlier as Egyptian hieroglyphics were being deciphered in the early 80822 by simple you know the French archaeologists and linguists we had also an occurrence an opportunity to look at it Gyptian texts on temple walls and and across the Egyptian Empire one of the longest empires that ever existed and look at their interactions with peoples of the ancient world because they conducted campaigns and were very active with with other people what we find there and I'm just finishing a book right now focusing on the Egyptian understanding of historical geography in Asia we find the Hittites mentioned more frequently than any other group of people because they were the major other empire in the north that were vying for control of the area of Canaan between Egypt and the area of Turkey modern Turkey today so he had people saying there is doubt about this aspect of the Bible and therefore doubt about the Bible right an archaeology many years later comes along. He is the evidence you need that's right what other moments have they being in archaeology as it relates to the Bible there was a very early excavation in Babylon in the early 1900 and that was an amazing excavation conducted by the Germans they took a huge amount of material with them of course to Berlin and in the Pergamon Museum today you can see the Ishtar Gate that has been re constructed there piece by piece they discovered not only of this amazing capital city but there was always a big question about who the builder of Babylon was Babylon is history goes back much further than that period of of the Book of Daniel and as the keel and Jeremiah So who is the builder of Daniel and Daniel Chapter 4 verse 30 talks about Nebuchadnezzar who is walking on the walls of his city and saying Is this not great Babylon but I've built for my honor and power and majesty. And so scholars are wondering how could he make that remark because actually Babylon had been in existence for a long time before never could now is or was it would be like the mayor of New York saying is this not New York that I built for my power Majesty Well what they discovered in the excavations were bricks like this one thousands of these bricks this is only a partial brick This is a broken piece of the brick but in this corner here we have an inscription and that inscription begins with the name never could know as or Nebuchadnezzar had thousands of his bricks stamped with a stamp that said King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon the builder of the temple of s. The deal of the builder of the temple of his Eda firstborn son of nab a poll last or king of Babylon thousands of bricks stamped with that so there's no question in war that never can is or was indeed the rebuilder of the city of Babylon after the Assyrians just waited around $622.00 b.c. The Bible gives a very specific about individuals and lots of people that a name yes polls writing stand greetings to this person and that person you know how many biblical characters do we know of have existed. It's a very good question there are many names in the Bible of course and for some of them we wouldn't necessarily expect to find evidence for them but archaeology does and it's amazing the little things that we find sometimes of course King we've talked about the coins and Alexander the Great and various emperors on the coins that are mentioned Augustus and areas and others who are mention in the New Testament we of course could expect kings to be mentioned in Annals also that are mentioned the bible kings of Assyria like to go with police for the 3rd and Sinak ribbon others I would say Currently we have between $70.80 individuals that are mentioned in the Bible that have been confirmed through archaeology to have existed in history to me us. Give us some of those the obvious candidates. There are any among that a.t.o. So that it kind of surprising Yes Absolutely sometimes there are seal impressions found of private stamp seals Jerusalem has been a source of finding these ancient seal impressions and we actually have seal impressions of some of the court officials of Jerusalem we actually have we believe a stamp seal of the room the son of Nureyev the scribe who according to The Book of Jeremiah was Jeremiah's personal scribe who wrote much of the book of Jeremiah who also was the witness when Jeremiah went out to buy the land during his time in prison why would we have him well it was something that people had records of and they kept records of these kinds of things one of the interesting recent discoveries I think it was around 2007 a scholar from Vienna was doing research at the British Museum in England and was going through some tablets that had not been published or even read before and by the way we have thousands of can you form tablets in the basements of museums that haven't even been read let alone published and he was going through these and all of a sudden this ancient Babylonian tablet he sees a name there Nebu Sarsour Kim At least that's the name that he read and it is mentioned in obscure in passing in the book of Jeremiah I think it's Jeremiah 31 where Ned was SARS that Kim is mentioned with a number of of different Babylonian officials who never could know their leaves behind 2 to help out with overseeing Jerusalem in his absence so you have these kinds of surprise discoveries and what I often tell students is we're only beginning to scratch the surface I mean archaeology is a young discipline we've only been working for a short period of time in 200 years is not that long and the amount of time that goes into an excavation we're only scratching the surface there's so much more to be found you've personally dug in the Middle East. How many times I've dug 10 different sites and I've worked probably 20 seasons in the field over 20 seasons in the field and I've directed projects and I've worked as