<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed//GOoSgPXYTEM?si=zbMKoKyUAAjTg2EB" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> ## Intro I want to speak to you today about "The Great Reset." Now, if you watch the news you may heard about a globalist plan to take over the world called "The Great Reset" connected with the World Economic Forum. That's not what we are going to talk about today. Sorry.🙂 The Great Reset I'm talking about today is a lot more personal and, if practiced, can bring tremendous healing and peace of mind. I'm talking about forgiveness. Sometimes, the harm that is done to us is unintentional, but something painful happened and we carry the hurt to this day. At other times, however, as we are going to see today, the harm that is done to us is intentional and the hurt we carry is a "justified hurt." You may have a "justified hurt" in your life and you know that carrying the weight of that hurt has left you emotionally, spiritually, and perhaps even physically worn down. Today, hopefully, I can share with you how you can discover "The Great Reset" that will allow you to begin a journey towards healing in 2025. I think one of the best examples of forgiveness modeled in the Bible is found in the life of Joseph. Genesis 50:15-21: > **Joseph Reassures His Brothers** > > 15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” 16 So they sent _messengers_ to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, 17 ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we _are_ your servants.” 19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for _am_ I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; _but_ God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as _it is_ this day, to save many people alive. 21 Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. ## Context To give you some context, and to refresh your memory about Joseph, he is one of the younger sons of Jacob in the book of Genesis. Jacob was renamed by God and given the name of Israel, and his sons became known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel that form the Nation of Israel. ### The Family Highly Dysfunctional Family of Jacob I would like to tell you that because Jacob walked with God, was blessed by God, and clearly had God's hand upon him, he had the perfect family, but he didn't. In fact, it would be accurate to describe his family as highly, highly dysfunctional. ### Two Wives & Two Concubines To start with, Jacob had two wives (Leah and Rachel) and two concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah. **_To make matters worse, Jacob had favorites._** He loved his wife Rachel. There's no if, ands, or buts after that. Jacob loved Rachel; he tolerated the other three women. **_To make matters worse_**--you're probably thinking, how bad can this get?--**_to make matters worse, Jacob didn't hide his love for Rachel and he never hid his "tolerance" for the other three women in his life._** Still, when it came to having children, God blessed the other women in Jacob's life with children. - **to Leah**, God gave **six** sons and one daughter, and Leah would give birth to Judah from whom the Lord Jesus would descend. - **to Bilhah**, God gave two sons. - **to Zilpah**, God gave two sons - **and finally to Rachel, whom Jacob loved**, God gave two sons--Joseph and Benjamin. ### Jacob Favors Joseph & Benjamin / Rachel Dies Now, **to make matters worse**, not only did Jacob openly prefer his wife Rachel to the other women, but, no surprise, he openly preferred his sons born to Rachel to all of his other children. And, as if to seal the deal, tragedy struck when Rachel was giving birth to Jacob's youngest son, Benjamin. She died in childbirth. Jacob would mourn the loss of Rachel for the rest of his life and he would treasure the two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, that she had given to him. ### Illustration: Jacob Meets Esau (Genesis 33) > Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last.  -> Imagine growing up in a family like this! Question: would you rather be one of his sons who knew their Dad tolerated them or would you rather be one of these two boys who were the youngest in the family and were shown tremendous favoritism by their Dad? ### The Brothers Retaliate & Joseph Sold Into Slavery It's within this family context that **something terrible happens** to Joseph when he is 17 years old. He is sent by his father to check on his brothers, who were some distance away with the flocks. Now listen, by this time **Joseph's brothers despised him so much so that when they saw him coming towards them, they agreed to kill him.** Their plan was simple: they would kill him and they would take his famous multi-colored tunic and tell their father that a wild animal must have attacked Joseph and killed him, which is not an. unreasonable story. The oldest son, **Reuben, however had a moment of caution**. Yes, he hated Joseph, but he wasn't ready to kill him. It was at this time that a caravan of Ishmaelites was spotted traveling to Egypt. **Plus, why kill him when they can make some money? So, they sold him to the Ishmaelites as a slave, pocketed the money, then took the multi-colored coat to Jacob and told him wild animals had killed him.