Ep 42: Understanding Suffering and Peace Through the Bible (Part 1)

What happens when we peel back the layers of the Bible, examining its stories with fresh eyes and an open heart? A deep exploration into Joseph’s story unveils unexpected prophecies, and shadows of Christ, revealing the profound intricacy of scripture!

Message by
Fred David Kenney, Jr.,
Pastor/ President & Artistic Director of Plays On Word Theater

Message given at
Calvary Chapel Waupaca: https://calvarychapelwaupaca.org/

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Transcript

Typology

Speaker 1 0:00

Lord, you know I want you to listen to place on Word radio. Why don't we read over things? It's like, wait a minute. He left him in prison, but what did he do? He responded with the Word of God, right? So the point is, the Word of God will bring comfort in our suffering. Who here just show hands knows what I'm talking about. Can I get an amen? Amen, those of you you know what I'm saying. There's nothing like the Word of God ministering to you with the Spirit of God. Through the Word of God, it brings hope, it brings joy, it brings strength, it brings encouragement, peace. Oh, how can I forget that? Amen.

Speaker 2 0:59

Hello and welcome to Place on Word radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenney Jr, the founder of Place on Word Theatre, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God.

Speaker 1 2:16

We're going to drill down a little bit. I mean, basically the play is about the story of Joseph okay, and the story of Joseph in the Old Testament because there are different Josephs in the Bible the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob. He was one of 12 and they were shepherds and he had a really hard time. I mean a tough time. If you read from Genesis 37, the story of Joseph right there, if you go to 37 and then up to 50, you're going to see Joseph really went through it and had a hard time, difficult time, and he was exalted. I mean, you guys have all seen or heard the story. Remember the Disney movie Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat? Like who here doesn't know the story of Joseph? You guys, most of us, we've heard the story of Joseph. If you haven't, I suggest go read it. When you get a chance, go read it. It's a great story. But at the end of the story, after he's been exalted and put in charge of the entire land and everything, and when his father dies, they go and bury his father in the land of Canaan, in the Promised Land, not in Egypt. And when they come back to Egypt after the funeral is over, they come back to Egypt and Joseph, his brothers, they're a little worried because now dad's gone, the thought that no doubt went through their minds like uh-oh, now he's going to get us, now we're going to. Now, this is a big payback, and so if you have your Bibles, let's.

Speaker 1 3:37

I just want to look at Genesis 50 for a second Before we're going to come in and examine this, and I want to take a look at verse 18 of Genesis 50. It says then his brothers also went and fell down before his face and they said behold, we are your servants Verse 19,. Joseph said to them do not be afraid, am I in the place of God? Verse 20,. But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about, as it has this day, to save many people alive Verse 21,. Now, therefore, do not be afraid, I will provide for you and your little ones. And he comforted them and he spoke kindly to them. So those of you at the play did you notice at the end of the play we did some comparisons between Jesus and Joseph, how Joseph is a type of Christ in the Old Testament. He's a picture and a type the Bible is full of direct prophecies about Jesus saying he's coming, this one is coming. You know, they give direct prophecies. Just for example, top of my head, isaiah 53 talks about the crucifixion and Psalm 22, he was pierced for us and they wagged their heads. You look at those Psalms. Those are direct prophecies about this one that's coming. But the Bible also has a bunch of pictures and types, shadows of this one that's coming. I'll give you an example.

Speaker 1 5:08

Back in the 40s, when the draft started and they were drafting guys to go fight in World War II, this woman, she was supposed to be married, she was engaged to this guy and her fiance got drafted and taken. He got taken into draft and he was going to fight the Germans. And so what she did? She took a eight by 10 or whatever. She had a photo blown up of him, the photo she had of him, and she put that photo in her pocketbook. And everywhere she went, when she was getting groceries at the store, she had her pocketbook. She had this big picture sticking out. It was her fiance, whom she loved. It was this picture. Everywhere she went, laundromat, everywhere this picture was sticking out of her purse, her bag. When her fiance came home, she no longer needed that picture. That picture was a type, it wasn't the substance.

