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There's benefit to working hard.

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There's benefit to doing hard things.

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In fact, hard work is biblical.

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So if you're a young person, don't underestimate the power of doing hard things and working

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hard.

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Our next biblical example of young people doing extraordinary things comes from the

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story of Joseph, found in Genesis, starting in chapter 37.

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In the last episode, we looked at Mary, who was a young teenage girl when the Lord used

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her in a mighty way.

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Like Mary, Joseph was also a teenager when the Lord started to use him and started to

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speak to him through dreams.

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In Genesis chapter 37, we read about how Joseph started receiving dreams from the Lord, which

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involved his older brothers.

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Now his older brothers were already jealous of Joseph and had ill feelings towards him.

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Really no fault of his own, it was because of how their father viewed Joseph.

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He favored Joseph, he treated him differently, he gave him gifts that he didn't give the

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other brothers, and he was treated in a different way.

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Now this got worse for Joseph when he started sharing with his brothers some of the dreams

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that he was having, which involved, through different images, basically involved them

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bowing down to Joseph.

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They did not appreciate this.

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And it led, culminated in them planning things against their brother Joseph.

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And they had a lot of options for how they could handle this, right?

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But it got to the point where they're deciding to do something drastic.

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And they ultimately decided, after throwing him in a pit and talking about it, they then

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decided to sell him to some slave traders that were walking by, and then they faked

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his death and told his father that Joseph was attacked by a wild animal.

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So now, teenage Joseph, who did have a lot going for him before this event, he was hearing

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from the Lord through dreams, his dad favored him at home, things were good.

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He now finds himself in slavery in Egypt.

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He's a foreigner in a foreign land.

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Probably feels lonely around people who aren't from the same place that he was from.

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Probably felt confused, you know?

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He's hearing from the Lord, it feels like the Lord has something for him, but now he's

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bottom of the bottom.

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He's a slave in a foreign land.

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But the Lord was with him.

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Chapter 39 of Genesis, verses 2-3 says this, the Lord was with Joseph, and he became a

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successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.

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His master saw that the Lord was with him, and the Lord caused all that he did to succeed

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in his hands.

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Joseph took a situation that was bad and turned it around.

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How?

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Through hard work.

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He could have sat in his self-pity and wallowed, but he chose instead to work hard and do it

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for the Lord.

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The Lord blessed him because of his attitude, because of how he trusted in him, and because

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he decided to put his head down and work hard and do things excellently, even though he

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was in a bad spot.

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And just when things were looking up for Joseph, he finds himself in a position of authority

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in his master's house.

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He finds himself having some freedoms that other slaves might not have.

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Things are going well, they take a turn for the worse again.

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He's framed for something that he didn't do because he made a good, honorable decision,

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and he's instead put into prison.

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So once again, he finds himself in a position where he's alone, confused, lost, not sure

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what to do, not sure why he ended up where he ended up.

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Things were going well, the Lord was using him, and now he's in prison.

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So what does he do?

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The same thing that he did before.

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Genesis 39.21 says,

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Once again, Joseph trusted in the Lord and worked hard, and he was blessed and elevated

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because of it.

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And not only that, but the Lord's allowing him to be in a place where he's going to gain

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skills that he's going to use later on in his life.

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In prison, he's developing leadership skills.

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He was elevated to a position of leadership over the other prisoners in the prison.

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He's gaining valuable skills that he doesn't know what he's going to use it for, but the

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Lord did.

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And these were divine steps and the Lord's marking his steps.

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So he's blessed because he was trusting the Lord and working hard.

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There is benefit to hard work.

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My high school wrestling coach always told us that we will never regret working

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hard.

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I didn't appreciate hearing this at the time because he told us this when he was

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pushing us and working us hard, when we're doing pushups,

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when he was making us sprint, when we're sweating,

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when things are hard, that's when he would say,

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you'll never regret working hard. So at the time I didn't really appreciate it.

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But what I've learned since then is that he was right.

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There's benefit to working hard.

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There's benefit to doing hard things. And in fact, hard work is biblical.

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So if you're a young person,

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don't underestimate the power of doing hard things and working hard.

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I would say do hard things and work hard on purpose.

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Push yourself, gain new skills,

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do things that are difficult, that are hard to learn. Do those things.

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Even if you think no one is watching because the Lord is,

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he sees your hard work and he will bless you.

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Joseph found himself in this situation a lot where he's in prison.

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He's working as a slave.

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He's doing hard things and he's not sure why or for what benefit.

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He doesn't know who's watching or what, how this is all going to turn out.

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And maybe that's how you feel.

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Maybe you're in school and you don't like school. You don't like math,

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but it's hard work. You're up late doing homework,

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or maybe you're in a job that is not what you're passionate about or what you

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ultimately want to do. Do hard work.

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Do it excellently. Do it for the Lord. He sees you.

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He's watching you and he'll bless you for it.

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Joseph didn't know it at the time,

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but the Lord was preparing him for something big through all of his steadfastness

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and through all of his hard work.

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Eventually Joseph goes from being a slave in a foreign land to a prisoner in a

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foreign land to Pharaoh's right hand man, Pharaoh, the leader,

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the king of Egypt. He becomes Pharaoh's right hand man, number two,

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in all of Egypt,

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the guy who's supposed to lead Egypt through a difficult famine and not just

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lead Egypt,

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but he ended up saving Egypt and surrounding countries.

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People from all over came to get food because Joseph was prepared because he

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was hearing from the Lord because he trusted in the Lord and the Lord elevated

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him to save tons of people from a famine because he was trusting in the Lord and

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knew that God had a divine plan for his life.

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Even in the moments when he couldn't see it,

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even in the moments when it didn't make sense,

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he still chose to trust in God and work hard.

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And the Lord used him powerfully because of that choice that Joseph made.

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And he had to make that choice over and over again throughout his life.

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It wasn't just one time.

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He had to continually choose to trust in God despite the circumstances that he

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found himself in.

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Constantly choose to continue to work hard in places that he didn't want to be,

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like a slave master's house, like prison.

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And maybe you're a young person who can relate to Joseph today.

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Maybe you feel lost, isolated, alone.

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Maybe you feel like a foreigner. Maybe you're confused.

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Maybe you're unsure of what God's plan for your life is.

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I would encourage you to do what Joseph did.

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Trust in the Lord and work hard because the Lord sees you.

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He knows you. He cares about you and he loves you.

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He does have a plan for your life. Even if you can't see it yet,

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he can and he knows the plan. So put God on the throne of your life.

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Trust in him. And when you do that, when you put God on the throne of your life,

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when you submit yourself humbly under him,

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he'll blow your mind with where he'll take you and how he'll use you.

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So trust in him, follow him.

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He will lead you and guide you. Follow him and trust him just like Joseph did.

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Next episode, we will summarize what we can learn from these biblical examples,

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what truths and knowledge we can take from the Bible and apply.

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If we're young people ourselves in Generation Z,

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what can we take from the Bible and apply to our lives?

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What can we share with our friends? And if we have young people in our life,

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how can we use the Bible to lead them and guide them?

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So that's where we'll head next episode.