Participants: Michael Kontes
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000410
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00:01 Please stay with us
00:08 3ABN presents 00:16 this closed captioned program 00:30 Hello Friends. 00:32 I am Michael Contes 00:34 and I'd like to welcome you 00:35 to Faith Chapel. 00:36 Today we're going to 00:37 talk about Integrity. 00:38 Let us pray. 00:40 Father we come to thee now 00:42 and we thank thee for the opportunity of being able to 00:44 break open the Bread of Life. 00:46 Help us to view the experiences of the saints of old so that 00:52 we can have the integrity of being the saints of today. 00:56 Be with us now in Jesus name. Amen. 00:59 The most visible man in the 1990's stood in front 01:05 of his nation and the watching world 01:07 as he exclaimed, 01:10 "I did not have sexual relations with Miss Lewinsky. " 01:14 Yet the truth came out later 01:17 that he had done exactly that. 01:21 During the same period a poll was taken. 01:26 The poll asked people what they would do for $100,000. 01:32 And two thirds of the people agreed to one of the things 01:36 that I will be reading to you. 01:38 25% said they would abandon their entire family 01:42 for $100,000! 01:44 Another 25% said they would abandon 01:48 their church for $100,000! 01:51 23% said they would become prostitutes 01:56 for a week or more for $100,000. 01:59 16% said they would give up their American citizenship 02:06 for $100,000. 02:08 Another 16% said they would leave 02:12 their spouses for $100,000. 02:15 10% said they would withhold testimony 02:19 and let a murderer go free for $100,000. 02:25 7% said they would kill a stranger for $100,000. 02:31 3% said they would put their children up for adoption 02:37 for $100,000. 02:40 The article comes from James Patterson 02:42 in the book entitled, "The Day America Told the Truth. " 02:46 Brothers and sisters, today I'd like to talk about 02:49 God is looking for a group of people, men and women 02:53 who will not allow their integrity to waver like a reed 02:58 People who will stand up though the heavens fall. 03:03 I'd like for us to open up our Bibles today to Genesis 39:1-9 05:13 He was from the line 05:15 of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 05:19 He was favored in his family. 05:23 His brothers despised him. 05:25 In fact his brothers wanted to kill him 05:28 but yet spared his life and sent him into Egypt. 05:32 He could have allowed what his brothers did to him 05:37 to taint his relationship and his future. 05:42 But Joseph made a choice. 05:45 and the choice was: No matter what happens in his life 05:49 he would serve the God of his fathers. 05:51 Upon arriving into Egypt, Potiphar the captain 05:56 of the king's guard, bought him and brought him into his house 06:00 and from the very beginning 06:03 Joseph had the Midas touch. 06:05 Everything he touched turned to gold. 06:09 His master began to trust him with everything. 06:13 In fact the Scriptures say there is nothing his master held back 06:20 but his wife. 06:25 Joseph was a man of integrity. 06:28 Joseph would stand for the right though the heavens fall. 06:33 Joseph was willing to condemn sin 06:38 in himself as well as others. 06:46 Joseph could have very easily said 06:49 "I'm in Egypt and I'm going to do as the Egyptians do. " 06:53 We better know that as the Roman rule: 06:55 'When in Rome do as the Romans ' 06:57 Joseph could have used this logic and went with it. 07:02 He could have trusted in himself 07:04 In fact, think about it friends. 07:07 Joseph could have said, "I have access to my master's wife " 07:12 "she can help facilitate the dreams I have to go back home " 07:15 "I can begin to play my own cards " 07:18 "and I can begin to make my own way " 07:21 "and no one will ever know. " 07:23 "NO ONE! " 07:24 "Potiphar won't know. " 07:26 "The servants won't be there. " 07:28 "We could orchestrate events as needed. " 07:31 But Joseph knew that Jesus would know. 07:38 God would know what Joseph would do 07:43 even in the dark. 07:45 For God reads the motives of the heart. 07:47 And Joseph was concerned and knew 07:52 that he could not allow himself to do this kind of wickedness 07:57 and sever his relationship with God 08:00 because Joseph lived by a principal 08:03 that is found in 1 Samuel 2:30 08:06 And that principal is: God says, Those who honor Me I will honor 08:14 Interpreted, 'If we honor God, God will honor us. ' 08:18 You see, God had a plan for Joseph 08:20 and Joseph could have deviated from the plan. 08:23 Joseph could have done it his way. 08:25 You know, kind of like going to Burger King. 08:29 Make it my way. 08:32 He chose not to. 08:35 Joseph chose to follow the Lord's way. 08:41 Point #1 that I'd like to share with you 08:44 in the first half of this story is 08:46 the decisions we make can either bring 08:50 and spring forth eternal life or the decisions we make 08:55 can bring forth eternal death 08:57 and separation from God. 08:59 There are decisions today that we are making 09:03 whether in the house, whether at work, 09:06 whether in church that will determine 09:10 the outcome of our destiny. 