Speaker 1 5:52

The Old Testament is loaded with types of Christ, pictures pointing to of what he's going to do, how he will be. But when he came, those types we put them down. We can use them to see him. But the typology we don't want to push it too far, because the fulfillment came and Christ is the fulfillment and Jesus was talking to the Pharisees in John chapter five, and Jesus was talking to them and these are the guys that have their PhDs in Bible Like, if you ask anybody who knows the Bible, everybody's going to point to the Pharisees and be like those guys know the Bible. Jesus says to them you guys, this is in John five. He says you guys diligently search the scriptures. You search the scriptures but you don't even realize that they speak of me. That's a pretty heavy claim, but if you cut the Bible anywhere, it bleeds Christ. It is. It points to him. The Bible is from A to Z. He's the Alpha and the Omega. I mean it points to him. So with that in mind, I just wanted to read a couple of typology pictures because I couldn't do this in the play. But I think you guys are going to kick out of this. Listen to this.

Speaker 1 6:57

This is just a comparisons with Joseph and Jesus. Joseph's mom, rachel, she was barren, and Jacob was pretty old I mean, he was, he was 90 or 91. And so she finally got pregnant, and it was a miracle birth. That's a little type that happens over and over throughout the Old Testament, this idea of a miracle birth which points to the ultimate miracle birth the virgin will be with child and she'll give birth to a son and we'll call his name Emmanuel. That's the ultimate that these pictures point to. Got another one Joseph was loved by his father and Jesus was loved by his father. At the baptism of Jesus, the voice came right. The dove, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove on Jesus. And what was? The voice from heaven said this is my son whom I love. A declaration from the father. Yeah, that's another point and shadow there.

Speaker 1 7:49

Joseph seeks the welfare of his brothers and Jesus came not to condemn, but that the world would be saved through him. So when Joseph was sent to his brothers to check on them by his father, he was seeking their welfare, he was going to them it wasn't for judgment and Jesus the first time he came, it was not for judgment, but, interestingly enough, his brothers rejected him. When he first had his dreams, his brother said get out of here, you're not going to rule over us. And then they ended up selling him into slavery, you know, and he ended up working for Potiphar and put in prison. That whole thing.

Speaker 1 8:20

The next time his brother saw him was a different story. He had all power and authority. He was basically glorified. His brothers, when they looked and saw him, they didn't even recognize him. And then, when he made himself known to them, whoa, that's what's going to happen, because Jesus came already the first time and his brothers rejected him. The world rejected him. When he comes back again, it's not going to be as the hippie guy on the surfboard, you know. No, it's going to be the glorified King with all power and judgment. Time will be up, and so that's that picture and type that.

Speaker 1 8:58

When his brothers saw him the second time, they were like oh wow, joseph was stripped of his coat and they stripped Jesus of his garment, his outer coat there, and they cast lots for that. Joseph was sold for the price of a slave. And Jesus, what did Judas do? All right, you guys know the story of Judas he sold Jesus out for a handful of coin, which was basically the price for a slave. Same type of thing. These are types and shadows.

Speaker 1 9:27

Joseph was falsely accused and Jesus was falsely accused. I mentioned that yesterday. Joseph was cast in the prison though he was innocent, and Jesus was sentenced to death though Pilate found no fault in him. I could go. I mean. This list goes on and on. Joseph warned of coming danger and urged the hearers to make suitable provisions to meet it, as did Jesus. He warned his hearers that death did not end all, but there was life beyond the grave and we should prepare and be ready. Now Joseph became savior to all people and Jesus was a savior, is not was. Jesus is the savior to all people.

Speaker 1 10:02

The only way to be saved was to go through Joseph. That was the only way. There was no other way, and I'm sure there were some clowns out there saying yeah, I'll show you, I'll show you how to get green out of dirt and how to make turned stones into meal, and so I'm sure there were people that were doing that. That's what religion is doing now. They're telling a false way. Joseph at the time was the only way to be saved, because he was the one that God had chosen for people to come to him to be saved.

Speaker 1 10:31

Christ Jesus is the only way to be saved. I got news for you All roads lead to God. Yeah, I'm not a heretic, hear me out. Yeah, all religions lead to God, but there's only one that leads to eternal life and salvation. Every single road is going to lead to God. Every knee will bow before him. Mark my words it's going to happen. It's gonna happen. Everybody will be before God. But there's only one way to be saved, and over and over he makes it clear throughout the scripture there's one way. He has chosen one way, and the way that he has chosen is the best way. God doesn't make mistakes. If there was a better way to be saved, you can best believe God would have done it, because everything God does is perfect. So the way that this has been done is the way, the best way, the perfect way, and we can bank on that.

Speaker 1 11:23

So the main point is that I wanted to share with the story of Joseph, and some of the highlights is that Jesus and Joseph both of them suffered. Right. We can agree on that. Like when you read the story. You're like, oh my goodness, this guy. He's sold as a slavery, he's falsely accused, he's thrown in prison. Well man, this is bad news, and Jesus also suffered.