a volunteer from Cyprus to Jordan to Israel mostly in Israel though so you've seen a little bit yes how easy is it for somebody do you think to see that much evidence and then dismiss the Bible as not valid you can look at a glass half empty and you can look at the glass half full there are skeptics who would say Ok so we have 70 people in the Bible what about the rest of the hundreds of that are mentioned there is this stuff we've missed all that we haven't yet found that is significant Oh absolutely absolutely all right there are questions that hasn't proven everything what have we not so far found through archaeology in the Bible that maybe we should have all could have all still hope to find that I'm just about it. Your father god your Creator and originator is also the God of the future it is ability to tell us what is still ahead God reminds us of his sovereignty and power over all things to help us to trust Him God has provided amazing evidence of his reliability and the reliability of his would today I'd like to send you a booklet that demonstrates how God foretold will the vents with absolute accuracy thousands of years in advance this booklet is called Can God be trusted and it's absolutely free just call 180-253-3000 ask for can God be trusted if the lines busy please do keep on trying or rights to it is written p.o. Box 6 Chattanooga Tennessee 37401 and will mail a free copy to your address in North America it is written is a faith based ministry supported by people like you your help makes it possible for us to share God's good news with the whole world thank you for your continued pray for support our toll free number is 802533000 our web address is it is written dot com. This is it is written thanks for joining me today a special guest is Dr Michael hospital and just add a professor of theology Dr Oziel a moment ago we alluded to the idea that some things significant things in the Bible. Has not validated at least not yet so what some of those things that clearly some people. Troubled by in 1902 a book was published in search of ancient Israel by a British Old Testament scholar Philip Davies It was very controversial book because basically he said everything in the Old Testament was invented fiction that wasn't written until the time of Alexander the Great in the 3rd 2nd centuries and he said he was an invented language and one of the things that he argued in this is what makes archaeology so important he argued we have no evidence for David or Solomon these are the great kings of Israel so he was are you on the basis of silence we haven't found these men in ancient history therefore they didn't exist the next year archaeologists were working in the northern side of Tel Dan the very northern city of Israel right on the border to Levanon and as a volunteer was working in a wall. A piece of stone from that wall fell out of the wall and on the opposite side of that stone which had been reused as a building block of a wall was an inscription written by an Iranian King with this capital of Damascus not even an Israelite king who had invaded Israel mentioned in the Bible and had left a steel commemorating his victory over the king of Israel its broken part of the kings name is mentioned the king of Israel and then the House of David this is during the divided monarchy when you have the Northern Kingdom in the southern kingdom the House of David is the way the Bible exactly talks and describes the kingdom of Judah because David was seen as its founder and so here you have a hunt. But in 40 years after David's reign David being remembered as the founder of a dynasty as of the House of David now when this was published and it was a major major event it was made to the cover of The New York Times that was news all over the world what did Philip Davies do he said Well there are no vowels in Hebrew you only have consonants and so we don't know if the vowel a or the we don't have those files in Hebrew was there maybe there were other Vols maybe it was oh maybe it was the house of Daoud or some other pronunciation nobody really excepted that interpretation among those called the community and he went so far later in an article to say well maybe that that artifact was a forgery placed there by the archaeologists So some people will go so far to defend a previous conclusion based on the absence of evidence to the point of almost absurdity and yet at the same time I always remind my students the absence of evidence is never evidence for absence there are hundreds of archaeologists working in the field every year and you never know what's going to be found what some other things we've missed sure what do we not have evidence for there's no evidence for in Egypt for a massive exodus for 10 plagues for the things that are such a central core element of scripture Ok what type of logical evidence might they had before that well one would maybe expect to find some records of Moses or Joseph Joseph was busier of Egypt maybe maybe there would be some record of that of Moses if he was destined to be king of Egypt those kinds of arguments have been made before I deal lot with Egyptology and I just finished a commentary on The Book of Exodus and I would say this this would be something that I think is very important to keep in mind in ancient Egypt. Egyptian military records never record any defeat they are always victorious The Egyptians are always victorious if you look at the the tree of you won't find any mention of water that's correct so the Egyptians never lose a battle and this is part of their ideology because their gods are guiding them into battle. So this was probably one of the greatest defeats Egypt ever experienced their economy was devastated through the plagues the Egyptian pharaoh was destroyed in the crossing of the sea most likely there were a lot of things that happened there that would