09:13 Because one decision does not necessarily determine 09:16 the outcome, it is the pattern of decisions. 09:19 And usually if we begin to compromise in one area, 09:22 in one decision the next decision 09:25 is easier to compromise and the decision after that. 09:28 I can imagine in this story that Potiphar's wife 09:31 would have liked Joseph, being a younger man, 09:34 maybe didn't have a tire around his waist like her husband. 09:38 Maybe from that point it could have went from adultery 09:43 to murder! 09:46 We find that out in the Bible it happens many times. 09:48 David committed adultery and had to have 09:51 Uriah killed 09:55 in a cover-up. 09:57 This very easily could have led Joseph away from God. 10:02 But Joseph purposed in his heart and in his mind 10:05 to follow Jesus. 10:09 Notice, Joseph lived his life 10:12 through the eyes of Heaven. 10:16 Joseph was not so worried 10:20 about how he was viewed upon here on Earth. 10:23 This is a very important point. 10:26 If we are to be Christians living in the days 10:29 that we are living in - You see people around us 10:32 are looking to see if our profession is true. 10:35 People around are looking to see. 10:38 'Mike Contes is claiming he's a Christian. ' 10:40 'Is he really a Christian? ' 10:42 And my actions are revealing to them 10:45 and the universe whether I'm a Christian 10:47 or if I am a professed Christian. 10:50 Am I a possessed Christian of the Holy Spirit 10:53 or am I a professed Christian 10:55 possessing the principals of self and Satan. 11:02 And there are people out there that are hungry, 11:04 people who want to believe. 11:07 People want to believe that there are people out there 11:11 full of integrity. 11:12 People are looking for leaders 11:15 who will not say one thing and do another. 11:19 "I did not have sexual relations with Miss Lewinsky. " 11:24 "Well how do you define 'sexual relations'? " 11:27 God is looking for a group of men 11:31 a group of women 11:32 'who will be as true as the needle is to the pole ' 11:36 'though the heavens fall around them. ' 11:38 They will stand for the right principals through the 11:42 power of the Holy Spirit. 11:43 Notice the next text we go into 11:47 here in Genesis 39:20 goes on to read, 12:06 Joseph now being in prison 12:09 could have thrown his hands up in the air and said, 12:11 "What in the world is going on? " 12:14 "I'm no longer with my father " 12:16 "I'm no longer in my father's household. " 12:20 "I was sold by my brothers. " 12:21 "I don't even have my nice coat that I used to have. " 12:24 "Now I'm in this foreign land. " 12:26 "Just when things are beginning to turn the corner " 12:30 "and I think something good is going to happen " 12:32 "my master's wife is accusing me of trying to rape her. " 12:36 "And now I'm in prison! " 12:37 "God what is going on here? " 12:39 Notice, Joseph did not get despondent 12:42 throw his hands in the air. 12:45 Joseph was a man of God. 12:47 Joseph knew that whatever 12:49 God was allowing in his life 12:50 that it was there to shape him. 12:53 in fact Joseph implicitly 12:56 trusted God. 12:57 Psalms 56:11 reads, "In God I have put my trust " 13:09 Joseph wasn't afraid of what men and people could do to him. 13:12 Joseph had a healthy fear of God 13:15 Now, there are times when bad things happen to us 13:21 and we don't know what's going on. 13:22 And we're thinking, 'What has caused this to happen? ' 13:27 I remember in the early '80s 13:29 I was around 14 years old, I believe, my sister and I 13:31 We just found out that the local radio station 13:34 KWOD 106 there in Sacramento CA 13:37 had a request line and every Saturday morning 13:41 we'd call in and request the songs we liked. 13:45 One song though not Christian, because I wasn't a Christian yet 13:50 was entitled, "Funky Town. " 13:52 That song was a very hip-hop song so we decided to call in 13:56 and have this song played. 13:58 A block away at my sister's god-parent's house 14:02 they were getting crank calls 14:04 like 20, 30 or 40 of them within an hour's time. 14:08 so my sister's god-mother's son got on his bike 14:11 and came to our house. 14:12 Now, my bedroom window was beside the living room window 14:14 in the front of the house. 14:19 And my window was open 14:21 And he heard my sister and I laughing and giggling 14:26 and he looked in the window and saw us on the phone. 14:27 And there we were laughing and giggling 14:30 and right away guess what he thought? 14:31 'Mike and Dena are making the crank calls to us. ' 14:33 So he went back home and told his parents. 14:34 Then his parents called my mom. 14:38 My mom found out about their trouble 14:41 and my mom gave us a whooping. 