Speaker 1 11:44

Now, like Joseph and Jesus, this is where it really gets to the nitty gritty. We are not exempt from suffering, and that's a real tough thing. I mean, some people would preach. If you watch I don't suggest watching TV evangelists, but if you saw some TV evangelists make you believe that if you come to Christ, all of your problems disappear. If you just have enough faith, you come to God. Everything's perfect. That's not a biblical representation. The main problem goes away, though, when we come to Christ. When we come to God, our main problem, the main problem, which is sin, that's dealt with when we come to Christ, but we still have to deal with in this world until he's completely done with everything. We get the down payment of having our sins removed and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Now we've got a right relationship with God. So, in a sense, everything is right, everything's made right, but we still have the practicality of dealing with the situation in our lives.

Speaker 1 12:46

I'll give you another example here. You guys have lottery here, right, powerball and mega millions, and all that Just for conversation's sake. Say I bought a ticket right. Whatever it is, it's up to 500 million or whatever. Say I buy a ticket here in Wapaka Usually it's out of state people that win anyway, so maybe I will win. So I buy a ticket and it hits right and I have the ticket in my pocket.

Speaker 1 13:09

So now I've gone from being dirt poor to a multimillionaire in my net worth. My net worth is skyrocketing. Now my net worth is $500 million. But practically if I empty out my pockets, I've got a pen, I've got some hand sanitizer, I've got my keys. Practically on paper I'm a millionaire, but practically I still don't. I can't even buy a cup of coffee right now.

Speaker 1 13:30

When we come to faith in Christ, spiritually we become beyond billionaires. You could say we hit the lottery. I mean, our net worth goes up exponentially to infinity because of him. We become sons of God. But practically we still have to live this life and we are in this world but we're not of this world. So it is difficult.

Speaker 1 13:53

So anybody who preaches to you you come to Christ, all of your. You know everything's gonna be rosy. They're lying to you and the reason I say that you always let the scripture dictate and paint the framework for you on how you're supposed to see things. Let the scripture be the final court of arbitration. The scripture, over and over, shows men and women of God who really suffered, had a hard time. Not everything was not rosy, and I'm just gonna give you one example.

Speaker 1 14:17

How about John the Baptist I present? This is the courtroom I present John the Baptist. He was locked up, put in prison and he sent some of his boys to Jesus. He was like, hey, man, go ask Jesus if he's the one or if they're supposed to be somebody else. And Jesus responded to them, his guys, and said go and tell John the things which you see in here. The blind see the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. So Jesus responds with the word. And he responds with the word that John most likely would have known, because, jesus, he was touching on Isaiah, where it says the eyes of the blind are gonna be open. That's a prophecy of Christ. The lame will leap like a deer. That's Isaiah 35. Isaiah 61, he's gonna preach good tidings to the poor. Isaiah 42, he says he's gonna open up the eyes of the blind and the prisoners will be let out of prison. Jesus responded with the word for John the Baptist.

Speaker 1 15:13

What blows my mind is I think of John being in prison and Jesus didn't get him out of prison. Think about that for a second. Like John's sitting in prison, go ask, send this guys, go ask Jesus if he's the one, or we'd wait for somebody else. There's two ways you can look at this. You can either think, okay, john was stressing out sitting in prison, like, oh man, this is terrible, go ask Jesus if he's the one. Or the other way you can look at it. The other perspective is John's guys were freaking out and John knew, and John was like go ask Jesus if he's the one, or if we're to wait for somebody else. And either way, though, the bottom line is Jesus had the power, with the word, to get John out of prison and he didn't. That's heavy. That's kind of.

Speaker 1 15:53

A lot of times we read over things and it's like wait a minute. He left him in prison, but what did he do? He responded with the word of God, right? So the point is, the word of God will bring comfort in our suffering. Who here just show hands knows what I'm talking about. Can I get an amen? Amen, those of you, you know what I'm saying. There's nothing like the word of God ministering to you with the spirit of God, through the word of God. It brings hope, it brings joy, it brings strength, it brings encouragement. What else Did I miss anything? Peace, oh, how could I forget that? Amen, joy, joy. I think I might have said that, but if I didn't, that's good, that's a good one. Anything else, I hope I didn't forget anything. It's not a test, not no quiz. This is the thing.

