Paul Daugherty - Favor In Frustration - Part 2
Anyone else want a chocolate milk? My man right there chocolate milk over here, Chocolate milk back there. Just call me Joseph, just call me Joseph. So Joseph was the top. Come on we have fun at Victory Church. Y'all are like, what is happening right now? We're having fun. Joseph was the top attendant, which meant he was the top servant. And he basically said, where do you need me? What do you need me to do? Nothing is below me. If serving is below you, then leading is above you. If you can't serve you can't lead. If you're too big to serve in children's church, you're too small to preach on the stage. If you're too big to serve in the parking lot, you're too small to lead a connect group.
And I think sometimes we always want like the top position I wanna be in charge. I wanna be the communicator. I wanna be the guy on stage. I wanna be the worship leader. But God says, I need you to sing in the choir. I need you to work in the nursery. I need you to rock some babies. And so that's what I did, when I was at ORU I served in our youth group, I was a greeter. And as I was greeting at the youth group, and then I was working as a janitor at ORU God began working on me because God's more concerned with who you're becoming than how fast you get there. He's more concerned with the character that you're developing, than the title that you will one day hold. God's not interested in titles.
The greatest title you will ever have is servant. Like God, doesn't say, well done thou good and faithful senior pastor of Victory Church. He doesn't say, well done thou good and faithful top mom on the mom's club in the neighborhood. Well done thou good and faithful you know, dad of five children. Well done thou good and faithful CFO or superintendent of the school or basketball coach, football coach. Titles don't matter to God. What matters is that you live to serve him and them and when you live as a servant, you can go far. You want favor in a frustrated place, become a servant. Just say, where's the need, what do you need me to do? What do you need me to do?
So, while I was at ORU I was looking for where's the need because no one gave me a title. So I was picking up Nachos and I was stacking tables. And one night I was writing in my journal, I heard the Lord say, start serving as a pastor to this campus. And I was like, well, how do I do that? Like what office do I go to, to become the pastor? Like which department do I need to ask permission? And I heard the Lord say, you don't need permission to help people. You don't need permission to pray for people. You don't need permission to have an open door where anyone can come in and talk to you about what's going on in their life.
So I started doing it. I just basically started living as a pastor on campus. I didn't carry the title, I didn't have a badge that said, Pastor Paul. I just started living in a way where I said, I wanna help people on this campus. And I heard the Lord say, I want you to start serving in chapels. And I was thinking, what can I do? I didn't make the choir. How bad do you have to be to not make the choir. They were like, maybe your sophomore year, you might make it. It was frustrating. I didn't have a title, I didn't have a position. And God said, open the door for people. I was reading Psalm 84 and it said, "I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of the wicked".
And I circled I said, okay, I'm gonna be a doorkeeper at chapel. Every Wednesday and Friday I opened the door. People would walk through and they'd say, what are you doing here? I was like, I'm a greeter. And they're like, we don't have greeters at chapel. And I was like, I am your greeter, you can't get rid of me. And they were like, who appointed you as greeter? I was like, I did, it's a self appointed role. And they were like, what are you doing? I was like, I'm just trying to help you have a great chapel service. And they're like, you're annoying, this is ridiculous. But I would hold the door open, I'd say welcome to chapel, it's gonna be a great chapel. And they'd be like, no, it's not. Like people were just angry. You know, they had to go to chapel and as people would come in I'd be like, you're gonna have a great message today, we've got a great speaker.
And they're like, who's speaking? I was like, I don't know, they don't tell me anything. I'm just a volunteer greeter. I was like, I'm just trying to be optimistic, it's gonna be good. Whoever it is, it's gonna be great. Our best days are right in front of us you know. And I'm trying to pump people up as they're coming into chapel. And during those four years, I never stopped greeting. And I took it so seriously that my family was going on vacation once. And we were gonna miss a week and I said, dad, I gotta get back. And he said, why? And I said, 'cause I'm supposed to open the door at chapel. He was like, who asked you to do that? I said, I know in my heart, I'm supposed to do it. I started pastoring before I was a pastor.
If you're waiting on a dream to come to pass, before you start living the dream, you'll never really be living the dream. You got to do it in Potiphar's house. You gotta learn to serve wherever God has you. I memorized like a thousand people's names. I started knowing everyone and I was like, hey, Susie, welcome in. Hey, Jerry, I'm like saying all these names. And by my senior year, people started looking at me as the pastor on the campus. I wasn't a chaplain. I was for one semester and then they got rid of me. It's 'cause I participated in an activity on campus that wasn't the best activity to participate in. We did a prank, we pranked the whole campus, it was really funny, but I got removed from the chaplain program. I'm not saying I was a perfect pastor. I'm just saying, I showed up to greet people, okay?