have been very devastating to Gyptian ideology let alone political history so part of me as a historian knowing what I know about Egyptian ways of documenting things is not that surprise that we don't find any evidence of that event but what is what I want to come back to is the Bible the Bible is not that kind of a book the Bible doesn't just give us a glorified past of Israel the Bible tells us about Israel's defeats as well it's victories both on a personal level whether it's Davidson with best Sheba or on a global level in terms of a catastrophe of a lost war and as a historian that gives me some some level of confidence in the Bible as the as a more authentic and objective source of truth in history what do archaeologists actually find you don't finding a whole towns and a lot of intact defects most of the time you eat you dig in the sand in Israel what do you come across we excavate a very small portion of a city that when we go in excavate very small portion let's give an example the Harvard excavations that Ashkelon they excavated there for over 25 years they've excavated less than 5 percent of the site in 25 years of excavation it's one of the best funded excavations with hundreds of archaeologists and volunteers working in the field we don't even know how many sites there are many of them haven't even been located yet let alone excavated so there's this whole series of limitations once a site is excavated we're basing our conclusions on a very self small segment of the site that all needs to be published in publication rates are very very dismal for archaeologists that usually takes 1015 years for a site reports to get published. And finally when you come through all of that process of excavation analysis of data publication only a small fraction of of what is actually excavated has a direct impact on understanding the Bible in other words of mentioning a name of an individual or that kind of a thing things are are not preserved in the ground for pirates in Egypt yes. The Dead Sea Scrolls because it was in a very dry climate yes but in Jerusalem in the more fertile areas things deteriorate we find a few stone artifacts that have writing on them we find some could be a form tablets but in Israel writing and written materials are very rare. In your own personal relationship with God It has strengthened your faith in God It has made a little difference a lot of difference help personally has it impacted you it's been profound My 1st trip to the Middle East was with my father when I was a teenager I remember being in Jerusalem sitting on the Mount of Olives and looking over the old city and what I'd grown up with and read in the Bible suddenly had a context to it and suddenly the kid from Valley. The Sheep Gate that Jesus walked through on his way to the temple when he stopped at the pool of Bethesda and all of these things began to make to make sense and. For a young person it was it was very life changing maybe that's one reason I became an archaeologist I don't know but I think for me yes it's made a huge difference you never read the Bible the same again when you visit the lands of the Bible and when you're excavating this material the Bible becomes real it becomes something that is made up of real people and it testifies of a god that interacts in history among both people I can see that as a life affirming aspect of my faith as well as I see him working in my life today welcome thank you it's good to be here John pray together we must of pray about yes that Father in heaven we are grateful that you've given us the Bible and in addition to the Bible you have given us solid evidence good reasons why we can believe you would is true Alternately we claim Jesus as Savior by faith allow us to be people of faith who in the prisons all over in the absence of concrete evidence we can say we believe in the God of heaven for we have the witness in our hearts that He loves us and we love Him God and bless us let us be people of your Would I pray in Jesus name a myth. Thanks for joining me to see you again next time until then. It is written. By every wood. From the mouth of God. You've been listening to it is written join us again next week at the same time on this station for it is written with John Branch on this program was produced by it is written all writers or it is written is a faith based ministry thank you for your letters and continued support for more information please visit our website it is written dot com. During the war in Kosovo in the late 1990 s. Many citizens fled to camps in Serbia Well the Serbian government is now closing those camps forcing families to move into substandard unfurnished apartments with poor sanitation and heating you can give one such family a winter aide to package that includes firewood and personal hygiene items including soap and toothpaste It's amazing how a small gift can leave an enormous impact on a life. This is just one of many opportunities offered to you in this year's edition of the Adventist development and relief agency International's the original really useful gift catalog to find out more visit www. Dot org. Or call 1844 ad that's 180-424-2372 this is your chance to select the perfect gift for that special someone who has nothing thank you but that is a power walk that is working even when you think that nobody is watching. Us when there is no witness. Stand in the. As with Pastor Walter Now here's a junior lesson in its own adventure and today's message brings tears to. Bed and is the 1st of a 2 part method called not in control so open your Bible and follow along as was Pearson talked about maybe I'm confident that. We are reading from Genesis Chapter 37. And there are words that I will share with you. Beginning with Verse 18 so Joseph went after his brothers and found them near doeth them but they saw him in the distance and before