Speaker 1 16:35

The scripture was written for us. Listen to what Paul said in Romans, for whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we might, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. The scriptures are for us and I encourage you guys and myself in this as well. I'm not acting like I've got this one. I'm locked down To go to the scriptures when we're, when we need comfort, when we need encouragement, when we need to hear from God, when we need, when we know things are not right. I encourage run to the scripture, go to the scripture, let the Lord speak to you and, even if you don't know what to say, pray the Psalms to God, pray them back to Him. It's a great way of being encouraged.

Speaker 1 17:28

Okay, so we receive God's comfort in our suffering. When we are suffering, we receive comfort. It says in the story of Joseph, in Genesis 39, it says three times. It says the Lord was with Joseph. You guys remember that in the play when he got sold into slavery he's like this is a low point. But then he looks up and he says but God was with me. Listen to this for a second from the scripture. Let me share this with you from the word of God.

Speaker 1 17:52

Paul says in 2 Corinthians blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now, if we are afflicted, the NIV says if we're distressed, it is for your consolation. The ESV says it's for your comfort. If we're afflicted, it's for your comfort and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. If we are comforted. It's for your consolation and salvation, and our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the comfort or consolation, the word of God that he allows things to happen.

Speaker 1 18:50

Why he allows things to happen, we'll get to in a second, but there are two things that have greatly helped me when I was I found myself in a difficult position or when I was distressed or needing comfort. There are two things that I've learned to lean on when I don't have an understanding of what's happening. One is number one is the character and nature of God, meaning he is 100% perfect, 100% good, he does not make mistakes, he is aware of everything and he loves me. Those things you think about, the character and nature of God. He's the most radical being there ever was and he did the most radical thing. The cross of Christ is the most radical expression of love there has ever been. It says God demonstrated his love for us that while we weren't even on his team, we were enemies of God. Christ died for us and that's how he demonstrated his love. It's a demonstration of his love. That's radical, a lot of people will say.

Speaker 1 19:51

Well, how can a God of love dot, dot dot? You know you run into coworkers and neighbors or whatever. Oh you Christians, how can a God of love fill in the blank? God has made the hard decisions. He's over and over. God is the one that makes the hard decisions. God has been. He knows everybody who's died, like every death he's seen. There's nothing that he has not. Just think about that for a second. The older I get, the more difficult because more funerals I have to go to. It's just, it's difficult. He's been everywhere. He knows everyone has died.

Speaker 1 20:24

But it says in Matthew. It says your hairs are numbered. God cares for you. It says in 1 Peter. He cares for you. He is the one that spoke and everything leapt into existence is invested in you personally. That's absolutely amazing. If you think about that, god, wait a minute, god Almighty, just pause on that for a second. He knows my name. He knows how many hairs are on my head and some of us are. That's a number going backwards, but still think about that. He knows more about you and loves you more than the thing that you know the most about and the thing that you love the most in the world. He's invested in you and when you can't.

The Importance of Perspective in Navigation

Speaker 1 21:03

A friend of mine, bishop Way, he told me when I was going through a difficult time recently. He told me he said, listen, man, when you can't trace God, you have to know to trust God. And I was like, okay, and ironically, before he told me this, we were coming back from his church and my wife anybody here? Use Waze at all. The Waze app. It's like Google Maps. I mean, who here? Is anybody, here is Google Maps Anybody. Have a smartphone? Okay, break out the flip phones, folks. All right, you got a rotary phone back there, man. Yeah, so anyway, it's an app on a smartphone. It's an app. It's like Google Maps. I'm a Google Maps guy. Actually, I'm not even. I'm a Map guy.

Speaker 1 21:52

Hagstrom, I break out of Hagstrom, I'm old school. Give me the book, I want to find out what a road is. But I was using Google Maps and we're driving back from some. We were on a mission somewhere I think it was Maryland and we're driving back and my wife is trying to get me to use Waze. She's like you need to try Waze. You get on Waze and I'm like, okay, I'll try it, I'll put it on. So I put it on Waze and we're driving back and from Delaware into New Jersey, there's the Delaware Memorial Bridge. It's a big suspension bridge. It's not as big as the Golden Gate, but it looks like the Golden Gate without the Golden. Okay, so we're about to come up to it.

