What is Your Delight? (Gen. 39:1-6)

Do I have delight no matter what I do? For me to delight, the DNA within me must create endorphins, but because it’s not creating endorphins within me, I fall into depression. 

People are always going to go towards what makes them feel delightful. People don’t want to go towards what makes them sad, and because they keep thinking about what would bring them delight, they fall into addiction. Gambling starts out as a hobby, and you go in with expectations of all the money you could get. They drive all the way to Vegas and everyone else thinks it’s crazy, but it makes this person happy. It takes so long to get there but this person delights in it.  They don’t delight in anything else; they only delight when they go to Vegas.

When they come back home, they only think of gambling because that’s the only way to stimulate his endorphins.  When you have a new girlfriend or boyfriend, your endorphins are stimulated.  People move in the direction of having their endorphins stimulated.  I don’t like BTS and how they look, I don’t like them because they all look the same and those kinds of things don’t bring me joy.  But in LA, everyone is going crazy about them.  People are going so crazy for BTS because regardless of their race, people support them.

What about our cell phones? We can’t put them down because of the joy we receive through that, and people are curious about the things on their phones, wondering if there’s anything new that day. Nothing else brings them joy, that’s why even though it’s always the same, we think there will be something new.  The Bible tells us there’s nothing new on the sun.  My daughter says things are “dumb,” but they’re dumb, getting sucked into “new,” things, but why?  They have the joy of anticipation and fall into it. 

 People enjoy their addictions because this is the channel for them to receive endorphins. If it doesn’t come from God, will this happiness be maintained? Ultimately they’ll be seized by Satan and can’t escape. Do you understand?  Kids who like to play will enjoy the delight that comes with playing. When you become young adults or college students, there’s parties on the weekends, and when you go to these parties, there’s anything you want, boys, girls, alcohol, drugs.  When you go to your classes, you’re ragged, but when you go to parties, you look so nice, and it’s for that temporary joy that you struggle so hard for.

You struggle so hard during the week to taste just a little joy.  In K-town, there are a few clubs and karaoke bars.  I used to walk around LA at night, meditating on the messages. I would see huge lines of people dressed so well, and I was shocked because I wouldn’t even see something like that for church.  They’re in an orderly line, and when they come out, they’re stumbling out on their heels.  I know what that’s like, but in Korea, they all dance, but here they sit around and drink.

They have to do this, otherwise they have to endure the week. This is American culture. It’s not about whether this is good or bad.  If you go to church and you know God but you’ve never experienced the delight that comes from god, you have no choice but to go in that direction, too.  We can’t stop ourselves by trying, but we go because it makes us feel good.  You can go, but what’s the reason you cannot go? If you go, you go.  The issue is that you go there to seek something.

No matter how much I say this, they can’t understand.  If you have Jesus Christ, there’s true delight, but because we can’t experience that, we try to experience worldly delights of unbelievers.  Some people are serial daters, switching partners, do you know why? “When I first met this person, they were so mystical, and when I meet with them, my heart beats so strongly and I’m happy, but after some time, they no longer make me happy so I break up, and I look forward to meeting the next person.” Whether you have a boyfriend or girlfriend isn’t good or bad; at some point you have to date and get married.  But I’m saying, you’re pursuing this activity thinking it’s the only source of delight.

If you don’t have true delight, you won’t be able to overcome the environment or culture. You can’t tell a kid to not do something; they’ve already gotten a taste for it.  A kid who steals already has a taste for stealing. I stole a pack of gum from a grocery store while I was a kid, and they never gave me money at home, because they never wanted me to have cavities.  So, some people were chewing so much gum and it made me jealous. Next to the hair dresser, there was a grocery store and I really wanted to chew gum and I had no money, so I walked back and forth in front of the store.

Sometimes the owner of the store would leave, but it turns out my mom was watching the entire time. I ran into the store and brought out a stick of gum.  My mom saw it, but she didn’t tell me immediately. She told me later, “Imagine how poor my kid feels that he has to go and steal gum,” and secondly, it must have hurt her.  She never accused me of stealing, and it’s possible she didn’t see anything, but why would a kid pace in front of a grocery store?

Back in those times, they didn’t have anything so pretty, so I liked the shape of the gum, and I chewed the entire pack at once. My mom asked, “Where did you get that gum from?” So I tasted stealing once, and my mom spoke to me at that time.  If you steal something, there’s a rush that you get.  When you don’t use your money but you take something that belongs to someone else and put it in your pocket, you have delight.