he reached them they plotted to kill him here comes that dream or they said to each other come now let us kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him then we'll see what comes of his dreams let's bow together as we pray Father we are grateful that God does step it with great fold that when everything seems to have gone too far God is mindful of us we are never forgotten we are never displeased we are never misplaced but God remembers where we are and knows. Now as we open by word tonight let by Holy Spirit come to make the word plain to us and we shall give glory Honorine praise to the name for it is in the name of Jesus that we pray a map. This is one of those rare events in the Bible if it seems so well that it's almost unbelievable our theme has been when God steps say it. I think it's important because the fact is that if we ever needed God to step in before we sure do need him now. There are situations that seem to me to be quite unfair and I'm afraid that the systems that ought to be in control of family it's have somehow broken down and the question is always there who is in control and the am sure it is God is in control. I I look at the situation and 1st of all I think that cinematographers must be awfully jealous because you can't find this kind of drama anywhere outside of the Word of God. There is this proud fall a proud father who in the. Old the age has a son born in his family the Bible says that when Joseph was born he was born at a time that brought particular pride to Jacob and soul Jacob who loved Joseph more than the other children that is not the right thing to do. Sometimes there are children in a family that remind parents of their good attributes and others that remind them of things that they would not want to remember but all of them are your children. And it's not fair but but think of it it's understandable as the old man walks down to the marketplace can you imagine what his peers must have had to say. There is a man who has passed the age of of having a child 3 born but he has a new baby in the house and some old fella must have said to a man look at you what a new world can we say about you and Jacob must have picked up his step you know how you do sometimes and he said well don't worry about me I'm doing all right and there must have been a little smile a little twinkle in the eyes of the friends of this father and perhaps it was what inclined him to love this boy so much but there was a strange situation that developed because you cannot love one child more without there being some kind of problem that crops up with the other children remember you've got these 11 brothers and I have only one brother but I know that my brother and I were always watching to make sure that everything was done equally we were careful and if anything didn't go just right we would protest immediately Can you imagine what it's like to have 11 watching one well one victim that came the problem that was an exacerbation for not only was this young man of a good temperament and inclined towards God He had a right just a light that shone from his countenance and you know if you want to make people really mad you let them see God shining out of you now they say all the time that we want to see people who are good but that's just Spirit to have somebody around who is good can sometimes get on your mare. Because the things you want to do they don't want to do and when you tried to say something that's not quite on point but that they give you is enough and after a while you want to separate from that company this young man was of such a temperament but now in addition to that God gives this young man dreams in one of the dreams. He sees himself as we saw some green that is in one of those gatherings you've seen them in those wonderful pictures and as he's in the center 11 others bow down to him Now you can imagine that the brothers were on a muse they were already convinced that he was the favorite of their father now he comes with these 3 and he says Look let me tell you my dream he has another one that even gets this father a little concern he said Father and problems mom let me tell you I dreamed that my star was in the middle and that 11 Stoss representing you my brother and the sun representing you down and the moon representing you mom all bow down to me Well you know all the brothers are kind of looking at each other with a low rumble of complaint this time dad is even concerned Well son I don't quite understand the dream but I suppose if that's what you dream I don't want to make this a hard and fast rule but let me suggest something to you Be careful with whom you share your dream you can't tell every dream to everybody. You may think that people are just waiting for you to tell your dream so that they can help you you know always in that wonderful how could we help this to come to pass. But it was not cell they were not thinking how can we help him they were thinking he must be out of his mind. Now you would think that that's quite enough we've got a father who loves one child the best we've got these dreams that have him in the center all the time and I think we probably got enough on the table here but we're not finished one day as Jacob is out shopping somewhere he comes across a tuning this tunic is one that is worn by dignitaries or royalty it is woven in multiple color but everyone knows that economy one the tunic mean so now Jacob comes home but instead of bringing 12 tunics and you've got 12 boys you need 12 to mix or you shouldn't buy any but he comes with one now forgive me but I think I've been there and I watched. As those brothers look and. Think I think he's got a little cold or something who do you think it's for you got the nerve to ask who it's for it all to be for Reuben one suggests the eldest but guess who's going to get the head takes it down Joseph