14:43 She spanked us and then on top of that 14:46 mom said we had to apologize. We said, "Mom we didn't do it! " 14:49 We went over and started apologizing and lo and behold 14:53 the phone rang. 14:55 And guess who it was. 14:57 The crank callers. 14:59 And the family looked at us and said, 15:01 "We are so sorry. " 15:03 And you know what? 15:04 My sister and I were so angry at my mom. 15:07 She spanked us without first trying to get to the truth. 15:13 When we feel that an injustice has been done 15:18 We, most of the time, throw our hands in the air 15:22 and say, 'What is going on here. ' 15:24 Friends, this kind of thing happens in church as well. 15:27 Brothers and sisters, an injustice is done 15:30 and we throw our hands up in the air 15:33 and we begin to discard that God knows 15:39 how to set up kings and rulers 15:41 and He knows how to set down kings and rulers. 15:43 And because of that we should implicitly be able 15:47 to have enough faith and trust to know that 15:49 whatever God is allowing in our lives 15:51 He is allowing it because He thinks so much of you 15:54 so much of me 15:55 so much of His church 15:58 that He wants to shape and mold us to the image of His Son. 16:01 That's what Joseph was like. 16:04 In fact it was so much so that we're told 16:06 in the Scriptures that even the captain of the prisoners 16:10 began to see Joseph 16:12 was a blessed man of God. 16:14 And everything that Joseph touched in prison 16:16 turned to gold! 16:17 Joseph had the Midas touch in prison. 16:21 Some of us don't even have the Midas touch in our homes 16:24 and Joseph had it in prison. 16:25 Booker T. Washington once said, 16:32 "Let no man pull you so low " 16:35 "as to make you hate him. " 16:39 There are injustices that God allows so that 16:43 He can shape us into who He wants us to be. 16:48 But the key for us as Christians is to realize 16:51 how God has led us in the past. 16:55 Because if God has been true and faithful in the past 16:58 He's going to be true and faithful in the future. 17:01 He's going to be true and faithful 17:03 in any situations we're going through NOW! 17:06 Joseph was able to get through these situations 17:09 because he remembered how God worked in his past. 17:12 Joseph had heard the stories of his grandfather Isaac, 17:16 how he was laid down to sacrifice and God stopped 17:20 Abraham's hand. 17:23 Joseph had heard the stories 17:24 of his father Jacob knowing how he was running from 17:28 his brother Esau. 17:30 And how God revealed Himself in the form of a ladder 17:36 that touched the Earth and Heaven. 17:40 Joseph knew God intimately. 17:43 I can imagine that probably when 17:48 he was thrown into that carriage 17:51 as the Ishmaelites were taking him from his father's house 17:54 into Egypt, I am sure as he started going further away from 18:00 his father's home he began to weep like a little puppy. 18:06 He began to see his once home disappear, and I believe 18:16 that Joseph remembered the God of his fathers 18:21 and purposed in his heart then and there 18:27 wherever God put him, he'd unswervingly 18:31 serve Him. 18:34 For God is loyal and true and honors those 18:38 that honor Him. 18:41 When God appoints someone to a special work 18:48 God will enable us to do the job. 18:53 Let's think about this for a second. 18:58 here Joseph was in a prison, a prisoner! 19:04 We don't know how big the cell was. 19:06 But we know he couldn't freely move in society. 19:12 Yet because Joseph was a man of integrity 19:17 and purposed to serve God wholeheartedly 19:20 though he was in a prison 19:23 Joseph was free! 19:26 Because the Bible tells us 19:28 that when God is in our heart 19:31 and guiding and directing us 19:34 we are free indeed. 19:37 In fact, Potiphar was a greater prisoner 19:40 in his own house 19:44 than Joseph was in prison. 19:48 How many of us today 19:50 are in prison though we are free? 19:56 How many of us allow circumstances 19:59 and turmoil to place us in a prison house? 20:04 and we can't even walk and freely talk 20:08 to our Lord and Savior because circumstances 20:11 drive us away from God? 20:14 Instead of allowing these circumstances 20:17 to draw us closer to Him 20:19 we allow these circumstances to draw us further from Him. 20:26 I can share with you 20:30 there've been circumstances in my life 20:32 where it was very difficult 20:38 and because I trusted in God 20:40 God came through for me in the toughest situations. 20:45 In 1999 my daughter was diagnosed with brain cancer 20:53 and passed away 6 months later. 20:57 The day she died was a sad day indeed 21:03 and I miss her today. 21:04 There is no doubt about that. 21:06 As we were preparing to take her to the mortuary 21:10 my wife and I were sitting 21:12 in the back seat of my brother-in-laws car. 21:14 We lived in Vacaville. 21:16 The mortuary was 45 minutes away in Sacramento, CA. 21:20 As we were riding, I was singing songs praising God 21:26 through tears. 21:30 My brother-in-law and sister were in the front seat 21:31 just dumbfounded, crying. 