When Brother Roddy asked me to come down, he didn't realize I would bring the family pet. Um, the youngest in the family, my daughter, contracted a cold, and she, as with everything else she has, shares, and one by one we all got her cold. And so I brought down this frog in my throat to keep me company, seeing as nobody else was able to make it down. So you'll forgive me as we sort of croak along this morning and, um, try and glean a few thoughts from the word this morning. Matthew chapter one, we'll begin reading at the eighteenth verse. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make a public example of her, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not. Take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people. Or better translated, for he and only he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted, is God with us. And Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not until she had brought forth her first son, and he called his name Jesus. Father, we thank thee for the clarity of the word of God this morning. We thank thee that there is no ambiguity. We thank thee that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We thank thee that he was made the Son of Man for our benefit. And this morning, as we spend time in thy word and we tread such holy things, we pray that indeed we would be able to rightly divide the word of truth for the benefit and edification of the saints and to the glory and honor of our God. Bless us while we wait upon. Our sole desire this day is indeed, as the placard would read, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Bless us while we wait upon thee, in our Savior's precious and holy name. Amen. I had full intention of doing something completely different, but after a conversation we had yesterday evening, my mind was turned to this passage. It's very interesting that there are great men of God throughout the word of God who have said some miraculous things, and there are statements that we quote many times from these men of God. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And there are wonderful things that we read in scripture, spoken, of course, um, instructed by the Holy Spirit, by these men of God that give us great edification. But here is a man that we will consider for the next few minutes, who never is recorded to have spoken a word in scripture. Joseph, the husband of Mary, is a man that we don't often speak of, except when Christmas time rolls around. But it's very interesting. The Lord gives him a very particular place in the scriptures. On at least three occasions, we read that he acted in direct instruction from God himself, and the interesting thing is he didn't speak a word. Sometimes we feel that the people who do the most for the Lord are those who speak the most for him. And of course, there is a place for those who would stand up and be counted, for those who would speak the word of God rather than stay silent. There's no doubt. Paul was able to say, at my first defense, and literally it is translated, at my first verbal recounting, no man stood with me, notwithstanding, the Lord was with me. And there is definitely a place in this world for people who will stand and speak clearly for the word of God. But to be a servant of the Lord, you don't necessarily have to be a man of many words. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that you don't have to be a man of any words. And here we have a wonderful example. Joseph, and the first occasion, as time permits, we'll look at these things in verse twenty four. when Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took, that's the word that we'll take as our key through this day, and took unto him his wife. Joseph took what was rejected. Now let's just stop here for a minute and take a step back. Maybe put yourself into Mary's shoes. What would it have been like for a woman who was betrothed to a man to come to the realization that he thought her to be unpure because she was doing the will of the Lord? It must have been a very difficult thing for her to accept and to understand. Certainly she was pure, and the word of God makes that very clear. But in the mind of the one she was to marry, the man she loved, the one she was to spend the rest of her life with, there was a question as to her purity. You know, sometimes service for the Lord comes with a cost, comes with a price. And the question is, are we willing to pay that price? There are many things that we hold dear in this world, I'm sure. There's family, um, there's prized possessions, um, there's private time, there's all these things that we hold dear, but probably nothing more dear than our own reputation, what we stand on. When people see us as we walk down the street, they recognize us and they smile. When we've been away from a particular place and we return to that place and we see people we haven't seen in quite some time, they're glad to see us because of our reputation, what has preceded us, what we've done before. But sometimes the Lord calls us to give that up for his name's sake. I didn't have a chance to read it, but in your little pamphlet for the morning, Hudson Taylor was, um, talked about in the back of the leaflet. Now there's a man who gave up all that he had. Certainly he had great wealth in his family. He had the potential to become very wealthy in his own right, and all these things were given up to go to a place where nobody had even seen a white man, much less knew anything of his own personal reputation. Lived amongst strangers. Of course, they were no longer strangers, they were brothers and sisters in Christ shortly after he had been there. But the thing is, what are we willing to give up for service in the Lord? I don't know about you, but sometimes I read these things and I miss it. And the Lord sometimes has to show it to you after you've read it ten or fifteen or twenty times, and you think to yourself, well, how could it be that you missed this? But, you know, if you think about it, it must have been an awful thing for Mary to know that her betrothed was going to put her away quietly because of what the Holy Spirit had done in her life. But let's turn back to Joseph. Joseph took what was rejected. Now, it's very easy for us to say today that we're going to take what is rejected. The world has rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will take him up, and we will make him our center stone. Well, thankfully, we live in a country, in a place where it is not an offense to say the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but you know, that can't be said for other places in this world. There are countries that have made it a law such that it is illegal to merely speak the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and give him that title. And there are people that take their lives into their own hands on a daily basis by simply speaking well of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, you know, I wonder what I would do. I wonder how I would act, how my language would change if the Lord brought me into such a circumstance. Turn with me, please, if you would, over to the book of Luke and the twenty third chapter. Luke chapter twenty three. There's something interesting in the word of God when it comes to rejection. I- it's a study that I'm in the middle of. When you read in the Word of God of the rejection of his person, it's interesting how things meld together. Let me show you. Luke chapter twenty three, and we'll begin reading for sake of time at the eleventh verse. And Herod, with his men of war, treated him, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, with contempt, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a glorious robe, and set him again to Pilate. Now, notice this verse, verse twelve: The same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together, for before they were at enmity between themselves. It's interesting, you know, the world will ally itself with its own enemies to fight the cause of Christ and of God. And here we have two men who probably could not have been more different. There were, there was a man here who was a Gentile, and there was a man here who was probably a mixed Gentile and a Jew, definitely who thought himself to be a full Jew. And here these men were trying to rule the same area, and they were trying to serve two very different purposes. And yet they come together, and they come together on this basis alone, the hatred of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear friends, don't be surprised when you go out into this world and you find people who never would have allied themselves together, allying themselves together for the sole purpose of rejecting the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's interesting, the opposition that you face when you go out and you speak the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The rejection that is associated with that name is great. For sake of time, there are a few other things that we were going to look at, but we'll just leave it there. Joseph took what was rejected, and the question today is, are we willing to take what is rejected? Because, you know, the Lord has not rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father tells us clearly that the stone which the builders rejected, he has made the head of the corner. And there's a coming day when all those who have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ will look upon him and see him face to face. And those of us who at one time were rejecters and now have become believers, we will see him at the judgment seat of Christ, sitting on his throne, and all the wonderful things that he will have in his hands to give to the saints on that day. We will see the Lord Jesus Christ on the throne. But those who have rejected him and have never believed that he is who he is, the Son of God, will see him on a throne as well. They will see him on the great white throne. And John says this, he says, I saw the great and the small stand before him. Probably a better translation is I saw the famous and the unknown stand before him. And not one was able to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ in their own right. So thank the Lord this morning that even though he is rejected in this world, there's coming a day when God himself will vindicate the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back with me, if you would, to the book of Matthew and the second occurrence of this word took. Matthew chapter two and verse fourteen. Begin reading at verse thirteen for connection. And when they were departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And that, and he, that is Joseph, arose and took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt, and they, and, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, out of Egypt have I called thee, my son. The second thing that Joseph did was he took his responsibility. Not only did he take what was rejected, he took what was responsible. The Lord had given him a responsibility of this family. And when the Lord instructed him to directly leave the place where he was and go to a foreign place, he did it. Now let's stop for a moment. Where was he asked to go? He was asked to go to Egypt. Now, certainly Egypt at the time was not enjoying the wealth and prosperity that it had once enjoyed, but certainly it was a nice place. But remember, this was a place where his ancestors were at one time slaves. This is a place that carried a stigma with it of slavery. And the Lord said, Herod won't follow you there, and this is where you are to take the mo- uh, the boy and his mother. And off he went, and he took his responsibility. And again, not only is it difficult sometimes to take what is rejected in this world, but it is sometimes difficult to take the responsibility that the Lord has called us to do. Turn with me, please, if you would, over to the book of Exodus in the third chapter. Another example of a man who was willing to take responsibility is Moses. For a few minutes, let's have a look at his example. Exodus chapter three. Exodus chapter three, and we will begin reading at the first verse. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the west side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I shall now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, draw not near here. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. The Lord calls Moses in this chapter and in the next chapter to consecrate four things unto himself, and this is the first of the four. He calls him to consecrate his feet, his hands, his heart, and his mouth. And each one came at a cost. Now, in the initial reading of this, you may not see it im- immediately, again, as as I tell you, these things, I I it takes me a long time to see these things, but, but just stop for a moment. There's an anomaly in the desert. There's something that's different. Moses sees a bush, and it's burning, but it's not being consumed. The bush is on fire, but it's not fragmenting, it's not falling apart, it's not turning to ash. It continues to burn bright. And you can imagine as Moses made his walk, he'd look at this bush, and he'd take a few more steps, and he gazed back at it, and again and again, and he noticed this bush was not being consumed. Now, certainly things on fire in the desert wouldn't be a tremendous surprise. But the thing that was interesting was it was not being consumed, and this he took note of. And so he makes his way towards the bush, and when he gets near the bush, the Lord speaks to him, and he says something very interesting. He says, Moses, take off your shoes. Now let me ask you, if you approached a burning building or a burning bush, would you want to keep your shoes on, or would you want to take them off? I think I'd rather keep them on, thank you very much. You know, the interesting thing is Moses doesn't say a word. He takes his shoes off and is absolutely silent about the risks that are involved. You know, sometimes, at least in my own life, there are times when I know this is what the Lord wants me to do. I don't know if you've had these experiences in your own life. Somebody says something, and you know there's that little moment of uncomfortable silence, sort of just like taking a stone and throwing it into a pond, and just as that stone hits, you hear that plop, and then all the ripples. Sometimes people throw these little stones out into a conversation, and you just stop and you hear the ripples. And you know that you should say something. You know that that verse comes to your mind in season or out of season. Be ready to speak for the Lord. And yet you don't say anything. But here was a man who was willing to do exactly what the Lord wanted him to do at the moment he was called to do it. Obedience is nothing if not immediate. You can't be obedient and do the thing tomorrow. Obedience is nothing if not immediate. And here was a man who consecrated his feet to the Lord. Turn over and see what these feet one day did. The seventh chapter. Chapter seven of Exodus, and verse fourteen. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, and he refuses to let the people go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning. Lo, lo, he goeth into the water, and thou shalt stand by the river's bank to meet him. And the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thy hand. Now, first reading, you may not get the gist, but the Lord says, these feet that have been consecrated to me, I want you to go, and I want you to clearly stand before Pharaoh. Now, Pharaoh in this day was probably the most powerful man in the world, without exception. He literally had the power of life and death of any individual living in his kingdom. He merely had to speak the word, and the proclamation went out, and it was law. As a matter of fact, during this dynasty, he was probably considered a god in his own right. He was felt to be an immortal being, incorrectly, of course, we want to make that clear, but he was felt by the people to be a god, and therefore anything he had to say was done, and done without question. And Moses, who is a man who had fled from his father, most likely, because of fear for his life, is asked by God to go and stand in the river before Pharaoh while he bathes. Now, it would probably be a difficult enough thing to have audience with the Pharaoh in his own palace chamber, but can you imagine the anger that would have risen up in the man to stand before him when he went down in the morning to bathe? Do you want to know something? Moses didn't utter a word. It's interesting how obedience to the Lord in these men has absolutely nothing to do with speaking. And he went and he stood before Pharaoh. And it would have meant certain death under any other circumstances. If it were not for the hand of the Lord, he would have been absolutely put to death without any question. But he carried with him the presence of God Almighty, and the Lord protected him. So Moses consecrated his feet to the Lord, and later on the Lord used those very feet to stand before death itself and speak to death and say, you will go this far and no further. You will let my people go. Secondly, the next thing that Moses consecrated to the Lord is found in the fourth chapter of this same book. Exodus chapter four, begin reading at verse one. And Moses answered and said, but behold, they will not believe me or hearken unto my voice, for they will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto me. And the Lord said unto him, what is that in thine hand? And he said, a rod. And he cast it down on the ground, and as he cast it on the ground, it became a serpent, and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thine hand and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. I don't know how many snakes there are in Spanish Wells. Um, where I come from, there are no poisonous snakes, but there are snakes that grow to a fair size. And when we were children, we were fond of catching snakes and torturing these poor animals. Oh Lord, forgive us for what we did. But we would catch several snakes, and thankfully they were not poisonous, but you know, even the f- even though they weren't poisonous, there's one thing as a boy you learned very quickly not to do. You would never, ever catch a snake by its tail. Uh, that would just be sure- sheer lunacy to grab a snake by its tail. Why? Well, you know, snakes are pretty flexible, and they turn back on themselves, and they're gonna bite you. And even though these animals were poisonous from where we came, they certainly had teeth, and they could leave you with a nasty little mark. So you catch them behind the head, and as you did so, you got one finger underneath their, I don't know if snakes have necks, but underneath their lower jaw and the thumb underneath the upper jaw, and you'd force the two together, and the snake's mouth would open, and you'd know that