comes now it is not written in the word but let me tell it because I am now old enough to understand human psychology. One of them said. You wait till I get him without Dad and I don't talk like that and Co scares me it will scare you some more I have to get it now now now that comes an occasion when the brothers are out working 65 miles from home the scholars say and 11 have been sent away to work but guess who got to stay home Joseph. Can you imagine that trip Can you imagine the conversation that must have gone on we've got to work we've got to go out guess who gets to stay home and do live in them be pamby things around the house we're out here working with the sweat of our bra but little brother little kids see Joseph gets to stay at home and and all these hours that went slowly by there's a strange time of criticism until somebody looks up and and they've got to rub their eyes now but in the distance they think they see that coat coming from a commemorative you know the heat can play tricks on you I look over there do you see what I see. Is that Sam him why not cope here that women look see of dad isn't his dad whether Now he come in alone. I don't know how long it took for Joseph to get from where he was when they saw him to where they were. But before he got there the plan was in place that means that they had not just started talking about are you still with me. Because you can make a plan as convoluted as was there as in that short of time must have cost around a couple of teasers before this happened there must have been some scant outline of the plan before they saw him coming and they can't believe it but he's on the way and here are the shred in their heart has come now to a boiling point and they have decided we will put him in an empty Sr We will put him down and leave him there we will take that full of many colors that we think we will dip it in the brother of some small animal or go probably we'll take it home after we've told it and made it look like some animal ate him and we'll tell Ben look and you know you really don't have to lie when you when you have things like that even though it is a lie that you perpetrate you can just say that look what happened and they've got a plan but but there is a power that he's working even when you think that nobody is watching. That some folk who believe that there are times when there is no witness. But there's always a witness. We have learned that the one who watches is Satan himself he watches for he wants to know what he can get you to do but God is also watching and when you think that you have no help God is there now now be careful to see this because God could have stepped in right this. Could have showed up in some fashion could have sent angels could have done anything that he chose to interrupt their plan immediately but God does not move on my schedule God moves on his schedule. So now they say let's put him in the system. When you read this in the in i.v. You come to understand that after they put their brother in this cistern down in the ground they sat around to eat and you thought people just got cold hearted people have been mean a long time I. Mean this is ancient It's didn't seem so long you don't bend out of shape when somebody lays up for you it's been happening on line time but lined up then have been put together God has been watching some God's power. Lasted longer than I should they're sitting down for a meal and as they sit down some Ishmael life's passed by these a merchant they carry with them murderer and spice and bomb and they are going now into the city they're going into Egypt and when they get them they will sell their wares I'm one of them says you know if we kill him we don't gain anything and why would we kill him after all he is our brother. That sounds like some folk who call themselves your brother and sister in Christ. They make the term brother and sister seem almost an evil thing to say let's not kill him he's up rather let's surely. Let's not kill him his head would be upon our hands let's make a machine that shot him for 7 am says subset. Let's give him to those people and let them take him into a foreign land and who casts what they did so now they pull him out of a pit his elder brother Reuben had already conjured up a way to save his life but it was not to be it would seem that God had gone just sleep but don't have a believe the god is called Sleep God is watching when you think things have gone awry they take him out of the system put him on that wagon now Joseph looks at the land of his father as it shrinks in his vision that he watches his heart folds into despondency for he is leaving everything that he knows going somewhere that is unknown to families he knows not what someone questioning what. When there's nobody to call home. His father had told him about the time when he was out home alone and lay down on the ground with the rock as a pillow and when he had a vision of angels going up and down a ladder most scholars agree that the latter was significant because it represents Jesus our connection to Adam and if Jesus is the connection then you've always got access to the power of heaven and what God was trying to allow you must understand is far enough trying to come to teach him how to lean on God for him Sam instead of leaning on somebody else who leaned on ga. Soul while God allowed the trial God allowed it because in the long term it was good for you got to get that one. Because somebody is going through something that may and you've already said it was God letting me go through this well you got to understand God is not a genie in a lamp. You don't Robin he jumps out to get 3 wishes you have seen that occur on cartoons and television and you know that most people mess up their wishes anyway people who win the lottery turn out to be more pull than they were before they won