I know how to get myself out of my emotions. And sometimes we see ourselves as Joseph or like the hero in every story. Sometimes we're Potiphar. Sometimes we're not the good guy, sometimes we're the brothers. Sometimes we're the butler that forgot Joseph. Sometimes we're the temptation. Sometimes we're not, like we're not always the good guy. And I think we've got to look at this story and go, God, what are you trying to teach me through the life of Joseph? What are you trying to teach me through the characters in Joseph's story? Joseph served and by the way, when you serve, you become a target for the enemy. When you start giving your life to serve God's purpose, the enemy draws a target around your head and says, I'm coming for you. And I'll bring every temptation I can to try to take you off course from your purpose and your destiny.
And so watch this it says "From the time that Joseph was put in charge of Potiphar's house and all that he owned". Potiphar trusted everything. "The Lord blessed the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph". God will use you to bless another person's house. The reward of being faithful and being a great servant, isn't always a bigger paycheck. It's knowing on the inside that I helped change the culture of this house. It's knowing that I had something to do with God's hand blessing this house. And that internal reward, you don't have to hear anyone give you a shout-out at the staff meeting. All you have to know is that God is pleased with you. That God is using your faithfulness and your servant's heart in the nursery, in the children's church and the parking lot, on the worship stage or at your job at QuikTrip, at Starbucks, at Home Depot, at the BOK Center, wherever you work at William's Company, God's using you to help bring a better culture to your company. And the reward for that is the blessing comes on it.
And from the time he was put in charge, God blessed it. "And the blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had both in the house and in the field". In the house and in the field. God is not only blessing his house, he's blessing the field. God's blessing the mission field of Victory right now. We're seeing so many amazing reports happen across the world, not just in Tulsa, but through what God's doing here. God's touching both the house and the field, but that only happens when you have people who are willing to serve without the spotlight. People who are willing to serve without the titles. People who are willing to serve in the trenches and show up like Joseph did and work as if they're working unto the Lord.
So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care. Joseph was dependable, Joseph was trustworthy. Joseph showed up on time. Joseph was responsible. Sometimes we think that the grace of God is gonna do everything for us, that the favor of God is gonna take care of everything. But God says you have responsibility. The divine is going to do amazing things, but God's also looking for human vessels who say, I will give my best effort wherever you put me, God. Wherever you have me, I will work and I will make the most of Egypt, even in a frustrated place. "Now Joseph was well-built and handsome and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, come to bed with me. But Joseph refused".
By the way, there's always going to be distractions along the way to your purpose, and your assignment and your destiny. When I was a kid, my mom used to take me and John to Walmart with her. Any Walmart, people in the house? Yeah, yeah we are the people of Walmart. I was there yesterday I got a nice pair of sunglasses, 10 bucks. You cannot beat the prices at Walmart. And I love going to Walmart, like I am a Walmart dude. And so when we would go as kids, my mom, she would take forever in Walmart. She would get lost in aisles and she would go with the list. Everybody say, "go with the list". Yeah, yeah you got to go with the list when you're going into Walmart. Otherwise you get distracted by the specials. You know what I'm saying? And you're like, ah that's not on the list, but that looks good. Like, you cannot beat two bags of Doritos for four bucks.
Come on, let's go get some Doritos, but you got to stick to the list. And so she had a long list, sometimes I would take the list and I would start adding stuff on there. Like Nutter Butters, Star crunch, Capri-suns, Chips Ahoy, Oreos, you know, Mac and Cheese. I always like, and she was like, who put this on the list? And I was like, don't worry about it. But she would get lost in there. And then my mom, she would start praying for people in the aisle. She'd start casting out demons. She was having church at Walmart. I remember this one time she had a line of people just coming through her line. She was praying for them. And there was like people behind her massaging her neck, massaging her back. It was weird, man, it gets weird in Walmart sometimes.
