DETOX

“Eliminating Relational Toxins That Mess You Up”
Pastor Doug Heisel – May 5, 2024

Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23

(The Story of Joseph – Genesis 39-50)

Genesis 37:4, 21, 26 – (Joseph’s brothers) hated him so much they could not speak a kind word to him … (so they said), “Let’s not kill him ... let’s throw him alive into this well here; that way he’ll die without our touching him!” … (Later, Judah said) “Here come some Ishmaelites. Let’s sell Joseph to them! Why kill him and have a guilty conscience? Let’s not be responsible for his death, for, after all, he is our brother!”

(Approximately 40 years later…)

Genesis 50:15, 18-21 – When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” … His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

How to break free from relational and emotional resentment:

1. Trust that the Lord is WITH you, and can BLESS you, even if others leave you or betray you.
   
   Genesis 39:2 – The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
   
   Genesis 39:20b-21 – But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
   
   

2. Focus on being FAITHFUL over what you can control, rather than being obsessed with what is BEYOND your control.
   
   Genesis 39:3-4 – When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
   
   Genesis 39:22-23 – “Before long, the jailer put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The chief jailer had no more worries after that, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him, making everything run smoothly and successfully.”
   
   Two areas of our lives we all have control over:

   • Our ATTITUDES

   • Our MOUTHS

   
   Genesis 50:21 – So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
   
   

3. Believe that the SPIRIT of God and the PROVIDENCE of God are greater than the schemes and sins of others.
   
   Genesis 50:20 – “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”