their lives are decimated ill gotten gain is no blessing after all but God is not a genie who gives blessings in a strange completionist fashion he is of. Course what I me. Even when I need some hardship in my life one writer says before Joseph was put in that system he had started to be rather exact thing he expected too much out of others because he hadn't suffered. If you want to have a hard time you fall into the hands of somebody who has never had a heart attack. They can't understand I don't know why they can't make it I made it. I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps I started out with nothing and made something of myself they will look down their noses at you and count you out before you can blink your eyes because they haven't suffered really enough but when you have gone through some hot. Do you get merciful. It happens so God had to allow some some suffering in that young man's life because he was becoming exacting of others and self sufficient because when you don't have trials you don't know that you can't trust to lean on yourself if God never sent a problem too big for you to handle you would go throughout life under the mis apprehension that you can handle anything. And if you think you can handle anything you are culturally deprived so God had to show him there are some things you can't handle son and had to take him away take him away from where he was comfortable because so long as you live in your comfort zone there are some things that you will never have to learn because you always have resources around. You've got mom and dad and cousins and uncles and aunts and friends and sometimes God will take you away from all of them so only who will you call and after a while you will find yourself early one morning down on your knees with the recognition that the only one you can call is to call on God. And you need to know that you need to know that so now this young man is sold into Egypt sold like so much merchandise I don't know what they got for him there but whatever it was it was not enough he was a young man who had dreams and as you watch it see you you and I look at this thing we are so pompous when we read the Bible because we've already read it you know we know how it's going to turn out it's like somebody who's watching a motion picture with you and you already saw it you know and you're sitting there all smug Well you know what do you think what do you think is going to happen Well I think keep watching. So you're sitting here now saying oh no big thing I know how it's going to turn out but look suppose you didn't know when you begin to wonder where is God. Is God don't let the boy get sold as a slave where is God where is he. And if God doesn't come when you need him what good is a relationship with him but remember the God is the father and so he's watching and the board finds its way into the house of a prominent family in Egypt the House of Lords Apocrypha now you only know the negative side because you haven't paid attention to this other side but there was a blessing for Joseph even in part of his house. I love this part. Everything that Joseph touched was bliss and it was not a direct miracle it was through person hearing constant effort that God blessed everything that's that's important to know because there are some people who when they finally believe in God believe that God will just put things there that you can just sit around and wait what are you doing waiting a little. There are times when God would say wait but the same Bible that says why don't the Lord say that if you don't want your money. So you've got to put some effort here but for those who trust in God and who are willing to put their hand to excellence God will lead some. Young man comes into part of a spouse from a foreign country Asli and you would think that he would have gotten an attitude. Don't get me started lest they are some of us who can explain away the everything. You know I'm not going to work until I get a job. I want to wear certain attire. You know and if I don't get a job like that I'm a sit right. You know. I'm not going to do that I'm not you know I'm not cut out for that kind of work I'm the executive type. It you'd better get to executive hands on a mop or a broom until you get some expertise a man I don't believe that your aim ought to be at some low job I think you ought to aim at but you've got on the stand and you don't get it by staying with a low attitude you've got to get on winning attitude I mean a war. You're listening to the breath of life radio program a while to peer through Jr because the time limitations we have to interact in a message please join us next week when we would include this topic called God in control and now here today special offer. 2000 years ago Jesus did something especially for you he got up on a cross of Calvary and died that day you were on his mind our own for this week is Max located ohs he did this just for you this easy to read entertaining and inspiring book reveals what God did to win your heart let Max Lucado beautifully lay out the way home to our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior call today and ask for he did this just for you it's yours for a gift of $5.00 or more the toll free number is 877 b o l offer that's 877-265-6333 or you may ask for the book by writing to breath of life post office box 97192 Washington d.c. 20077 Remember to include your gift of 5 dollars or more. Come Have a stab at one of my favorite by both ticks is found in John 316 for that's all of the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not bearers but have everlasting life my name is Lisa from the fillets of total and you are listening to joy if. You are listening to 99.9 f.m. Agate and again you heights and simulcast on you 89.9 f.m. Sunset and the time is now 11 o'clock of today's programming sponsor.