And John and I, we were just like, we're gonna, like we took some money out of her wallet, like three or $4, we told her afterwards, but we went and got some McDonald's French fries. And then we went down to the electronics section and they have like PG 13 movies. That was the only place we could watch PG 13s. So we were watching Jurassic park while my mom was praying for people. And we were sinners, we needed the grace of God, just living to serve just Joseph up here living the dream. But anyways, where was I going with that? You gotta go with the list, you gotta go with the list. and you got to have purpose because there's distractions. And Joseph knew what his purpose was, so he did not deviate from his destiny. And it says, "With me in charge, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house. Everything he owns he's entrusted to me".
I have a purpose here. I have an assignment, I cannot do this. And he says this, he says, "I cannot do this against him, but I cannot do this against God". He had a healthy dose of the fear of the Lord. To the point where he would accept to go into the prison, if it meant pleasing the Lord. He would accept a demotion if it meant pleasing the Lord, he knew it would cost him. Joseph knew the cost. Day after day and one day he went into the house day after day, this would come. It never stops, right? Never stops. Day after day and finally one day she grabs him by the cloak and she says, come to bed with me. And Joseph leaves the cloak behind, and that's all I'm taken off, we're not gonna have an illustrated sermon today. But Joseph leaves the cloak behind guys and he chases and he runs after God. Where are you gonna run? You either run to God or you run to someone else or something else. When you're in a frustrated place and you're frustrated and it's not always gone well. And you don't get the greatest paycheck, you can become entitled as a servant. Temptations come in all sizes and forms.
When I was working as a janitor at ORU I worked with about 20 other students, guys that I knew that we went to class with. And some of them came to me one day and they said, dude how big is your paycheck? I was like 97 bucks. And they're like, ours are like $400. I was like what? How you getting 400 bucks? And they're like, we clock in at 6:00 AM and we clock out at 10:00 PM. And I was like, but I see you guys in class during that time. And they were like, yeah, so? And I was like, I see you playing video games at like one in the afternoon. And they're like, yeah, so. And I was like, so you're clocking in, you're getting those hours, but you're not working during those hours. And they were like, Paul, they don't pay us enough here.
This is the temptation, temptations come in all different forms. The temptation was to take more because they deserved more in their minds. I said, you're right they don't pay us enough. I said, but we shouldn't do that. And they said, Paul, you keep taking those little paychecks and we're gonna keep getting more. But they said, listen, our supervisor doesn't even care. He told us he'll look the other way. And I remember during that time being so tempted because I needed money, you know what I'm saying? Anyone else been in that season where you need money? Like half of y'all in the room. The other half of y'all are just rich, rich. Take off your mask, okay? Like you can leave the mask... but just, you know what I'm saying? Just be real. The truth is we all go through seasons where I'm like, man, I need some money.
I need some cash and they're not paying me enough. And the temptation was to take more and we could have, I could have, I...believe me, there were weeks where I was like, hmm I could really do that. But I felt the Lord saying how you handle this determines if I can trust you with that. And if you don't pass this test, then I can't trust you with that test across the street. 'Cause I was working as a janitor across the street. But God was preparing me for the pulpit here. How you handle this season is preparing you for the next season. God never wastes a test. He never wastes a season. He never wastes an opportunity.
And so there would be times where I would be so frustrated. I was working three jobs because I didn't have enough money. And my other jobs were rough, I worked as like a real estate agent, which I didn't I found out later on that you have to have a license to do that. I didn't have a license, I'm sorry, don't arrest me. But my mother-in-law, she told me later on, she was like, yeah, you should have had a license to do that. I was like my bad, I didn't know. Some guy just told me, hey, can you help me sell some houses? So I was trying to, I didn't really sell any, so it's not a big deal anyways. It didn't make much money. But I did it for two years. I was making calls every day, trying to sell houses.
But anyways, long story short, I was working as Rudy the Rooster for the NBA D league basketball team here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I had to wear this rooster costume. It was musty, it was wet. The guy never washed it before me. They used it for the Oilers game, it was oily, it was musty, it was nasty. And I would put that thing on and I was working these three jobs and it was frustrating. And I was tempted, I was tempted to get entitled, I was tempted to be bitter, I was tempted to just give in to whatever my flesh wanted. And I wasn't perfect in that season. I didn't have zero mistakes, but I learned in that season that God was looking at my character, that God was watching. And God is watching.
A God was saying, Paul, how you handle this determines if I can trust you with that. Joseph how you handle this and even though Joseph did the right thing, he ended up in the wrong place. Sometimes you can do the right thing and you still end up in a bad place. I don't wanna lie to you today and say, that favor is going to get you out of every problem. And favor is gonna give you lots of money and favor is always going to make everything right. Sometimes favor lands you in the prison. I remember, and I want the band to come out. I remember I was standing in line to get some ice cream at an ice cream truck. And my dad pulled me out of line and I was like, wait, what? Like, I'm going to get ice cream. He goes nope, come on Paul. I was like, I was gonna get some ice cream.