you weren't going to get bit. And that's how you caught a snake. I'm sure that there are people who are far more adept at it here than I am today. I see some boys in the back there. You don't catch snakes, do you, boys? Ah, very good, good answer. But here, the Lord gives Moses a command. We're not told what kind of serpent appeared before Moses, but remember, here's a man who was experienced in being in the desert. He'd been in the desert for forty years. He knew what a cobra looked like. He knew what a viper looked like. He knew what a water moccasin looked like. He certainly would know, maybe they weren't called by those names in those days, but he would certainly recognize what was a poison. And he saw this snake, maybe it was a mamba. Apparently the, the most venomous animal in the world as far as venom per milliliter is the Egyptian mamba, a black snake, very large belly, doesn't grow terribly long, but it has a ferocious bite. Maybe that's what it became. We don't know. But what we do know is Moses, in his experience and wisdom, said, I don't really want to stand here any longer. This is not an animal I want to be friendly with. I want to leave. And what does the Lord say? The Lord says, pick it up. He says this too. He says, pick it up by the tail. Don't pick it up by the head. I mean, that would have been a challenging enough event to try and pick up an animal like this by the head, but certainly there have been men that have done this. We see these shows on television, I'm sure they come here as well, where there is an individual who takes a, a stick and he grabs a particularly venomous animal in a particular way, but they never grab them by the tail. Why did God ask Moses to grab this snake by the tail? He wanted to prove to him a point. He says it, it's not going to be the skill in your hand that's going to accomplish the feat. Let me say that again. It's not the skill in your hands that will accomplish the feat. It's my power working through that hand. I'm going to do the impossible through a mortal vessel. I'm going to have you grab a snake and have it turn to a piece of wood. You know, sometimes we don't realize that very fact. It's not the skill in our voices, it's not the skill in our minds, it's not the ability that we have to relay the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to men and women. There are certainly eloquent preachers in the world, and we thank the Lord for them. But it is not the eloquency that brings people to salvation. It is the power of God residing in the words. And sometimes we feel that we have to be apologetic, or we have to be cautious, or we have to be in some way doing it in a pleasant form to bring the word of God to men and women. Well, certainly we have to be tactful. We don't want to be offensive. The word of God is never offensive, nor was the Lord Jesus Christ ever offensive. You'll notice that in many occasions, the Lord waited for an appropriate moment to speak to people. The wedding at Canaan, the woman by the side of the well, there was appropriate moments, but when the moment came, the Lord didn't hesitate, and he spoke. And when the appropriate moments come in our lives, we need to be ready to give the word, to present it, and have it have its effect. And it's not the skill of the hand, it's not the skill of the tongue, or the skill of the voice. It's the power of God that goes behind these things that makes them efficacious. What did Moses end up doing with his hand? Turn over, if you would, please, to Exodus twenty one— Sorry, Exodus fourteen verse twenty one. Exodus fourteen verse twenty one. So to quickly recap, Moses consecrated his feet to the Lord by approaching the burning bush with his feet unshod. The Lord used his feet to stand and proclaim the demands that God himself had before the most powerful man of the time. His feet stood before Pharaoh. Moses consecrated his hand to the Lord by stretching it forth and grabbing the venomous animal by its tail. And now how does the Lord use this hand? Exodus fourteen verse twenty one. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And you know what Moses learned that day in the desert? That it's not my hand, but it's the Lord's power. That's what led him to put his hand out over the sea and say, my hand doesn't have anything to do with it, but this is what the Lord has caused me to do, and by the power of the Lord, a strong wind blew and dry land appeared out of a sea. Amazing what the Lord can do when we're willing to consecrate our hands and our feet to him. But these ca- these things come with a price, beloved. These things, wouldn't we love to stand out there tomorrow and say, well, I'm going to cause dry land to appear between Spanish Wells and Jean's Bay. I just wa- I want to walk over there today. Well, first of all, it may not be in the Lord's will, but if it is, there's nothing in our hands that can make these things transpire. It's the power that resides in the word of God. Moses learned it that day. The third thing that was consecrated to the Lord is found in Exodus chapter 4 and verse six. Exodus chapter four and verse six. And the Lord said to Moses, furthermore, put thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, his hand was made leprous as snow. And he said, put thy hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again and plucked it out of his bosom, and behold, it had turned again as his other flesh. Now, here is an object lesson, if there ever was an object lesson. Take your hand that has just performed this amazing task, just in case you didn't realize that it wasn't the power in your hand, I want to show you something. Take that hand and put it in next to your heart, and then pull it out. And leprosy covered that hand. Oh, the anxiety that must have built in that poor man's heart for that moment before the Lord instructed him to put it back in. And he took that leper's hand, and he put it back in, under the instruction of the Lord, and pulled it out again, and it was made whole. Your heart may not be pure, it may be full of sin, but my word is able to cleanse the sinful heart. And under any dispensation, this is the word of the Lord. Does not matter if he lived in the dispensation of the law, or we in the dispensation of grace. The principles of salvation are the same. We are all