The kid doesn’t steal because he wants to steal, but it’s the same joy of gambling, the idea of the money you’re going to get, even if you haven’t gotten it yet. It’s the same with stealing and conning or swindling someone, there’s a thrill to it.  That’s someone who received an endorphin rush.  It would be great if we did endorphin rushes, but the problem is that we delight in illegal things. Then you keep doing it because you feel joy.  Imagine how great the delight is of taking something that doesn’t belong to you and spending it.  Imagine how great this joy is, of thinking, “I could make everything mine if I wanted to,” that’s you being God.

“Anywhere, anytime, regardless of me, I can steal from anyone and use it as mine.” That’s you being God.  First, you start by stealing a pack of gum, but as you mature, do you think you’ll feel joy with gum in your teenage years? You may have liked it while a teenager, but now, you’ll have to touch something else. Someone may tell them to stop, but they’ll do it, and they keep having to do it because people are bound to live their lives in the direction that gives them more endorphins, until when?

Even without the joy of Jesus Christ, people try to educate others, “This is right, this is wrong,” but that’s not you stopping something because you’re delighted in something else, but this is you blocking something, “It is not good, so I won’t do it.” Yes of course you need to educate them about what’s right or wrong, otherwise they’ll end up in jail.  In the church we forgive one another but the world isn’t a world of forgiveness; it’s a world of the law.

So, until you receive the true delight of Christ, whether it’s stealing or gambling or killing others, it won’t stop; there are serial killers who are thrilled at killing women.  Human beings are wired to chase after what gives us endorphins, no matter what anyone says, so until we enjoy the joy of Christ that enables us to transcend the circumstances, we will live like this.  Some people are chronic liars, “I went to Seoul National University,” people boast about themselves, “I lived like this,” and there’s a thrill at seeing how others look at you, but that lie never goes away. You’re constantly lying to feel that thrill.

Adults are like that, they know it themselves because once you get a taste for this, you’ll want it more.  There’s also workaholics, people who find delight in their work, and within this, there’s good and then there’s things that aren’t good. 

In today’s passage, it says the Lord was with Joseph, so he was always holding onto the happiness of God being with him.  God gives us joy and we taste this joy.  The people who have tasted what this really feels like, will want it more and more, but before you taste what this feels like, you’ll look for delight in other places.  Even still, you should come back to church, because if you do those things and not come to worship, listening to God’s Word, you’re completely lost. You have to understand the blessing of “With” through God’s grace. You cannot understand this with your brain. When you experience God’s grace one day, then that’s it.

To educate the next generation, you must have patience, and there’s no need to despair because ultimately God will give them what’s correct. Also, no reason to leave them alone, either, but the Word and prayer are so important. They are educated from their schools, but that’s just their social life. 

God is with us, but how do we enjoy this?  Through the Word because God is the Word. Some people cannot hear the Word of God, they will live the rest of their week that way.  There are some people who worry so much.  Even though they worship before God, they’re full of worries, but they will live the rest of their lives with worry. 24 hour, communication with God. Then God will reveal the works of salvation through me.

If you constantly communicate with God regarding your things, God has the power to resolve anything.  If you say, “I can’t do this,” what do you mean?  There’s nothing impossible within God’s Word because God fulfills His Word.  If the Word comes upon you, you must constantly apply it to your life through prayer.  Then God’s power comes upon you and you’ll receive evidence, and that’s how you evangelize. Then do you think someone would be happy or not?  Then even if you go in as a slave, it might be physically sad, but it doesn’t matter.

My parents are a complete mess, but it doesn’t matter if you enjoy the blessing of “with.” Until that point, you have to keep blaming your parents because you think if you had as much power as them, you would do things differently, but if you understand this mystery, it doesn’t matter at all.  Because God was with Joseph, he prospered in everything.  “The LORD gave him success in everything he did.”

What is success?  Me getting what I want is fake success; me fulfilling what God desires is true success.  You communicate with God with the Word in prayer and God’s will is fulfilled in you.  Then Potiphar looked at Joseph, “Ever since Joseph came into my house, there’s so much endorphins. He came in as a slave, but he’s happy, and it seems like there’s no reason,” but in this situation, God’s work continues, and because he’s constantly communicating with God through prayer, he has more power. 