Speaker 1 22:26

It's at night, it's I don't know, 9 o'clock at night, and traffic's rolling and I'm like, okay, all of a sudden, this thing says take your next exit. And I'm like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're on the highway here. I'm not taking the next exit. I've taken this road a million times. I know this road, this thing is wrong. I'm ready to throw this out the window. I'm like this Waze app is nonsense. And she says I don't know you should. You should try to you, should you should you really? I really wish you would try. And so I said okay, lord, I'm gonna. I'm gonna honor you by honoring my wife, even though I know this is wrong. Okay, for the sake of peace and quiet, all right, I'm gonna follow this, this thing, man.

Speaker 1 23:05

So we take the off, we take the first exit, which I know is wrong. The bridge is like five miles up ahead. I'm like this is madness, man. We take the, we take and we're going through like downtown, not even downtown. We're going through a residential area. I'm like, oh, this is, this is great, this Waze is some good stuff. I tell you. We're going through and we make our way all the way up to where the bridge entrance is and I never saw this one entrance to get back on the highway. As we pull up to it, I see that traffic is backed up like 10 miles. I mean it's it's. Traffic is completely at a standstill. We get on the on ramp and go right on the bridge and go right over.

Speaker 1 23:47

Oh, I guess the Waze knew something. I didn't Listen to your wife and I tell you, many of us. We were delivered from that trouble and it seemed like real difficult time I was going through. I was like man, we're going through the hood here. I don't even know what's happening here. We went through this residential area and I'm like I don't know this area and it was a, it was a trial for me, but many of us have a track record with God's deliverance in our lives.

Speaker 1 24:20

Right, like the Waze delivered me and I didn't understand where I was going, but I said, all right, I'm, I'm, and I didn't trust the thing, but the track record now when I get, when this thing says, make a, make a, I'm what I'm making this right, I don't know. It doesn't have to tell me again. If it says traffic up ahead, it doesn't even say traffic up. If it says slow down, I'm like, all right, let me slow down. And because I trust this, I understand it better now. I understand it a lot better than I did and many of us don't. We don't even realize the things that God is protecting us from.

Speaker 1 25:00

Like the ways took me on a totally different detour and I didn't realize it, but it was protecting me from a world of hurt. Sitting in traffic like oh, I can't believe this, it's nine o'clock at night, what's happening? I'm a little dramatic. So the idea is I have a different perspective now for ways and a heavenly perspective changes things for us. Now. The heavenly perspective is when you don't focus on your situation but you focus more on the destination or who it is who's running everything.

Speaker 1 25:32

And when we were driving through Chicago on our way here, we hit traffic, we hit rain, there was construction and I could have been really upset in traffic. I was being pushed a little bit to be upset. I'm like man, pastor Dave told me there's a fish fry on Friday. Man, I can't believe we're gonna miss this and I could have been really upset. I heard Wisconsin has to throw down with fish fry every Friday. I can't believe this. I could have been upset. But when I focused on the destination, which was Wapaka right, when I focused on here, okay, all right. Okay, my situation was changed. When I focused on the destination, not the situation, I was still in traffic, it was still raining and there was still construction and we were still going bumper to bumper. But I focused on being here and it brought me joy in the midst of that situation. So I'll give you one last example of perspective.

Speaker 1 26:34

This guy he used to take the subway in New York and I tell this story a lot. I got it from actually got it from the guy who did the radio program, the Gettysburg guy. Yeah, he told this story about this guy who used to take the subway every day for work and he hated it and it was crowded. But he enjoyed taking the subway on Sunday because no one was on the subway and it was great. He could sit there, read his paper and relax. So this one Sunday he's sitting there, he's reading his paper and, just like God, this is great, you know.

Speaker 1 26:59

And all of a sudden this guy comes on with two kids and the kids are running around making all kinds of noise, creating a ruckus, and the guy's sitting there reading the paper and he starts getting really upset. Man, like I can't believe this man, this guy. He's letting his kids run crazy. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. He said can you say something? Can you do something about your kids? And the dad says I would. Their mother just died. We just came from the hospital. I don't even know what to say to them.

Speaker 1 27:25

Instantly this guy's perspective got shifted. Now he's not angry, he wants to show compassion to this dad and the kids. The situation didn't change. His perspective changed. And we need to have a perspective, a heavenly perspective, because sometimes we're so zoomed in on our problems and I'm saying this from experience, I'm a pro at this. Okay, being zoomed in on, I don't have it all dialed in, being zoomed in on my problems and then the Lord has to pull me back and say wait a second, I'm sovereign over this. The idea is the destination. We need to keep focused on the destination where we're going and who we're going to. We know the journey of the day.

Speaker 2 29:30

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