21:33 My wife and I were holding hands and holding our daughter, 21:36 singing and praising God for what He had given us. 21:41 He had given us a beautiful girl for four and a half years. 21:44 Friends, one of the reasons I was praising was because God 21:48 honored my prayer request. 21:50 You see, my prayer request has been, 21:51 "Father, I want my children in heaven. " 21:54 Now, I didn't give Him the details 21:57 on how they're to get there. 21:58 That's not my job. 22:00 But I want my children in heaven. 22:03 I can stand here today in front of you 22:07 and tell you without a shadow of a doubt 22:09 that my daughter loved Jesus. 22:10 And I know she'll be waiting in that first resurrection 22:13 for her mother, father and brothers. 22:16 I could have been very easily angry at God. 22:19 I could have let that experience turn me away from Him. 22:24 I could have used that as an excuse to say, 22:28 "God, You have so hurt me " 22:31 "You're not trust worthy. " 22:32 But instead, through the power and the grace of the Holy Spirit 22:38 that experience became a stepping stone for me to 22:45 come closer to Jesus. 22:47 I realized I was a steward and she was not really mine. 22:51 I was just watching and taking care of her as God wanted me to. 22:55 And I had done my job. 22:57 And God allowed this to take place. 22:59 Joseph was allowed to be sold by his brothers. 23:04 Joseph was allowed to go into Potiphar's house. 23:07 Joseph was allowed to be falsely accused. 23:16 Joseph was thrown in prison. 23:18 Yet Joseph's light would shine through prison. 23:25 Do we serve God, brothers and sisters, 23:31 from an undivided heart? 23:34 or do we serve God as long as things are going okay? 23:37 As long as our bank account is full, 23:40 our cars are not broke down, 23:42 our bass boat is doing good, 23:44 kids are growing and healthy, 23:48 we serve God. 23:51 And then with the first sign of trouble 23:54 we kind of go on a vacation from God. 23:56 "Hey God, I'm going to the Bahamas. " 23:58 "I'll see You in three months. " 24:00 And we disappear. 24:03 Or when circumstances come across our path 24:06 do we humbly say, "Lord I am Thy servant. " 24:09 "Not my will but Thy will be done. " 24:12 There is a great prayer in the book, 'Steps to Christ ' 24:15 that says, "Take me oh Lord as wholly Thine " 24:17 "I lay all my plans at Thy feet. " 24:19 "Use me today in Thy service. " 24:21 "Abide in me and let all my works be wrought in Thee. " 24:24 A daily prayer of consecration. 24:28 When we say that prayer we allow God to access our lives 24:32 and to do as He wills. 24:36 We're not to take vacations from Him during tough situations. 24:43 In fact, it could be said that sometimes 24:46 it's easier during tough situations to come close to God. 24:49 Some people come close to God during tough situations 24:52 and then when it gets light they disappear. 24:54 "Oh, Thanks God. " 24:56 "Thanks for answering my prayers. " 24:59 And then we forget about God. 25:01 Many angles we can look at this story from. 25:05 But Joseph served God and it says, 25:10 "God was with Joseph " 25:13 in everything he did. 25:14 Joseph had the 'Midas touch. ' 25:17 Now, in the beginning of our sermon today 25:22 we saw how so many people 25:25 would disband with their principals for $100,000. 25:30 They'd leave their church, they'd be prostitutes, 25:33 they'd leave their spouse, they'd become murderers. 25:36 Today I want to say this. 25:38 God is looking for someone 25:42 that no matter what happens in their life 25:44 will be true to Him. 25:46 God is looking for people 25:50 that no amount of money will push them away from His church. 25:56 No amount of money will push them away from His family. 26:01 No amount of money will cause them to become murderers 26:07 physically as well as spiritually by hating a brother. 26:13 God wants people that with no amount of money 26:17 will make them a prostitute 26:20 physically or spiritually. 26:25 God doesn't want anyone to discard their spiritual beliefs 26:28 for monetary gain. 26:32 God is looking or men and women 26:38 who will ultimately bow their hearts 26:41 bow their minds 26:43 give homage to Him 26:44 in word, deed, in life, in a closet, in public, 26:54 at church, at work and in the home. 27:01 God is looking today for a Joseph. 27:04 He's looking for someone who will say, 27:09 "No matter if my family discards me " 27:12 "I will be true to You, God. " 27:15 God is looking for a Joseph who 27:17 if something happens at work 27:20 and you're falsely accused 27:22 and you're thrown into some type of prison 27:26 real or 'spiritual' 27:31 He wants you to be able to stand 27:32 as a shining light in a dark place and say, 27:35 "Though He slay me, I will yet trust Him. " 27:40 And I ask you today, 27:43 "though He slay you, will you trust God? " 27:50 He's the Merciful, Wonderful Creator. 27:53 He is your True Companion. |
Revised 2014-12-17