sinners. Our hearts are desperately wicked. Deceitful above all else is the heart of man. And only God has the ability to turn the heart of man. Men can talk about the twelve-step test, or the ten-step course, or what have you, to change the behavior, to modify responses, but they cannot change the heart of man. Only God can. And Moses learned that lesson that day. What did the heart of Moses do? We don't have time to it, but for those of you who are interested, you'll find the answer in Exodus chapter thirty two verse seven to verse fourteen. There Moses is communing with the Lord, and the Lord realizes that the children of Israel are making a mockery and debauchery down in the valley. And he says to Moses, he says, I will show my fierce anger this day. And what does Moses do? Moses pleads with a heart of love for his people. The Bible says something very interesting. I wish we had time to get into it, but we can't do it justice in this short period of time. It says the Lord's heart was turned from his anger. Wonderful thing. So the heart of Moses was used to plead the people's case, a wonderful example of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, a wonderful type. Fourthly, the last thing that was consecrated to the Lord is found in verse eleven of this same chapter four. We'll read verse ten for connection. And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb or the deaf, or the seeing or the blind? Have I not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O Lord, send, I pray thee, by thy hand of him whom thou wilt send. Here's something interesting. I, I, I don't know if you've noticed the progression. When the Moses's feet were consecrated, he had to take his shoes off and approach a burning bush. That's one level. When his hands were consecrated, he had to put forth and grab a venomous snake. That's another level of consecration. When Moses' heart was consecrated, he had to see a disease form in his very flesh that certainly would have killed him, eaten him away alive. Leprosy. Another level. But not a word. Interesting, not a word. Moses doesn't say anything. But when the Lord says to him, I want you to speak for me, I want you to consecrate your mouth for me. Moses says, just, just one moment, Lord, just a minute. Sometimes the hardest thing to consecrate is our mouth. The most difficult member, Paul says, to bring under subjection is the tongue. Sometimes our feet are walking the right path, our hands are doing the right thing, and our heart is right before the Lord. But boy, that last member to bring under subjection, the tongue and the mouth, it's oh so hard. Oh so hard. And it's interesting that the Lord leaves this for last. You'd think that this test, or probably test is a bad word, or this request for belief in God would have been simple, considering what Moses has just done. I mean, for goodness sake, he just picked up a venomous snake with his hands. He saw his hand become diseased and then healed again in a moment. And now the Lord says, I merely want you to speak my words. Oh, how sometimes we fall so far short in speaking for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to be very careful to say I speak these things first and foremost to my own heart. Me first, Sam McHale, and anybody else who hears them can get benefit thereafter, but first to me. Well, what did Moses do with this mouth? We'll turn over, we won't go over time, this I promise, Exodus thirty three. Exodus thirty three, verse eleven. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, now watch this, face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. To the best of my knowledge, nowhere else in scripture is this phrase used of any man. That he spoke face to face as a man speaketh with his friend. Probably there's no greater pleasure or joy that I have than meeting an individual I haven't seen in a long time and just one to one speaking to that individual, opening up hearts, speaking of things that have transpired. I love to do it with my own father, but certainly with friends that I haven't seen for a long period of time. There's a wonderful intimacy. There's something that can only be shared when a conversation is made up of two, a man and his wife, a father and his son, and a friend who speaketh to his friend. And amazingly, these, what words do you say to the Almighty God? What can you say to the Almighty God? Well, you can only say it with a mouth that's been consecrated to him. Our time is gone. We were going to talk about the third thing, but I'll leave it for you. Remember, back in Matthew, I'll leave it for you to look up if the tape picks it up, someone can hear it from there. Matthew chapter one verse twenty four, He took his wife, he took that which was rejected. Matthew chapter two and verse fourteen, he took by night, he left and went to Egypt. He took his responsibility, as Moses did here, and we looked at four ways in which Moses took his responsibility. And finally, in chapter two and verse twenty one, he took back to Israel. He went back to Israel, and he took the righteous path. So Joseph, though he never spoke a word, took what was rejected, took his responsibility, and took the righteous path. You know, the interesting thing is, God used Joseph to at least, to the best of my knowledge, fulfill four scriptures in the Old Testament. Isn't it wonderful? And the man never said a word. So for those of us who are not eloquent, for those of us who are not given to speech, take heart. Consecrate your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will use you mightily. I wonder what position Joseph has in glory today. Certainly he can stand with the patriarchs. Certainly he can stand and say, through my obedience, the word of the Lord was fulfilled. And what greater statement is there? What greater statement can there be made of any man or woman? Because I obeyed, the word of the Lord came to be. May these things cause us to consecrate our own lives and our own hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. Shall we close in prayer? Father, we thank thee. We thank thee that though we are made of but dust of the earth, thou choosest this day to use us. We pray, Father, that we would be vessels fit for the master's use. Make us this day to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ. Make our...