Sometimes favor will pull you out of the line. Sometimes we think favor brings me to the front of the line, sometimes favor pulls you out of the line. And I don't know why he pulled me out of the line. Like the guy in the van had a mustache. I don't know maybe he felt some, I don't know, but my dad was taking me to Braums and he said, I got something better for you. I don't know why I said the mustache in the van just forget about that. I have a mustache too don't be hard on guys with mustaches or guys who drive a van okay? I got five kids, so I might have a van soon and a mustache just let's stop it, it's getting weird all right?
The point is, here's the point I got pulled out of line and my dad had a better ice cream for me, okay? Edit this from the tapes, cut it all. Sometimes favor isn't fair. Joseph did the right thing and the favor of God was on him. And he gets accused of a crime he didn't commit. He gets accused of something that he didn't do. Have you ever been accused of something that wasn't true? And it hurts, 'cause people look at you different. And like this, even a year ago, during the pandemic, people accused our church of like all kinds of random stuff. And while we were having services out on the rooftop and we were and the enemy thought that the accusations were gonna stop our church during the pandemic, you know what happened?
Those accusations, our church ended up on all these news channels for what we were doing. They came to find something wrong and they found us giving out groceries to thousands of people, helping the homeless. Serving people at the Dream Center. What the enemy sent to try to shut our church down, actually propelled our church, even closer to the dream. And I just wanna say this, that every accusation of the enemy that's been sent to destroy your reputation, that's been sent to push you back. God says, if you will trust in me and keep your heart right. Joseph didn't even get a chance to defend himself.
Like Potiphar just said, you're done, out, you're fired. Throw him in prison. But I love what it says in verse 20. It says "Potiphar threw him into the prison where the King's prisoners are confined". Joseph thought that Potiphar's house might be the house where he becomes the leader. Again, Joseph didn't have a Bible, didn't have a script. So he was watching as he was prospering, succeeding. He's building up Potiphar's house everything's awesome, it's a blessing and he's like, maybe this is the dream. Maybe I'm going to lead these people. Then the accusation comes, then he's thrown into prison. And he thinks, man, I just took another hundred miles back from the dream that God gave me.
But little did Joseph know that the prison was actually one step closer to the palace. Because now he was no longer in Potiphar's house. He was in the dungeon that sat right beneath Pharaoh's room. And I just wonder if, while Pharaoh was dreaming in the bed, right above Joseph. Here, Joseph is in a prison, right? He's got concrete above his head, concrete on every side, he's in this cell, he's got the shackles on, but right above him, Pharaoh is dreaming and he doesn't know what to do with his dreams. And Joseph is sitting right beneath him. And Joseph thinks he's so far from his dream, but he's closer than he realized.
And it says that even in the prison, watch this in verse 20. "While he was in the prison, the Lord was with him". That even while he was in prison, even when you're in a frustrated place, even when you're accused of stuff, you didn't do. "The Lord is with you and the Lord showed him kindness, and granted him favor in a frustrated place, favor in the eyes of the prison warden". God's about to give favor for some of you in this room. As you keep a posture of a servant, as you keep the posture of humility, God exalts those who humble themselves, but he humbles those who exalt themselves.
"So the warden put Joseph in charge of everyone in the prison". Sometimes favor is promotion in a frustrated place. "And the warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and God gave him success in whatever he did". Would you stand to your feet all over this place? I just wanna pray for you today. I wanna pray that this message, this story resonates with some of you in seasons of life that you're in. And maybe you're in a season right now where you need to be reminded just like the Lord was with Joseph he's with you, or maybe you're headed into a season. And this is just a word of prophetic revelation to say, God's with you. He will be with you, he is with you and he's for you.
And if you will keep on forgiving, Joseph had to learn how to forgive in the prison, before he got to the palace. He had to learn how to forgive Potiphar, Potiphar's wife. He had to learn how to forgive the people who were mean. He had to learn how to live without defending himself. He had to learn how to live without having a conversation about it. Just to go in there and say, "Okay, God, I trust my reputation with you. Lord I trust that you're with me. I trust that you're going to work all things together for good". God was helping Joseph to interpret the season he was in.