What is the evangelism of God? He will give you as much evidence you need to show the people around you.  Joseph’s expression was joyful. If one person is depressed, or one person is angry, that depression or anger is transmitted to everyone else. But it turns out they’re Christians? Then they cannot influence unbelievers.  But Joseph went into slavery with the mystery of this delight and influenced his master. Among your friends, some are funny and laugh and have a good personality and are popular because they influence others this way as well.  But for us, we take the things of God and relay them, no matter what field we go to, we relay this happiness and delight.

What happens if one person enters with no hope in life?  Everything this person says has no hope, “It’s not working out for me, what’s there to look forward to in the future? I tried that and it didn’t work,” if one person like that comes into a group, everyone changes, but what if one person like Joseph comes in?  Then they can influence all the unbelievers.  Go see an idol group, you’ll be influenced by them. Just by singing BTS songs and dancing, you’ll be happy.  But when fake Christians go into such fields, they cannot change it. But they go around with unbelievers looking for fake delight. Then, unbelievers aren’t influenced at all.

This was the remnant Joseph. There’s a Word God is giving to you.  It doesn’t have to be long, if you just ask, “God, give me this word during worship,” God will give it to you. With this Word of God, try communicating with Him because God is the Word. When you pray holding onto the Word, the Holy Spirit works.  Without a doubt, you will receive evidence and little by little, you’ll begin to change. That’s how even depression will go away.

Some people say depression is cured by medication.  I don’t’ know, but that person still doesn’t have the joy of being with God.  Then, if they cure that depression with medication, they’ll have to look for delight somewhere else, and then they’ll get stuck somewhere else. You have to have the joy of being with God.  Christ has finished all problems on the cross and is with us now, and God has given us this gift of the Bible so anyone can believe this.

When you go out into the field and pray in the name of Jesus Christ, God is with you, and God fulfills the Word in His time schedule.  Because I’m coming to life, I’m happy. You’ve seen me for a long time, look at my face.  I might have said this before, but I look the same, I can’t really tell. But I was doing facetime with my mom and she said, “Son, you look great.” What did she say in the past? “Do you furrow your brows?” I have strong wrinkles from furrowing my brows.  But now I communicate with God so I unfurrow my brow.

Even though anyone else thinks I’m dumb or stupid, but I align with the Word, prayer, and evangelism.  Am I always happy? Honestly, no, but then I’m always able to pray. But now I have this delight. It’s not 24 hours, but that’s grace. For everyone who knows me, that’s my evidence.  Someone who’s experienced that will not say words, “It won’t take place.” They may have said it in the past, but not anymore. If it’s the covenant of God, you’ll do it with prayer. 

Those people in America go into every region and company and stand as leaders.  If someone says, “We can’t do it,” why would they be made into president?  They would send that person away. But it’s not that we can always do it. God gives you the Word so challenge with the Word, because God gave you the Word of school and world evangelization, then hold onto it.

Then what answers do you get?  First of all, your academic answers. God knows very well, that you cannot evangelize your school as the last place person.  He will take care of it himself, do you understand?  We do not live by our own strength; we live according to God’s will.  Once you become a witness of this, you can stand as a witness before many people. Do you understand what I’m saying?  Starting today, communicate with God with the God-given Word. If you received the Word and don’t understand, ask God to explain. You’ll face problems this week and ask, “What does the Word have to do with this problem?” You keep getting stuck in fake delights, right? Ask God, “What does the Word have to do with this?” If you’re completely apathetic, that doesn’t please God.  “This person reacts to my word.”

If you don’t react to your parents, they’ll get mad because that’s rebelling against your parents and you’ll get beaten half to death.  If you don’t understand, react and say, “I don’t get it.” It’s okay if you don’t know because God reveals it to you, constantly. That’s what pleases God, and we call that faith.  Do you have a habit you cannot stop? You can’t stop it. Most things you can, but not this thing.  You should ask God, “Why can’t I stop this?” Make the Word of God become one with the habit, that’s how God’s Word is established in your life and that’s the remnant who pleases God.

Put this into practice, just take the Word God gave you this week and try talking to your friends within that.  It’s not doing something perfectly but God is perfect already, but do what pleases God. Let’s try this just once this week.  The one who tries this just once can enjoy this.

Prayer

God, we thank You. Bless the remnants. And allow them to enjoy and testify of the mystery of being with God like Joseph.  In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.