** So, that gives you the context. I wish we could go further. Joseph is one of my favorite characters in the Bible and I've taught entire series on the Life of Joseph. Just to give you one more bit of trivia: Joseph is one of only two main characters in the Old Testament in which nothing negative is said about him. The other is Daniel. This is the background to where we are going to land today in Chapter 50. - Joseph would go on to become the second most powerful, influential man in Egypt behind the Pharaoh. - More importantly, a regional famine would impact the entire Middle East driving Jacob and his family to Egypt, which was the only place with food. - When Joseph reconnects with his brothers some 20 years later, this is one of the most amazing scenes in the Old Testament. Imagine the sense of fear these brothers must of felt, knowing what they had done to Joseph and now seeing him at the very height of power. - In an emotional scene in Chapter 45 & 46, Joseph is reunited with his brothers and his father, Jacob, and all is well... - until Jacob dies. ## Transition ### Joseph Has Forgiven His Brothers Long Ago That's where we pickup in Chapter 50 verse 15. The brothers know what they did to Joseph, yet, he had also been exceptionally kind to his brothers.  Was that only because he was playing nice in front of their father? Now, they fear, Joseph will take his revenge. But Jospeh demonstrates something that is truly one of the great themes of the Bible, forgiveness. > **20** But as for you, you meant evil against me; **_but_ God meant it for good**, in order to bring it about as _it is_ this day, to save many people alive.  > > **21** Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. ## Application/Conclusion How in the world can Joseph exhibit this kind of grace and forgiveness. Here are some clues: 1. **_Joseph recognized the sovereignty of God in all things according to His purpose._** This is difficult, I admit, especially when it comes to forgiveness. Sometimes terrible things are done by those closest to us, but by God's grace, Joseph determined not to carry the hurt and the weight of his past with him. The amazing thing about Chapter 50 is that clearly Joseph had forgiven his brothers many years earlier, not at that moment. He could exhibit forgiveness in that moment because he had lived a life that exhibited grace and forgiveness for years. 2. **_Jospeh never let the seed of bitterness take root in his life._** Walking in forgiveness is not about letter the person who hurt you off the hook, it is about letting yourself off the hook. We carry the weight of unforgiveness like an anchor around our neck, and over time the weight of it can destroy us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 3. **_Joseph's heart of forgiveness helped him to be right with his brothers, but also right before God ... and a peace with himself._** Are you tormented by something that happened to you long ago? Are you carrying the weight of that even though the person who harmed you may be dead and buried. Let it go and let God deal with it. ### The Power of Agape Love This still doesn't fully explain HOW we can live this kind of life of forgiveness. To understand this, we must turn to 1 Corinthians 13 - the Apostle Paul's famous chapter on love. The kind of love Paul is describing is agape love, which is the love God has for us. Here is how Paul describes this kind of love: > Love suffers long _and_ is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. - 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 This kind of love is only possible through God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the kind of love that Joseph displayed towards his brothers, and it didn't change their life, but it changed Joseph's life. In spite of the hurt he had experienced as a child and as a young man, he was able to see things from God's perspective and trust in God's sovereign control over his life, even in spite of the hurt. Because what his brothers meant for harm and evil, God used it for good. Are you ready to start 2025 on a journey towards healing? Let go of the past hurts, even the "justified hurts" that someone else did to you. Let's start today. Would you bow your heads and I am going to lead you in a simple prayer. If there is someone who has hurt you in the past and you have carried the weight of that for years, now is the time to let God begin to perform a miracle in you and bless you with the gift of forgiveness. Let go of that burden today. As I pray, I want you to pray along with me and ## Closing Prayer "Father, you know my thoughts and You know the pain I carry from this painful time in my life. I know what ________ did to me was meant for evil, but I trust You to use this for good in my life. Help me to love ________ the way you love me, and help me to forgive _______ the way you have forgiven me. Father, remove the bitterness from my heart and help me to live in the freedom of your grace as you lovingly conform me to the image of your Son, for it is in His name, our Lord Jesus Christ that we pray, Amen.